Caroline's All-Access Anime

[Caroline]

(( I'm in the process of reorganizing my shelves, and what goes where. As such, a lot of my collection of books, movies and anime is all a jumble. This review was a bit rushed, my apologies. Anyway, on with the review.

Fushigi Yugi, The Mysterious Play: Season 1

Okay, so here goes my next review. As par for the course, I'm using my PS3 with HDMI cable to a Panasonic Viera. My copy of Fushigi Yugi, is the DVD boxed-set release from Pioneer. In fact, it is the "Suzaku" box. The DVD contains 7 episodes, and a variety of extras such as character bios, FAQs, interviews, and artwork. There is a season 2… however, I haven't had a chance to watch it yet.

Fushigi Yugi Season 1, is a 26 episode season. The Suzaku boxed-set contains episodes 1 - 26, on 4 DVDs. It will be difficult to get the original Suzaku boxed set. Robert's Anime Corner Store has it as "Out-of-Print, limited to quantities on hand", and sells it for $170 USD. It has been re-released. I do not have the re-release, so I cannot compare the two sets. Anyway, Fushigi Yugi is the story of two girls, Miyaka and Yui who open up an ancient, Chinese, fairy-tale book about the Four Gods. The magical book sucks in the two girls, and fantasy adventure awaits them.

Fushigi Yugi is high fantasy, similar to Magic Knight Rayearth. If you enjoy adaptations of old legends, stories, or fairy tales, you should enjoy Fushigi Yugi. The story is light drama; however, it does have some very dark scenes at it. It also blends in a decent amount of comedy at appropriate times. Being as it is a Japanese take on a Chinese fairy-tale, there are some artistic license given to the writers/scripters. As an aside, it is pretty amusing to see what mythical creatures you can recognize from the Persona series. Back on track. The premise of the story is that Miyaka, the girl from another world, becomes the Priestess of Suzaku. She has to find the Seven Stars of Suzaku, to save the kingdom. Problem being… during one of the early story arcs Miyaka's best friend, Yui, becomes the Priestess of Seriyu… Suzaku's arch rival. As such, the lion's share of the story is Miyaka trying to do her best to become the Priestess of Suzaku, while trying to re-win the friendship of Yui. On a negative side, though, there are several times where… the story seems to drag, and there are filler episodes, which detracts from the tale. Also, both characters sometimes struggle with their evolution. What I mean is, they seem to shrink back into their "stereotype" role. Miyaka is the gluttonous high-school, happy girl, while Yui is the gloomy, sad, girl who is jealous of her best friend, but can't bring herself to say so. As such, if you get tired of high-school-esq drama, it can detract from the story.

You can tell it is an older anime. The girls and guys all look from the late 80s / early 90s. Miyaka tends to act very naively towards any situation. She's an honest, good, girl, just… very 80s. The hair is also, very long and stringy for the most part. Being an older anime, there are several times where characters do the "chibi" thing. The costumes, settings, and backgrounds are nice. Not necessarily memorable, but done well enough that they're individual. You can see influences on later costume design from the characters in Fushigi Yugi. However, being as Fushigi Yugi is 26 episodes, you can see where the staff was cutting corners, or reusing common scenes. It does stretch the budget… but it can be distracting to watch Genro use the same fan attack over, and over again. The dubbing is… alright. Pioneer does try; however, the American Voice Actors just aren't quite on cue as their Japanese counterparts. As such, I'd recommend watching it in the original. The intro and ending are pretty good. Very detailed, and the music is quite catching. Each of the DVD's is a unique color. The Suzaku boxed set comes with a clear, slip-cover, and an insert extra with art, episode guides, character references, and voice acting credits. The boxed set cover art is a cool red marbled, gold-bird-inlay look. However, with the slip-cover, it can take some getting used to slipping the DVD holder in and out. In the DVDs themselves are also footnote sections.

On a technical aspect, the DVD holds up... okay. Due to a lot of the movie having a goodly amount of color or activity going on, there are times when the color begins to wash out, pixelate, or shimmer. There are times where the color is also not consistent; however, that could be due to a bad master disk, and not the DVD getting old. I have also been told that the DVDs have trouble being recognized by some players, and may take a spin or two before being recognized. All that being said, the DVD is from 1995 and these problems can be expected. Sound, voices, and music hold up well, and makes good use of the 2.1 channel stereo.

Overall, Fushigi Yugi is an ambitious start to a long, fantasy, epic. It doesn't quite fire on all cylinders; however, being a pioneer in this genre gives them a lot more leeway.

Overall: B- ))

[Caroline]

((Thread-o-mancy again.

I want to keep going with this. Next week I should have some more available time for me to post a few, new, reviews. So... I'll keep going with that.

If no one has any suggestions, I'm going to try to review:

Shamanic Princess

Gurren Lagann

Disc0de

So... a magical-girl anime, an action-comedy anime, and a bishoujo-fetish anime. ))

[Leaf]

Well, there are two animes that you could try. They're called Welcome to Pia Carrot and Welcome to Pia Carrot 2. Each of them have three volumes, making a total of six DVDs. The animes in question can be seen here. Bare in mind, these were from Amazon:

Welcome to Pia Carrot Volume 1
Welcome to Pia Carrot Volume 2
Welcome to Pia Carrot Volume 3

Welcome to Pia Carrot 2 Volume 1
Welcome to Pia Carrot 2 Volume 2
Welcome to Pia Carrot 2 Volume 3

Here is also a Wikipedia page for Pia Carrot:
Wikipedia Page
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My Fursona
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[Rune174]

Sometime this upcoming week, I'll be doing a review on the anime: My Bride Is a Mermaid. Stay tuned.

Edit: I may have to postpone the review till thursday. School and work is kicking my butt right now.
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[Caroline]

((Leaf,

Pia Carrot and Pia Carrot 2 are actually some of the bishoujo anime that I don't have. Did you have another bishoujo/adult anime you'd like for me to review? Hopefully, iffn you do, it's one I actually have. ))

[Leaf]

Hm... Well, I do happen to have them myself, so I can review them for you if you'd like. I'm not entirely certain what kind of bishoujo anime you have. If you can, maybe I can pick one from a list of those that you currently have.
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[Caroline]

((Okay, as I prep to list my mini-collection of bishoujo anime, so Leaf can select one for me to review, I've decided to move ahead with a review of something else. I do apologize for the long delay in my reviews.

Shamanic Princess OVA

Okay, so here goes my next review. As par for the course, I'm using my PS3 with HDMI cable to a Panasonic Viera. My copy of Shamanic Princess OVA is the complete edition from U.S. Manga Corps. The DVD is a 4:3 ratio, and contains all 6 episodes. The DVD contains extras such as an introduction to the various characters, trailers to other U.S. Manga Corps anime, intro and closing credits. The DVD is also coded for DVD-rom features, such as additional art, scripts, and additional information about the characters.

Shamanic Princess OVA is a 6 episode anime, totaling 180 minutes of time, including intro and ending credits. Neither Robert's Anime Corner Store nor The Right Stuf list it anymore; however, it is listed on eBay. And… I'm not 100% sure it's real, official, licensed copies. So… this might be a trickier one to find. Anyway, my DVD is a 2000 edition. Anyway, Shamanic Princess is about Tiara, who is sent to recover a stolen artifact, the Throne of Yord.

Shamanic Princess is high fantasy, with an alternative take on the magic/mystic system. Instead of four elements and void, this OVA's take on magic is that of contracts. I guess you could say the magic in this show is similar to voodoo. The spirits bound to Tiara, the protagonist, are only granted joy, if their actions bring her joy. Overall the story is a dark drama. Tiara, a prominent practitioner of Shamanic Magic from the Guardian world is sent down to Earth to recover the Throne of Yord, and capture its thief, Kagetsu. While completing the task of recovering the Throne of Yord, Tiara also must uncover its secrets, as well as those of its defenders. In order to accomplish her task Tiara realizes she needs to question everything… including the authority and tradition that gave her the very powers she possesses and channels. Now the story is slower in pacing, to include the fight scenes, which might be off putting to some. The story is also very introverted in nature, which might also make some of the audience lose interest. I enjoy CLAMP stories and how they tell their stories, so I enjoyed it.

The art is very early CLAMP, i.e., R. G. Veda years. This makes sense, as the main artist was one of the founding members of CLAMP. Anyway, this means that all the girls have very elaborate and highly detailed costuming, and have very expressive (i.e. big) eyes, while all the men are lithe and slender. This also extends into the background and fight scenes as well. I like the art style, but if you're used to the newer take on features, where eyes are considerably more "normal" sized, it might not mesh as well for you. One of the things I do enjoy about the show is how the characters develop, and how the characters are all related to each other in some manner. For example, Lena, one of the antagonists, is equally as powerful as Tiara, yet has an inferiority complex to Tiara. Tiara, while brash, confident, and powerful, is also torn by feelings for her best friends, as well as for her former lover turned criminal. I also enjoyed how the story portrayed the emotional bond between Lena and Leon as well as Tiara and Kagetsu.

While U.S. Manga Corps does use Crispin Freeman as one of the Voice Actors… none of them really mesh with their parts well. As such, after watching the first two episodes in the dub, I switched over to the original Japanese with subtitles. The translation does well, though there are a few parts where it is unclear if U.S. Manga Corps just mistranslated the story, or tried to adjust the story to better fit an American audience. The front of the DVD slip-cover has an eye-catching picture of Tiara and her familiar Japolo. The back hints at other characters, and contains a good summary of the OVA. The slip-cover is also reversible. The inside is black-and-white, contains the chapter-stops, as well as the actors who played the various characters. U.S. Manga Corps did very well on making the DVD slip-cover interesting.

On a technical aspect, the DVD holds up well. Even with the high amount of detail, and flashy, transformation and combat sequences, I cannot see any problems with colors washing out or shimmering. The day and night scenes also stood up well under the scrutiny of my PS3 player and HDMI-enabled TV. Sound effects, voices, and music hold up well, and makes good use of the 2.1 channel stereo.

Overall, Shamanic Princess is an awesome take on shamanistic magic, the struggles of growing up, and asking the question of when its okay to question authority.

Overall: A

EDIT:: EDIT:: EDIT:: Okay, I wasn't happy with my original thoughts/commentary, so I just thought I'd elaborate a spot.

First some additional negatives. It looks like U.S. Manga Corps simply took their VHS release, and combined them all into one DVD. What I mean by that is after every two episodes, you get the additional USMC credits. It's a nit-picky complaint, but I found it a spot annoying. Next, U.S. Manga Corps also seems to have changed their translation part-way through the show. At first, one of the characters was subtitled as "Sarah", and then it is switched to "Sara". Not really sure why they did it, but... it was changed.
On a technical side, I did notice two times where a white line appeared across some of the frames. As far as I can tell, my DVD doesn't have a scratch on it, so I'm guessing it was a problem with the encoding of the DVD.

Now, more onto the show itself. I enjoy how Shamanic Princess' art takes a very surreal-dream like quality to tell it's story. It's a haunting sort of enchanting. For example, any time the moon is shown, it's a full moon, but has an exaggerated crescent highlight. I like how Shamanic Princess heavily uses symbolism to convey several parts of the story. For example, during the transformation sequences when the shamans change from their shaman garb to their ultimate form, it alludes to the idea that girls can seemingly change into women overnight. The art style is also bewitching. What I mean is, it's a subtle blend of beauty, girls-growing-up, and a haunting contrast. A good illustration of this is when Sarah, Lena, and Tiara are shown as children picking poppy flowers.

In other aspects, for me, I enjoy the CLAMP-esq beauties. That being, long hair, slender legs, full bosom, graceful elegance, and just... pretty to me. Yeah, I know, lame goth girl likes the frilliness of the costuming and characters. On that same note, the choreography is also very elaborate and detailed. In fact, the artists cheat a bit in this regard. They use a still background, and recycle some of the transformation / action / summoning scenes by drawing up the motion on a separate plate. This allows them to then use the more detailed plate on a couple of different backgrounds, while offering more quality / frames-per-second to make the motions that much more fluid. So the summoning rituals, and some of the fight scenes offer this extra detail without loss to the quality of the OVA.

So... there you go. A spot more detail onto the show, and why I enjoyed it so much.

EDIT END:: EDIT END:: EDIT END
))

[Pacrat249]

Hey all, Guess I am a newby at this, just joined back in November, but was finally able to get on the DQ board to for the first time.

As for anime, been a fan since I lived in Okinawa with my dad stationed there from 77-80. I even remember watching the old Lupin the III in its original form. I have read through a few reviews and like what I see.

I have about 20 animes I own, but the current ones I watch online (I prefer to buy the complete series so I don't have to wait).

Just wanted to say hi and I look forward to more reviews.

[Rune174]

I know how that is Pacrat. I do the same thing myself.
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[Caroline]

((Hey Gang,

I'm not satisfied with my review of Shamanic Princess. I don't like giving story spoliers, so I accomplished that... but... after reading it today, I didn't give any reasons as to why I liked the story or artwork. So... at some point, I'll go back and clean it up/add to it.

Anyway, next up I'll take a switch from Gurren Lagann that I was going to review, and instead review Rosario Vampire, and the bishoujo anime Hooligan. ))

[Pacrat249]

Rosario+vampire was a good anime, loved it. But not for me to review, so go for it.

[Pacrat249]

Juat popping in, see whats goin on, sayin hi.

[Pacrat249]

Hey all, hope everyone is doing good, just popping in.

[cheesecaked]

I got a few anime and some anime films

Guardian of Darkness
Fatal Fury film
Bubblegum Crisis
Tenchi GXP
OutlawStar
Caseclosed
Demon City
Yu Yu Hakusho the movie
and many more

What I use to watch and like alot

Roujin Z a anime film
Dragon Ball Z (the first redubbed set not the other set that sounds bad off)

Gal Force film
Samurai Pizza Cats
Peacock King
_________________
My Fursona http://forums.pleasurebonbon.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=100410#100410

How dare they use casment window designs,
it's so last century ಠ_ರೃ
◕ ◡ ◕
"I'm gonna miss all the things we'll never do.
I just can't believe you left me here alone,
How in this world can I make it on my own?"

[Caroline]

(( Okay, so here goes my next review. This time I'm going to review something considerably newer. Again, I'm using my PS3 with HDMI cable to a Panasonic Viera.

Rosario+ Vampire is a 13-episode OVA based on the manga of the same name. It is a high-school-bishoujo anime based around Tsukune who accidentally gets admitted to an all-monster high-school. An act that is strictly forbidden. As such, the show revolves around him being at school, and trying to hide his identity from everyone else.

I have the complete collection by Funimation. As such it's two DVDs with all 13 episodes. The DVD has a dust cover. The same art of Moka is on the dust cover as well as the DVD jacket. The DVD jacket is double sided, and full color. The inside artwork is a bigger picture of some of the main characters. There are not much in the way of extras, just a clean intro/ending, as well as trailers to other Funimation shows.

Rosario+ Vampire to me was… plain. It wasn't bad, yet it wasn't really good either. There were several things I did enjoy about the show. First, I enjoyed the character designs for Yukari, a half-breed witch, Ruby, a raven-witch, and Mizore, the yuki-onna. And yes, I know… goth girl likes the Yuki-Onna. *shrug* I just found her stockings, sweatshirt, and lollipop costuming to be pretty cool. I also enjoyed how the fight scenes weren't terribly important. It was pretty much a panty-flash-kick and the fight was over. It helped to focus the attention on the high-school-ness part of the story. In contrast, Utena's fights were highly choreographed and integral to the story. Utena literally had to defend her revolution. For Rosario+, the fights were made so one-sided it was actually enjoyably comical. I also enjoyed how Rosario+ used some non-traditional monsters, such as a kitsune, a lamia, and an umbrella demon. Lastly, I enjoyed how Rosario+ scripted the ideas of needing to belong. In high school, everyone wants to fit in, to some degree. In Japan… this idea is even more ingrained due to the sheer number of people packed into such a small area. As such, the fact Rosario+ gave some time to the idea of being included fits. While Moka and Tsukune complain the most about being outsiders and trying to find a place to fit in and make friends, for me, it's the half-breed witch, Yukari who really is given the ability to demonstrate this part of the story.

However, for as many good parts, Rosario+ has more half-baked and poorly executed parts. First, other than those three characters, the rest of the characters, backgrounds, settings, and the like were just ho hum to me. The intro and ending credits didn't seem any more elaborate than the show itself. Even the main character, Moka felt plain and uninspired. So, as a show scripted to be a high-school bishoujo, none of the girls were really pretty or extraordinary. They might have been cute, but, to me, a bishoujo story needs its girls to be beautiful in some manner not just cute. In Dot-Hack: Sign, Mimiru is cute, and BT offers the dangerous beauty. And it works, as the show isn't about a bishoujo harem. For Rosario+, the lack of beauties at the school completely undermines the idea of it being a bishoujo story.

The story itself wasn't anything new or untried. In brief, the story is the most nerdy guy in school manages to be surrounded by the most attractive girls in said school. The problem being, so many other harem-bishoujo shows script this better. Tenchi Muyo, Rosen Maiden, Mahoromatic, Hand Maid May, Lucky 7 all use the same idea of a group of pretty girls around one pretty generic guy, yet deliver the story in a much more entertaining manner.

Equally as important, for a show that wanted to use a lot of fan service, the fan service wasn't terribly good or memorable. Sure they had panty shots, bikinis and plenty of it. Yet, they didn't really seem fun or enjoyable. H.O.T.D. had just as many panty shots, yet they gave off a much sexier and more enjoyable vibe.

The music and sounds were also pretty forgettable. Funimation also used some poor translations to make this worse. "Chu" does not mean "slurp". "Chu" is the onamonapea sound of a kiss. In this case a vampire kiss. The dubbing was adequate. Not great, but I've definitely heard worse. Yet, the icing on the cake of mediocrity was the transformation sequence. It was so blandly done, I'm going to give it its own paragraph.

The transformation sequence in Rosario+ was overused and underdone. Transformation sequences used to be an old staple, as a way to extend a limited budget. They were more elaborate, more detailed, and better quality than the standard parts of the show. As such, they were often reused. The transformation in Rosario+ was just... dull. Card Captor Sakura makes fun of the transformation sequence by literally having Sakura in a new costume each time she tries to catch a CLOW card. Robotech had highly detailed transformation sequences for the V-tech fighters that you enjoyed, no matter how many times they reused the footage. The transformation of the Sailor Scouts from Sailor Moon was highly girly and sparkly... but it fit the show. Rosario+ use of the sequence isn't very good. It's not detailed. It has a voice over that is unnecessary and annoying. And Moka really doesn't change much. Her hair color changes, and she loses a button on her blouse. A transformation is supposed to be just that, a change. For as often as they use it, they should have spent a lot more time/money/effort on making it fit better.

On the technical side, the Rosario+ DVD does pretty well on the HDMI TV. Good 5.1 and 2.1 channel sound as well. Having all 13 episodes on 2 disks is a pretty good deal for the price.

In summary, Rosario+ Vampire has some decent parts, but too much of it is just feels like a poor xerox of a poor xerox.

Overall: C ))

[Pacrat249]

Ok, I am back. Went to FL for a bit. Great review. Your right, It was predictable and very cheeky, but fun to watch.

Whats next on the list?

[Caroline]

((Hey Gang,

Just an FYI. I'm working on finishing up with Rosario+Vampire: Chapu 2... I figured I started with season 1, I might as well put up season 2.

From there, I'm going to detour back to Key the Metal Idol. ))

[Caroline]

(( Okay, so here goes my next review. This time I'm finishing something considerably newer. Again, I'm using my PS3 with HDMI cable to a Panasonic Viera.

Rosario+ Vampire, Chapu 2 is a 13-episode OVA based on the manga of the same name. Chapu 2 is continuation of Rosario+Vampire, a high-school-bishoujo anime based around Tsukune who accidentally gets admitted to an all-monster high-school. Now that the school knows he's attending, this year brings about new characters to the show.

I have the complete collection by Funimation. As such it's two DVDs with all 13 episodes. The DVD has a dust cover. Unfortunately, my dust cover has residual sale-price sticker gunk on it, as FYI cannot figure out how to make a removable price tag. The same art of Moka is on the dust cover as well as the DVD jacket. The DVD jacket is double sided, and full color. The inside artwork is a bigger picture of some of the main characters, all laying rather flirtily on a pink-sheeted bed. The DVD case itself is clear plastic; however, mine has a broken clip for the DVD carrier. There are not much in the way of extras, just a clean intro/ending, as well as trailers to other Funimation shows.

Rosario+ Vampire2 to me was a better swing than the first, yet for as much as it improved, it made an equal amount worse. There were several things I did enjoy about season 2. First, I enjoyed the new disco-vibe intro. So, one of my complaints about the first season was fixed. The intro is flashy, catchy, and gives a spot of time to all the girls. I also enjoyed how Kurumu gets a solid amount of character development. I enjoyed the "meeting the parents" stories as well. The art and animation are about the same, but they do use Ruby a lot for various costume-fantasy fans.

However, for as many good parts, season 2 hamstrings itself with more half-baked and poorly executed parts. First, I don't care for the devolution of the character of Ruby. I enjoyed in the first season how Ruby, for being a secondary character, had a full background story, and was one of the cuter girls. Yet, in the 2nd season, she devolves into a cameo-4th-wall-breaker. It's stupid. Thinking of that, I also don't like the 4th-wall breaking aspects of season 2. While intended to make the anime funnier and self-aware, since it was not set up in the first season, it comes off as distracting and confusing at times. Homestar Runner and The Muppets did a much better job at having their shows be self-aware. Rosario+ just doesn't script it well, and it ends up distracting from the stories, the characters, and the interactions between them. The ending credits still suffer from being average. They show Dark Moka all goth-vamped up, but they're very flat in luring the audience into the next chapter. While the show turned up the sexy knob by having more skin, ecchi moments, and breast shots, it felt forced and… not terribly sexy really. Yet most of all, what bothered me is that Tsukune doesn't choose anyone. This so annoyed me, that it gets its own paragraph.

While it is a staple that harem-anime the main character gets all the pretty girls interested in him, Chapu 2 falls into the same problem that the main character doesn't pick any of them. He only seems partially interested in Moka and Dark Moka. Even with that, Tsukune still seems indifferent and oblivious to the emotional plight of all the girls. As far as the other characters go, it's almost like they don't exist. Kurumu even mention's this issue. Ai Yori Aoshi, Hand Maid May, Rosen Maiden, Video Girl Ai, Love Hina, and To Heart, are also harem-anime; however, the main character has enough courage and deep enough feelings to pick one of the girls, and let the others know that he is not interested in them. To me, Chapu 2 fails at really setting up a bond between Moka / Tsukune / Dark Moka. Instead, it makes Tsukune into more of a milksop than anything else. In doing so, it doesn't inspire me to bother picking up the 3rd season, if there is a 3rd season.

As with the first season, the story itself wasn't anything new or untried. This season revolves more around the relationship of Moka, Dark Moka, and Moka's half sister Kokoa. It also has a story arc dealing with a weakening seal between the monster school and the rest of the world.

The music was a little better. If nothing else, the intro and ending music were better drafted, and gave a distinct feel to the show. The American VAs were still below-average, so I continued to use the original Japanese.

On the technical side, the Rosario+Vampire Chapu 2 DVD does pretty well on the HDMI TV. Good 5.1 and 2.1 channel sound as well. Having all 13 episodes on 2 disks is a pretty good deal for the price. And the inclusion of a double-sided, color cover does add a bit of uniqueness to the container.

In summary, Rosario+ Vampire Chapu 2 fixes some of the problems with the first season, yet hamstrings itself by continuing its trend of halfbaked ideas, and by breaking things that worked in the first season.

Overall: C ))

[Pacrat249]

Hey all, just checking in, seeing whats new. Been busy here, watching new animes. Got a lot of new ones out this spring.

[Caroline]

((Okay, so my fault on the delay. Been busy with like a zillion things, and this one always seems to take the back burner. Anyway, I'm using my PS3 with HDMI cable to a Panasonic Viera. I have a receiver and full 5.1 surround speakers.... at some point, I'll remember to go into the basement, so I can find out what type of speakers.

Rosen Maiden season 1 is a 12 episode OVA based on the manga of the same name. It is a loli-goth-fighting-girl style story about Jun Sakurada, and how he comes into contact with the Rosen Maiden dolls. The story revolves around Sakurada and his growing relationship with the 4th Rosen Maiden, Shinku.

I have the Pioneer Animation / Geneon release of the DVDs. As such, I am going to discuss those. The series has been re-licensed by Funimation. Funimation has the entire, two-season show, as one gninormouns collection, to include a special, two-episode, add-on... so, you'll probably spend way less than I did, when you pick up this show.

Anyway, Geneon released Season 1 as three DVDs, each in their own clear-case. So, disk one, has episodes 1 - 5, disk 2, 5 - 8, and disk 3, 9 - 12. Each case has a full-color, double-sided insert, and a full-color, double-sided DVD jacket. Each DVD has a full-color screen of the cover. Extras are fairly basic as trailers for other Geneon shows, and clean intros/endings.

Rosen Maiden was, to me, very enjoyable. It took two fairly standard themes, goth-loli and fighting-girl, and joined them in a unique way. Being as I grew up with ideas of clockworks, creepy dolls, and I like the idea of steam-punk-techno-magickry, the idea of dolls designed by a master artisan hooked me. I especially liked the idea of how each of the dolls represents a sort of fetish... that is, each one has a piece of the perfect girl, but none are the complete perfect girl.

For example, Shinku represents the cultured aristocrat/princess, while Suiseseki represents the idea of a Tsundere. Now, twist that idea by the fact that the only way the dolls will get to be the perfect girl is to, literally, destroy the other dolls (often referred to as 'sisters') and steal their powers... i.e., Highlander style. It makes for a very, dark, take on the growing-up story from both ends. The dolls/girls have to be willing to sacrifice/lose themselves, in order to become this dollmaker's perfect girl; while, each of the dolls represents a "phase" of what a boy likes in girls when growing up. The pacing for the story was also solid. It blended drama with comedic elements without either seeming jarring or out-of-place. Rosen Maiden also gave good screen time to the entire cast, giving each character their ability to add to the tale. In short, the story had me hooked after the first 10 minutes.

For other aspects of the show, I enjoyed the costuming of the various Rosen Maidens. The costuming for the dolls was highly goth-loli... which is a bit of a soft spot for me. I especially enjoyed the red-velvet/silk look of Shinku, and the green-fairy-tale-dress look of Suiseseki. The set pieces were also unique, and often had their own music to go along with it. Thinking of that, the music in Rosen Maiden was perfect. It had a solid, orchestral sound to it, mixed with pieces done on harpsichord to add to that otherwordly feel when dealing with the magic-aspect of the living-dolls.

Now, Rosen Maiden season 1 does have its flaws. First, I have mixed thoughts on Nori, Jun's sister. I understand they were trying to script Nori as a younger sister who was trying to find a way to help her brother... but at times she was scripted as helpless. It fits... but it also sometimes annoyed me. The loli/doll themes can also disturb some of the audience, if you think too much about what is being discussed, or how some of the characters act. While Geneon has a solid English VA cast... for some reason, I just preferred the original seiyuu. The English cast wasn't bad, just... not good enough for me to be willing to regularly watch it dubbed. In contrast, I can watch Lucky Star either way and it enjoy it.


On the technical side, the Rosen Maiden season 1 does very well on the HDMI TV. The colors are rich, and the animation fluid, with no loss to shimmering or big, action scenes. Good 5.1 and 2.1 channel sound as well, that took advantage of the location of all the speakers to add to suspense, or encapsulate you in a scene.

In summary, Rosen Maiden is a pretty gothic take on a fighting-girl story.

Overall: A ))

[Caroline]

((Well all, it has been a while, so it is time for me to keep myself moving and post up another anime review. This time I’m going to review Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden. Anyway, I'm using my PS3 with HDMI cable to a Panasonic Viera. The whole thing is run by a Yahmaha YHT-493BL Home Theater System.

Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden, is a 12-episode OVA based around the combat android Mahoro, and her charge Sugaru. There is a second season, Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful, which I’ll review at a future time. There is also a manga series as well. The manga generally parallels the story of both of the OVAs. Anyway, I have the original Pioneer/Geoneon DVD releases. As such, I have three DVDs, each with four episodes. I believe it has been re-licensed; however, I’m not 100% certain as to who has it, or if it is being re-released. As such, you might only be able to find the series at used movie stores.

The story is about the relationship of Mahoro, a Vesper combat andriod given the option of retiring, so she can spend her last days doing what she wants to do, and Sugaru, a seemingly normal young man going through high school with his friends. Mahoro becomes a maid for Sugaru, and that's where the story takes off.

The DVDs themselves have colored silkscreening. The DVD cases are unusual in that they are white plastic. The jacket cover is full colored, double-sided, and offers good summaries of the episodes within. Each DVD also contains a double-sided, full-color insert. The 3rd volume has a set of paper-doll stickers. Extras are clean intros/endings, artwork, as well as a bunch of trailers of other Geoneon shows. The way the menu's work is kinda nifty too... simulating a fully-immersive-virtual reality sort of navigation. Overall, very high marks for presentation.

The story itself is a curiosity, to me. The first two-and-a-half episodes are fairly light drama, giving you the idea that this show will be a romantic comedy, and not terribly deep. However when the second half of episode 3 starts, you get the real reason Mahoro retired from active service, and why she purposely selected to work with Sugaru. For the rest of Mahoro: Automatic Maiden, you’re left with the foundation that there’s going to be an incident where everything comes together, and you’re left with how Mahoro and Sugaru resolve the issue. For example, the last five to six episodes are all about Mahoro's past catching up to her, and her resolve to keep Sugaru out of it. I also enjoy the fact that the villains are well up to the task. (For those of you who don't know, I can't stand it when villains are not up to the level of the heroes/heroines of a story.) Mahoro and Sugaru are no slouches. They are both very competent at what they do, and Mahoro is the best, Vesper combat andriod. And, it makes for a good story in that their relationship as well as other outside forces are highly destructive to both of them. It allows for a good amount of character development, and honest concern. Full marks on the story for the OVA.

I enjoy the art style of Mahoromatic. It is a fairly simple style, but the characters are all individual looking. I also like the fact that only one of them, Miyuki, actually has an non-normal hair color. It also amuses me that Miyuki's family and her several sisters all have varying shades of blue hair. The choreography for Mahoromatic is fluid. The activities of the show have a variety of backgrounds as well as a variety of times, such as daytime, late afternoon, and night. Mahoromatic does cheat at several occations, using one still shot over another still shot to simulate movement. Mahoromatic also does chibi-characters as well, which can be distracting. Intro credits lend to the idea that the show is a romantic-drama, and end credits are upbeat, emphasizing some of the comedic aspects of the show. I do like how neither part of the credits illustrates some of the heavy topics that are covered in half of the OVA.

The music is also pretty addictive. The dramatic battle music, the ending happy-pop music, and the events-of-the-past pieces are all well done, and are used to great effect. The intro music fits with the show, and is of a lighter nature; however, I do find myself skipping the intro credits, while I'll listen to the ending music.

One of the things I most enjoy about the show is the fact that Sugaru, while sometimes confused and tempted by the other characters in the show, does pick Mahoro. What starts out as a slow, often confusing, friendship-workship relation becomes a deep, emotional bond between the two. In a number of harem bishoujo, the main character never picks anyone, as such it is a breath of fresh air to have the two, lead characters actually develop a bond and an intimate relationship. The story even covers the fact that Sugaru does care for his other friends, but wants a relationship with Mahoro. While two of the girls on-again, off-again kinda flirt with Sugaru, Chizuka is left... ambiguous if she has affections towards Sugaru. What is clear is that, if she does or did, she has come to the conclusion he does not feel the same for her, and has accepted that. This is also an uncommon event in bishoujo anime.

Sound quality is solid, and uses the 5.1 channel speakers to good effect, allowing for further immersion in the Mahoromatic world. Music also uses the 5.1 sound to good effect as well. I had no issues with color problems, or with the PS3 having trouble reading the disks. There are several scenes of rapid motion, or light-on-black colored action scenes that showed no trouble or flashing or degredation.

On the negative side, the show does have a lot of nudity, and sexual situations. What's unusual is that Pioneer Animation / Geoneon did not attempt to "age-up" the characters, and just mention them as is. This... can lead to some audience being uncomfortable with the show. In addition, the show also highlights a shota fetish one of the teachers has, and alludes to some yaoi activities as well.

In summary, a good, love story that is suprizingly deep, given the airy, and light nature of the introduction music to the show.

Overall: A ))

[Thorne]

http://www.goodanime.net/accel-world-episode-1
Come across this series yet Caroline ?

[Caroline]

((Thorne,

I've never heard of that one. It does seem you all have an uncanny ability to find shows that I don't possess, or have never watched *rolls my eyes*

So... my apologies, Thorne, but I have no information on that show. ))

[Thorne]

Hey no need to apologize, maybe this will catalyze your watching of this series, its pretty awesome, its got a sister anime known as Sword Art Online, both are enjoyable, but I like Accel World because its got awesome robot combat. But ya, if you feel up to it, your review after watching the series will be enjoyed.

[Rune174]

If I'm not too busy or tired by the time I get home from class, I'll being putting in a review on My Bride is a Mermaid.
_________________

[Caroline]

(( Okay sorry about the delay, but I’ve finally sat myself down to review another anime I have in my collection. You know… I should quit apologizing, and just get these done as I have time to get these done. Anyway, I’ve decided to delay doing the adult bishoujo anime for now, and instead review another, girly show, the shoujo OVA, Card Captor Sakura. Ever wonder what would happen if anime studio powerhouse CLAMP decided to parody themselves, and the entire shoujo genre? And by entire, I mean ENTIRE shoujo drama from magical girl, to high fantasy, to sports, to adult bishoujo. You’d get Card Captor Sakura (CCS). As an aside, Card Captor Sakura was highly popular in Japan, an it has an expansive amount of manga, artbooks, music CDs, games, spin-off shows, anime-movies, and collectables.

To review the show I used my Panisonic Viera HD TV with PS3, Monster-Brand HDMI Cable, Monster-Brand stereo cable, and Yamaha YHT-493BL home theater sound system.

Card Captor Sakura is about Sakura Kinomoto, a 10-year old girl, who accidentally breaks the seal on a magic book, releasing the taro-esq spirit-cards trapped within. Upon the act, she is charged by the book’s guardian to recover the cards, and relock the book. As such, now she needs to balance her school life, her home life, her after-school activities, her heart, and having to catch the escaped Clow Cards. Such is the busy life of a middle-school girl.
Anyway, CCS was a three season series totaling 70 episodes that ran from 1998 - 2001. It was originally licensed by Pioneer Animation / Geoneon on 18 DVDs. I have a total of 15 of the 18 DVDs. As such, I can only review that which I have. Also, I am reviewing the Japanese-only released DVDs… not the Cardcaptors dubbed DVDs that tried to make the show more… boy focused. Why? Part of the humor behind CCS is that it completely makes fun of itself. By making the show focus more on other characters, as Cardcaptors does, it loses a lot of the humor. CCS was also released via BluRay; however, the release was limited to the Region 2 market (Japan). Anyway, being as it is one continual, overall light-hearted story, I’m going to review the entire series in one go.

DVD cases are all white plastic, with pastel-colored dust jackets that have full-art on them. The art tends to be various costumes that Sakura wears during the series. The summaries on the back of the dust-jack cover episode numbers, episode names, and give a good brief on the show without spoiling the events. All the DVDs have inserts that are double-sided and full color. Many of the DVDs contain extras, such as postcards, stickers, or pencil boards. The DVDs themselves are silk-screened, and contain 3 – 4 episodes per DVD. Extras depend on the DVD, but they can contain credit-less opening and ending sequences, or art from the show.

Pioneer did not dub this show at all. (Nelvana released the dubbed version.) As such it is only available in the original Japanese and with subtitles. I do feel Pioneer does some of the best translations, so the subtitles are spot-on, even when it comes to some taboo sorts of topics or ideas. The timing of the subtitles can be off at times, spoiling visual events that are about to occur. The subtitles are well sized; i.e., easy enough to read without cluttering up the screen too much. Pioneer also transliterates the opening and ending song every-other episode, for fans who enjoy karaoke-ing the music.

As stated above, CCS is a parody, on the Mel Brooks level. It has obvious self-humor, story-trope humor, as well as several, more quiet nods to other magical girl anime. Being a good parody, it does not make dated-humor jokes. Instead, it pokes fun of the story tropes and normal elements. This also appeals to me as it keeps the show from becoming dated. While some of the teasing jabs to contemporary shows might be overlooked by a later-viewing audience, these jests still fall within the genre norms which the audience will acknowledge. This also adds to re-viewability of the show, as many of these jokes are easter-eggs you might not see the first time through.

For example, one of the most obvious running gags is the fact that Sakura changes her magical-girl outfit in practically every show; however she doesn’t transform into her outfit. Instead, her best friend Tomoyo designs the outfit, and Sakura changes off-screen, poking fun at the recurring “girl transformation sequence” often found in magical girl anime. Some more subtle ones are the fact that her older brother follows her everywhere she goes, shown the fact that he always seems to have a part-time job at the places Sakura is going to visit, or going to catch a Clow Card. Which… also plays into the idea of “sister-love” as well. A more direct-adult parody is the fact that quiet, upper-class, Tomoyo has… a very, sleazy, movie theater, where she can… enjoy all the movies she’s shot of Sakura capturing the Clow cards. The humor is well timed, well thought out, and gives the audience what it expects in a shoujo anime, while teasing them at the same time. It is akin to how Galaxy Quest pokes fun at the entire space-genre of sci-fi (from fans, to the show, to bad special effects, to conventions) and makes you laugh at yourself in good humor.

Card Captor Sakura has several things which do have me play favorites with it. It’s by CLAMP, an anime studio I greatly enjoy in both their art-style and story-telling style. It has some of my favorite seiyuus, such as Aya Hisakawa (as Ceroberos), Junko Iwao (as Tomoyo Daidoji) and Sakura Tange (as Sakura Kinomoto). The intro and ending music is catchy J-Pop. It blends story elements of comedic, parody, drama, danger, and hope well. I enjoy how the characters all add something to the show, and are competent in their own way. I enjoy how Sakura fails a fair number of times during the season as well, but does not give up. Overall, it catches you at the very beginning series intro, and just keeps you watching along.

One of the things I find most enjoyable with CCS is how the characters do develop. While CSS is a parody, CLAMP adds enough to the show to make it stand on its own, even if a viewer is completely new to the shoujo-anime genre. As the characters adventure and grow-up, they also change and shift in personality. Sakura gains tremendously in self-confidence and courage, as well as understanding her own limits. Shaoran Li’s tsundere nature progresses from a begrudging acceptance, to a full-on support and romantic feelings for Sakura. Sakura’s girl-hood crush on Yukito being lost in place of a real affection for Li. Overall, the best part of the evolution of the cast is that it’s gradual… and it leads to some of the best villains in the series, which are characters dealing with themselves.

It is difficult to find fault with CCS. At times, the show does seem to drag a bit, as if CLAMP were trying to milk the series for all its worth, though, as far as I can tell, CCS does not have “recap” episodes. Some of the magic references to Taoist magic or Chinese magic may be lost on some of the audience, though Pioneer does its best to translate these ideas. Some of the word-play puns can also be lost to the audience, though Pioneer also does its best to alert the viewer of when events like this are happening. The show’s use of the standard “monster-of-the-day”, or “card-of-the-day” can detract from the series, if someone is looking for a more, long-term, villain. At times, the comical sound effects used to help illustrate the character emotions are more cartoonish than helpful. Also, with the show being done by CLAMP, if you do not enjoy their art-style or story-telling style, it’ll affect your enjoyment of the show. Lastly, since it is a parody of magical-girl and shoujo anime, if those sorts of stories aren’t your cup of tea, it will also affect your enjoyment of the show.

On the technical side, the show is in the previous 4:3 ratio, so it will show black bars on the side of your screen, if you have a widescreen TV. Colors and animation have held up well on DVD, with no shimmering, frame stutter, or artificing. The audio soundtrack makes good use of the 5.1 channel sound. The PS3 also had no trouble loading and playing the show. I did see instances where the frame seemed to faintly twitch, as if being held by a steady cam. There were times where there looked to be dirt on the frame, as if the master-slide were scratched or had dust on it. All-in-all, solid technical marks for a 10-year old show.

Overall, Card Captor Sakura is a very fun, shoujo parody. The voice acting, art, comedy, music, direction, story, and growing up elements are all well done, and well balanced. There’s a little something for everyone to enjoy.

Grade: A ))

[Tariel_Uhara]

I remember this series! I used to watch it a lot. Very good and funny.
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My fursona: Tariel Uhara
Forward Unto Dawn (open rp)
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[The Adept]

Hey caroline what is your thoughts on the Anime Dance in the vampire bund ?
_________________
A fact of life: After monday and tuesday even the calender says WTF...
Kyle Stingray http://forums.pleasurebonbon.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8106
Escape of The Blue Rose (Story)
http://forums.pleasurebonbon.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9549&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=
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http://www.furaffinity.net/user/theadept/

[Caroline]

((Adept,

Weirdly, that was the next show I was working on.

Anyway, here are my thoughts on Dance in the Vampire Bund.

*******

(( I figure I’ll do a 2-for-1, in light of my current notice that I haven’t done these as regularly as I meant too. I’m going to review something a bit newer, in case you all want my thoughts on shows that might be easier to find/order, “Dance in the Vampire Bund”, usually just referred to as “Vampire Bund”. Mind you I'll be reveiwing the current anime, not the manga of the same name.


To review, I used my new PS3 Slim (the old one died >_<), Panasonic Viera HD TV, Monster-Brand HDMI and stereo cables, and Yamaha YHT 493BL home theater sound system.

Funimation does a good job in making package deals, i.e., the entire season of Vampire Bund in one collection for ~$65 USD. Funimation is not as good about putting extras in their collections, though. As such it is a trade-off. You get some very competitively priced anime; however, you often lose out on other extras, such as show art, post cards, pencil boards, omake episodes, etc. The collection is in a full-cover slip-case showing Mina Tepes in a very Lolita pose, and contains both DVD and BluRay disks. The dust-cover jackets are also full-color and double sided.

Vampire Bund is about Princess Mina Tepes, her struggle to maintain order amongst the vampire families, and her desire for a Vampire safe-haven. It has the exposure of the vampire culture across the world, and relays the story about their lifestyle and their struggles in modern society. Overall, the story is a soap-opera vampire-drama, akin to True Blood, Angel, or Buffy: The Vampire Slayer TV shows. Vampire Bund seems to want to try to blend classic gothic vampire stories with Buffy the Vampire Slayer the TV show sorts of character developments, leading to an overall watered down effect for both.

The dubbing is alright. The characters sound a bit old, but they fit. Not necessarily up to Disney voice acting standards; however, Funimation does seem to do a good job of directing their voice acting staff. It does cast Monica Rial, who I do think does a pretty good English dub. The Japanese is alright as well; yet, the subtitles need work in two regards. One, they swallow the screen at points, and two, some of the comments, innuendoes, and character traits are lost in translation.

There are a couple of things I enjoyed about Vampire Bund. I liked most of the character models, especially Mei Rin. I did enjoy the costuming of several of the characters as well. Overall, the story and direction were average. The intro to Vampire Bund was eye-catching and highly stylish, with a very ear-catching accompanying music. I enjoyed the chaotic entrance of the vampire order into normal society. I also enjoyed some of Mina’s Tsundere personality… some of it. (It wasn’t scripted/written well so it comes off more as insane-crazy than Tsundere).

Vampire Bund has several glaring flaws. First, the villains aren’t up to the task. And you all should know by now how much I hate ineffective villains. Yes, I get it. She and her lycanthrope body guard are massively huge and awesome; however, if a show’s villains or villain henchmen cannot keep up with the abilities of the hero, it makes the show seem… meh. This sort of inequality is exacerbated when the fighting and displays of supernatural power are supposed to be a big aspect of the show. In comparison, Rosario+Vampire covers the fighting by making the every fight comical, keeping with the humorous nature of the show. Mahoromatic accomplishes this by having a couple flash-back action scenes and one bus scene showing Mahoro’s abilities. Then Mahoromatic ramps up a just as dangerous villain, leading to the final, epic duel of season 1, where Mahoro literally gambles her very existence to save the one she cares about. Vampire Hunter D is established as the best vampire hunter in an apocalyptic future; however, he regularly gets the ever-loving snot beaten out of him, and tricked by Vampires just as old as he is.

Vampire Bund just has success after success after success for the heroes, and it gets annoyingly repetitive. Humans sent against vampires, instantly beaten. Vampire haters employ legal/political tactics against Mina Tepes, instantly worked around. Main girl antagonist to give Mina Tepes character development, instantly gains “Vampire Worship”, and easily solved. High Schoolers have no idea what to do, instantly gain “Akira Worshop”, and easily solved. I’ll give the writers credit that they did have the villains think in multiple different possibilities. I enjoy when heroes are victorious; however, it loses a lot of the triumph when those heroes don’t even break a sweat. Worse, about 9 episodes into the show, the villains in Vampire Bund actually start to show competency, and I gave the show a second chance. However, it then literally does a “Deus-ex-machina”, which I also can’t stand, and ends putting the villains back to completely useless.


My next main complaint, I don’t buy into the whole “Vampire Worship” that a lot of the supporting cast starts to do. It… keeps most of the supporting cast being milksop-ish in character nature. For as much as good villains can forward a show, a good supporting cast can do the same. Batman TAS is freaking awesome, as even the supporting characters are solid, fleshed out, and have personality. Case-and-point Yuki Saegusa to me, just converts too quickly to the “oh, we should be friends with you as the Alpha girl, even though you totally act like a bitch around me and utterly stole my boyfriend.” It also is shown in how pretty much all the characters start to worship the main male lead Kaburagi as well. In other shows (such as Card Captor Sakura, Fushigi Yugi, or Azumanga Daioh) the main characters are all well liked because they’re outgoing, social, and generally pleasant to be around. In other words, they have some type of charisma that leads other characters to hang around them. Even Vash the Stampede, for as goofy as he can act, has enough charm to overcome his wander-lust style of life. Akira Kaburagi is a loner, very stand-offish, annoying, and just generally mopey and emo. He isn’t even Tsundere. As such, to me, it doesn’t fit that so many other people want to be near him just because Mina is near him.

Another grievance I have of the show, are the Film Noir elements of introspective monologs. Yuki Saegusa is given the character crippling requirement to overly-emotionalize all the supposed internal conflicts of the other characters. In short, the writers could not figure out a better way to illustrate this, so they have one of the characters speak it to you in lecturing, teenage-angsty-ridden, annoying tones. Anime is awesome as it lets you use visual cues to explain a character’s actions/emotions, it is a VISUAL art form. By having Yuki just tell us as a body-less narrator is a crutch, and dilutes any actual introspective conflicts a character is having.

Worst of all the faults it possesses, Vampire Bund ends the story on a happy note. Serious vampire stories, which Vampire Bund falls into given the overarching story, are gothic which means the stories are about the beauty in nihilism. Case-and-point, Vampire Princess Miyu is a gothic vampire story about the end. Vampire Bund, ends with a whole, “In yo’ face!” moment… which, doesn’t set up a villain or anything for next season, or even match the preludes to the fact none of the vampire families get along. SPOILER!!! SPOILER!!! SPOILER!!! Okay, I do my best not to spoil shows, but I have to explain why I don’t like the ending. The ending in the anime would have fit about a million times better if the British Vampire diplomat didn’t acquiesce to Mina’s demands. It would ended the season on a cliff hanger, cemented the idea that vampire families don’t get along and act very byzantine to each other, and would have kept the show more gothic. By having everyone knell before her, and pretty much say “Shucks you won. We’ll behave”, completely undermines the show’s premise that Mina struggles with maintaining order amongst the families. END SPOILER!!!

Point being, all these aspects of the show kept me from really enjoying it.

For technical aspects, my old PS3 had trouble reading the BluRays; however, my new PS3 Slim read them without any problems. The show made good use of the 5.1 channels in both the original Japanese as well as the English soundtracks. Audio and music are clear, with no crackling, distortion, or fade-outs. Animation is well colored, crisp, and fluid. Overall, Vampire Bund has solid technical marks.

In summary, Vampire Bund is a take on the Vampire-drama genre. It hits some story marks and artistic marks, has good technical quality, yet the weak story non-existent character development keep enjoyment to a minimum.

Overall: D+/C- ))

[Caroline]

((Hey all,

I know I've totally gone all non-alphabetical, which was one of my initial goals, but I'm watching the ever-loving-hell out of Persona 4: The Animation. As such, I should have a review of that one up on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I also was watching Tucker and Dale VS EVIL! ))