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Every once in awhile, I stumble across an anime which manages to surprise me. Knowing nothing about what I'm going to watch in advance, I start viewing, ending up with this rare sense of...joy; as if I've unearthed a buried treasure. Whilst watching this OVA, based on the work of Osamu Tezuka, I ended up feeling this way.

I'm not experienced with Tezuka’s work. So far, I've only watched three or so anime adaptations of his numerous manga titles. However, going on what I've read, this OVA is darker, and far more realistic in its approach than the source material. The character designs, for example, are said to have been altered from cartoonish to a grittier style. But, in the end, different or not, I doubt it'll matter to most reading this; most, like myself, not knowing a lot about it prior to viewing.

:: Story :: -- 9/10

The story is about a man known by the name of 'Black Jack'. He's an unlicensed doctor, said to be the best in the world, who will do almost any job asked of him... for a price. With a black cape he keeps wrapped around himself even in the heat of the desert, he travels the world, being paid crazy amounts of money to find the cure for various diseases and illnesses that normal doctors can find no remedy for. No-one knows much about him, only a basic description: he has a surgical scar on his face, a mixture of black and white hair and, as his name suggests, he wears black.

The best way for me to explain the series to someone totally in the dark is to use Mushishi; a very popular, totally episodic title, with very little development for its lead and few recurring characters. Like the lead of Mushishi, Black Jack is always on the move, attempting solve mysteries in order to save the lives of his patients. Each episode focuses on a different problem, and Black Jack often finds himself in a race against time to save lives. There's isn't much in the way of greenery, the stories mostly taking place inside towns, and there isn't any relaxing music that soothes the soul, but the basic premise of both titles are very, very similar. There are even a number of supernatural cases included, meaning there's no realism/supernatural divide separating the two. Black Jack does try to stick closer to reality, with its lead using the power of science rather than information about supernatural life-forms, though.

In the first half, the focus is heavily on realism. There's a story involving the effects drugs have on people and how they destroy lives; there's a story about a clearly-not-renamed-version-of-America attempting to re-capture the leader of a smaller nation out of greed; there's a story about an actress being unable to eat, edging ever closer to starvation and, finally, there's a story about a young man trying to uncover the mystery behind his dreams, which result in him having spasms and bleeding from an old bullet wound. The first episode involves a supernatural illness, but the majority of the content in episodes 2-5 doesn’t stray too far from what can be viewed as believable.

However, the second half differs greatly, and it came close to making me lower my rating slightly. I won't go through them all, but one episode I can use as an example is the sixth. It involves a box full of money arriving two years late at the residence of Black Jack and a rather bizarre dream sequence playing out, where Black Jack goes back in time and has to try to figure out why a princess is suffering as if a serpent is wrapped around her, with her also going into rages where she attacks others. After what came before, it struck me as being out of place, although the later episodes made it fit in better. Honestly, I didn't get as much enjoyment out of episodes 6-9 as I did out of 1-5, and only the moving and very involving final episode about a 'mermaid' compares to the earlier episodes in my mind.

I wouldn't go as far as to say Black Jack is a tale of two halves. The second half did have some interesting episodes, nearly all of them being entertaining, and the final episode allowed the series to end on a high. I will, however, say that, depending on if you enjoy realistic or supernatural elements more, you'll probably end up preferring one half of the series over the other.

:: Characterization :: -- 8.5/10

The characterization is the main plus or negative, depending on your perspective, though. Black Jack, and his youthful looking and immature assistant, Pinoko, receive no real development throughout the series. Black Jack always attempts to distance himself emotionally from his patients and, while he does sometimes end up becoming close with a number of the females involved in each story (even sleeping in the same bed as one of them), the relationships never advance to a point where you learn more about Black Jack. He's quiet, he's kinder than his the fees he asks for suggests and he's a God with a scalpel - that's all you'll ever learn about him from this OVA. Nothing is shown of his past, and you aren't even told why he lives with the ever colourful Pinoko; a character that wasn't needed and often got in the way with her light-hearted scenes, especially in the last half.

The flipside of this coin is that all of the main characters in each of the stories get fleshed out significantly. More often than not, I was able to sympathize with their struggles... or, at the very least, I was able to understand enough to care. Using the characterization in episode four as an example, a woman was shown to gradually deteriorate until she was close to being a skeleton. From time to time, she dreamed about her childhood days spent with her friend; when they both shared childish dreams. As she neared death, despite her will to live, she wanted her pain to end, and to 'see' her friend once again. Because of the slow pacing and powerful images shown, it was impossible for me not to become emotionally involved, and I felt similarly about a number of the other characters.

While I would've loved to learn more about Black Jack and Pinoko, I don't think it damaged what is a totally episodic title. If anything, knowing little about Black Jack made him more of an enigma; adding to his appeal.

:: Art / Animation + Sound :: -- 7/10 & 6/10

By far, the visuals and sound are the most disappointing aspects of the series. I like the gritty art style, I like the detailed and bloody surgery scenes, I like the dull colour usage and the voice acting is perfectly acceptable. The problems lie with the animation and soundtrack. There's very little animation of note included, sometimes still-shots being used. The openings and endings are both very disappointing, the opening in particular because it flashes between poor quality (video) artwork for around three minutes. And the soundtrack is totally unmemorable, me not even noticing when there wasn't any music during the many parts with only voice acting and sound effects. While far from horrible, this isn't something to go into for eye and ear pleasing material.

:: Overall :: -- 8.5/10-9/10

To sum it up, Black Jack is an excellent, slightly under-rated and VERY under-watched anime. I highly recommend it to fans of Mushishi's story-telling style, or to anyone looking for something not reliant on moe to appeal. Without wanting to sound pretentious, Black Jack is an anime aimed at adults; aimed at those who can look underneath and appreciate stories not needing to be pushed along with constant, attention grabbing plot twists. Unless you believe you need 2000+ flashiness, do yourself a favour and look back in time; you never know, you might just see what I saw when I watched it. read more

Due to this being a review of 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.

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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 inconsistencies. Because of the huge amount of content that was cut (removal > rewrite), there are numerous inconsistencies 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 SHIT. 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 read more

Waves in the ocean. Ripples in water. Occurrences that don't impact on the world as a whole.

Ocean Waves is a story of similar impact; impacting only on three characters locked inside their own small little world. It's a story covering the journey towards adulthood of three high schoolers, where the friendship of two is damaged by the one thing besides hate that can destroy bonds - love.

Often over-looked because the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder of Studio Ghibli and the director of many highly regarded Ghibli titles, had no role in the completion of the film, it's by far the most under-watched and under-rated of the Ghibli films I've watched thus far. Ocean Waves was an attempt at giving the younger staff members of Ghibli a chance to shine - a chance to come from under the shadows of the bigger names - and shine they did, though not as brightly as they would've hoped.

:: Story :: -- 8.5-9/10

In a nutshell, Ocean Waves is a romance, featuring a love triangle, without any supernatural elements whatsoever being included. There are black comedy and depressing sections of the story, leading to the ending being somewhat unpredictable.

Prior to a girl called Rikako transferring from Tokyo to a high school located in a small town by the sea, Taku and Yutaka shared a close friendship; one forged at the back-end of junior high when they were the only two in their school to persist in standing against the school's decision to cancel the school trip. From then onwards, despite being in different classes, the two remained close, inside and outside of school. But Rikako changed everything. Yutaka fell in love with her at first sight, starting with when he - as the class representative - showed her around the school. Yutaka also called Taku to the school on the same day, wanting to show the new girl to his best friend, and that's when their relationship started to become troubled; when Taku also became enchanted by her beauty.

The story is a simple yet moving affair. It's almost certain to be hard-hitting for anyone who has developed feelings for someone a close friend also has feelings for. Watching Taku attempt to sustain a friendship whilst being pulled deeper and deeper into the selfish world of Rikako, it was difficult for me not to get pulled into the world of the characters. Even for those who can't relate to the struggles of the characters, like myself, it'd be an absorbing experience.

The only real story negative is that it's too short, the film only lasting for around 70 minutes. Given that Ocean Waves was a 'youth of Ghilbli' project, with a small budget (which they ended up going over), it isn't shocking that one-third of the love triangle didn't get as much time as the other two-thirds. Likewise, it isn't a shock that the story ended right when it reached the good part; when the story reached its peak. But, viewed as it is, the story has enough quality to justify the 9/10 (rounded from 8.5) score I'm awarding it.

:: Characterization :: - 8.5/10

The main two characters (the two who get the most time - Taku and Rikako) are fleshed out well enough so that I was able to get an excellent understanding of their personalities. Taku is your typical nice guy, willing to help someone work through their problems without gaining anything in return, but he's also honest, being blunt where necessary. Rikako, on the other hand, is a spoilt child, blaming the break-up of her parents' marriage on her mother because she was forced to move away from Tokyo. Where as Taku shows consideration by thinking of the feelings of Yutaka, she thinks only of herself - lying to get money in order to return to Tokyo, deceiving her friend in an attempt to get her to go to Tokyo with her and many other things. But, as they say, opposites attract, and over the course of the story she starts to learn through experience.

My only issue with Rikako is that, because of the short length of the film, nearly all of it focused on her being selfish. Not enough was shown of her other side, or of her growth into a a more mature person - one not locked inside her own little world. If the film had been twenty minutes longer, with some scenes added just before and after the ending, I feel it would've improved the experience.

However, my main characterization issue doesn't lie with Rikako. The third part of the love triangle, Yutaka, quite simply didn't get anywhere near enough time for him to develop into more than a well-used plot device. Nearly all of the film focused on the developments of Taku and Rikako, Yutaka being excluded completely during the black comedy section in the middle. Yutaka being the friend of Taku and making him think twice about his feelings for Rikako made the story work, but it would've been more powerful if there had been three characters to care for rather than two.

On the whole, the characterization is very good. The realism of Rikako's personality in particular is worth noting. But I can't quite give the characterization side a 9/10 score when there could've been added development - development which would've increased my enjoyment.

:: Art / Animation :: - 8.5/10

As you'd expect of a Ghibli title, Ocean Waves is pleasing visually. The animation flowed (though, with it being realistic, there wasn't any fast-paced action or the like) and there were no obvious over-budget issues that caught my eye. The only negative that springs to mind is the trademark Ghibli facial artwork, which is the same except in the cases of certain types of characters. Having watched a couple of Ghibli titles in quick succession, I've noticed how the faces are often identical. What highlighted this to me in the case of Ocean Waves was towards the end, when I noticed that one of the supporting female characters with her hair like Rikako looked just like her (I thought it was her at first.)

To be fair, I'm probably nit-picking. What matters with regards to the faces is that the characters' emotions are conveyed, and the expression side had no issues whatsoever. When Rikako was pissed off and gave Taku the 'evil eye' feared by men worldwide, she looked convincing. When Taku lost his patience with Rikako because of her selfish ways, his feelings were etched on his face. Etc, etc. On the whole, the art impressed me, and I see no reason to mark a drama down because it had no action to be animated.

:: Sound :: - 8/10

The soundtrack has a good range of songs, ranging from depressing piano tracks to uplifting tracks, and the music fitted the mood well. After finishing the film, I couldn't recall an excellent piece I wanted to listen to over and over, but I did appreciate the soundtrack after downloading and listening to it away from the film, with no pretty images to distract me. There's music that sets the mood and music that's wonderful to listen to away from what it played alongside, and the Ocean Waves soundtrack is the former.

As for the voice acting, I felt whilst watching that the voices fitted the characters well enough. Like in the case of the music, I didn't end the film with any of the voices stuck inside my brain, but I didn't end with any negative feelings about the acting.

:: Overall :: - 9/10

To sum it up, Ocean Waves is something for anyone who can handle anime without supernatural elements distancing its story from reality. It's a must watch for fans of romance with a realistic edge.

Don't ignore it simply because of its unknown status compared to the other Ghibli titles. A lot of people go into anime to escape reality - to see something different - and I'm sure that has played a part in it being scored harshly compared to certain other Ghibli titles. It's more than worthy of a place in any Ghibli collection. Trust me when I say that Miyazaki not being involved doesn't make it any less of a film. read more

Prior to buying the box set, I had watched the first ten episodes; I got the first two R2 volumes for a few quid. I found the series to be very watchable simply because revenge stories are always involving and each episode provided a new story, but there wasn't enough connecting the dots for me to love it - there hadn't been any character development whatsoever for Hell Girl and her crew. The quality also went up and down a lot; as expected of an episodic title.

The first half of Hell Girl focused on black and white revenge. What made the victims vengeful was shown, the victims then went on the net and entered the name of the person they wanted to die, Hell Girl then appeared and gave the victims the tool required to cast the curse, the victims then received one last push from the person they hate required to make them want to give up their own soul for revenge and, finally, Hell Girl and her servants ended the episodes by first punishing (often unintentionally comically) and then ferrying the cursed, evil people to hell on a small boat. Very repetitive; even the same dialogue was repeated by Hell Girl when giving instructions and the like.

The second half mixed things up slightly by introducing a private detective (of sorts) called Hajime and his daughter; a daughter that shares a connection to Hell Girl that lets her see through Hell Girl's eyes from time to time - allowing her father to track down Hell Girl's 'clients' in each episode. Her father, as luck would have it, sees revenge as wrong and, at first, felt the need to try to stop Hell Girl. The new investigation angle did freshen up the stories, with them told from the viewpoint of Hajime rather than the victims - adding mystery. There were other changes, too, such as the revenge stories no longer being black and white; sometimes 'good' people got sent to hell in order to justify Hajime's anti-revenge/Hell Girl ramblings, these 'good' people not getting the cosplay punishment sequences. But the best thing about the introduction of Hajime and his daughter was the inclusion of recurring characters with actual development; not just faces with nothing below the surface. Hajime even got an episode to himself that explained his back-story and why he was so against revenge - it made me feel sorry for him.

Ignoring the reappearances of Hell Girl, her three servants and the father and daughter duo, there weren't any connected episodes in terms of story until the last three, which were all about Hell Girl's past, finally revealing a little about her to the viewers. Until that point, she'd been no more than a doll; there to punish upon request and repeat the same lines without any emotions. Seeing her tragic background and seeing her show an emotion - anger - transformed her from a blank slate and into an actual person. And, as an added bonus, her story connected Hajime and his daughter to her, making their inclusion not as random as it appeared - I thought they were no more than characters threw in to extend the story.

If not for some very poor episodes which departed from the usual formula, mixing in unnecessary extra supernatural elements - like a talking doll with control of plant monsters and Hell Boy (don't ask) - I'd have rated it higher. Those few episodes added nothing, only lowering the overall quality. There were also some standard revenge stories that weren't very good, but most of the 'normal' episodes were at least watchable, and even if they were poor there was always another, totally different story right around the corner.

One non-plot/character point that deserves to be mentioned is the music. It's unique to my ears; some kind of eerie techno/rock stuff. Whatever it's classed as, it's very good, and it made the talking sections of the episodes even more watchable.

Overall, providing you don't mind episodic series that aren't comedies and are forgiving enough to excuse a few drops in quality and silly punishment sequences, it's a must watch. It gets better the further you progress. It did bug me that little was revealed about Hell Girl until the end and how school girls always seemed to be playing the roles of victims (school girls sell DVDs), but I came out of the series thinking highly of it.

Rating: 8/10 read more

True Tears is a slow to average paced high school romance. Mostly old ground is covered, with very little original content. The lack of originality is masked by an excellent presentation, including backgrounds that look alive due to the use of CG, with numerous CG characters usually walking around behind the main characters as they talk. Older, more experienced studios most likely would not bother doing such things, instead opting to save time and money, but True Tears was P.A. Works first creation and they clearly wanted to make it a little bit special.

The story is centered around Shinichiro (Shin), a plain guy who has the attention of three attractive girls: Hiromi, a classy, quiet and athletic girl with long hair (she lives with him and his parents because of her parent dying); Noe, a 'special' girl with short hair, and obsessions with chickens, flying and tears and Aiko; a red-haired tomboy who runs a pancake shop and 'goes out' with the best friend of Shin.

I was half right with the predictions I made at the start, getting one correct and being completely wrong with the other. I was on the money when I predicted who Shin would end up with (it was fairly obvious, though). However, I was wrong about something else: the series decreased in quality as it went on rather than increasing as a result of character development and drama that I assumed would increase in intensity. It started well enough - the lead and his three wannabe girlfriends quickly got fleshed out, enabling me to get into the story from the start. Not a lot happened in the early episodes but there was enough good characterization to make me expect that the series would get better with each passing episode, and it did at first. There was even a surprising twist towards the end of the first disc that made me start to doubt my prediction about which girl Shin would end up with. But, in the end, it all went wrong...

The least damaging of my issues with the series is its dialogue. Like in many teen romance series, there is a character who childishly replaces words like 'happiness' or 'depressed' (or, using an example from another anime, instead of saying 'courage', saying a certain expression over and over instead), and this time 'flying' is the word used. I was fine with it at first but, later on, it gets repeated a lot, mainly because that is all Noe ever talks about. What could have been viewed as humorous got the beaten with a stick treatment and, in the end, I disliked Noe because of her limited vocabulary and odd personality.

The next issue up on my list is the love quadruple. The problem is, there are not actually three girls Shin cares about. The third girl (for spoiler reasons, let's call her 'girl three') gets ignored, then kisses the lead, then gets rejected because he is not into her...and that is it. She only appears a few times after that. She may as well have not even been in the series - her and her forced relationship with Shin's best friend simply took up time in an already slow paced story.

Next up is Shin, the lead himself. I am used to dullards getting a harem in anime, and I am also used to them being indecisive. That is just how it is - they have to be plain so others can put themselves in their shoes, and they have to be unable to decide anything to add to the drama. But this guy takes the word 'indecisive' to a whole new level. During episode ten, he picks the girl he wants, chasing after her in dramatic fashion on a bike (ignoring the fact he could have talked to her normally a few minutes beforehand), and tells her he will take care of her. She had been the only girl he wanted since the start; the only girl he had shown a genuine interest in. Credits time, right? He had got the girl he wanted and his relationship with his only other option was not active. Well, the answer is no - the credits did not roll until the end of episode 13 because he changed his mind AFTER the episode ten drama - and this point brings me onto my final, series ruining problem.

What is my main issue, you ask? Quite simply, the series should have ended after the tenth episode, with a different final episode. The story was complete at that point - Shin had the girl he wanted, he clearly never loved girl two and was not into girl three at all. He even had a history with the girl he liked dating back to a childhood festival. But, for whatever reason, the story kept going, and in episode 11 Shin did a complete 180, no longer caring about the girl he had always wanted once he won her heart, even ignoring her and saying he had to go when she came to see him, instead only thinking about another girl. There was no consistency or logic about this sudden change; it was obvious from the start to me how the series would end (and, eventually, it did end like that) and Shin's random change of direction just did not fit. At first I thought the writers, for shock value alone, had ignored what happened in the first ten episodes and decided to go with another girl. Thankfully, it turned out that they had simply done a bad job of extending the story and it ended how it should have done, but the damage episodes 11-12 in particular did was not erased by that.

If not for the final three episodes, I would be here typing a shorter review, awarding the series a solid 8-8.5/10 'with bothersome flaws' score for being an involving drama with pleasing attention to detail, in terms of both characterization and the visuals. But nearly all of Shin's character development got discarded towards the end, resulting in a lot of damage. And, to rub salt into the wounds, when Shin finally stopped being a top of the line idiot, nothing was shown of him and the girl he picked together. Shin told her she was the only one for him, she cried, a few parting shots of the cast were shown... the end. With all of the repeated chicken/flying dialogue and pointless time Shin (and his best friend) spent with the girl he was never interested in, you would assume that an actual ending would have been added, but no.

'True Disappointment' would be a far more fitting title for the series. Excellent and detailed visuals, as well as it including a catchy opening and very good first half are not strong enough plus points to make me ignore the end. It could have been great, yet it fell at the final hurdle, with my only emotion near the end being anger. If the series ended like it looked like it was going to during episodes 11-12, the only tears I would have shed would have been the painful, fist-through-TV kind.

I recommend this to fans of romance, but in no way do I suggest it is a classic. Its flaws are far too problematic for me to ever regard it as being any more than a decent, one-watch title.

Rating: 7.5/10 read more

Gankutsuou; my favourite anime series. I enjoyed it enough to read the 1250 page novel it was based on (The Count of Monte Cristo) after finishing the series, and I am far from an avid reader. In the end, not only did Gankutsuou become my favourite anime, it also helped me find my favourite book.

Not having read the novel prior to starting the series, I had no idea what to expect. I knew certain vague details, such as a young man becoming fascinated with The Count of Monte Cristo, but not a lot more than that. But, as a result of having no expectations, I was blown away by the story of Edmond Dantes; The Count of Monte Cristo.

Story: 9.7/10

In a nutshell, Gankutsuou is a fairly simple revenge story that is executed extremely well. A young man called Edmond Dantes loses his freedom, his love and almost his life because of the greed, jealousy and pride of three men. Then, after many years, he returns, posing as The Count of Monte Cristo - a rich 'noble' who appears out of nowhere and sends shockwaves through Paris with his riches - and puts into action his plan to get the ultimate revenge on the men who destroyed his life. After spending many years suffering, he does not simply want to kill them: he wants to destroy them by throwing them into the pits of despair.

In order to add mystery to his character, the story is not told from the perspective of Edmond (unlike in the book). Instead, the story is told from the perspective of Albert, a young noble and son of Fernand de Morcerf; a general and one of the three Edmond wants revenge against. This brings both bad and good points, the good being the added mystery and a different angle on the story, the bad being Albert having the IQ of a dog. I wanted to kill him when he failed to work out that it was in fact Edmond pulling the strings behind the awful sequence of events occurring around him for the tenth time.

The setting was quite a shock at first, with the story taking place in the year 5053, where as the novel takes place during the 1800's. It was a further surprise to discover the story starts during the Rome part of the novel, the only difference being that the writers replaced Rome with a city on the moon. While I can see the plus points a sci-fi setting brings to the table, I would have preferred it if the story had took place during the same period as the original story since very few details are given about the futuristic universe and the setting becomes more of a distraction than anything else.

If you ignore the fact that the story is not told with the events occurring in chronological order, one of two things that might upset purists is how the story goes in a different direction than the novel after episode 18. With Edmond being key to the story, him only caring about revenge in the anime was the reason behind the change of direction towards the end. In the novel, he was persuaded by Mercédès to alter his plans, yet in the anime he turned a deaf ear to her and continued... This one seemingly minor change had a huge impact on how the story progressed beyond that point. Thankfully, Gonzo handled the changes very well, making the finale interesting even for people who have read the novel.

All in all, the story was a wonderful ride. An adaptation of a timeless classic with artistic differences, it was executed excellently, at times perfectly. You do have to wait for the 'main event' before you discover just how amazingly well told the story is, the first half in particular being nearly all build up, but I still felt compelled to keep watching even without any major twists/events occurring.

Characterization: 9.5/10

I liked pretty much the entire cast...apart from the main character, Albert. While I do understand he had to be made rather stupid for the sake of the plot, his stupidity and inability to see the obvious became very annoying after awhile. You would think anyone with a few brain cells would be able to put two and two together when Edmond randomly kept appearing AFTER he had told Albert that there were no coincidences!

Franz, the childhood friend of Albert in Gankutsuou (they are not that close in the novel), shares a close relationship with Albert, the two being near enough inseparable. There are definite homosexual overtones in the anime, Franz making it clear on numerous occasions that he views Albert as more than just a friend. Franz is a calm and very intelligent character, in many ways being the exact opposite of Albert in the anime. The pair fall out many times, usually over Edmond when Franz tries to warn Albert about him not being all he seems.

Edmond, The Count of Monte Cristo himself, remains a mystery for most of the series. He acts kind, yet you can tell that underneath he is hiding something; wearing a mask to fool those around him. His character differs considerably from the character you see in the book because, where as he views himself as a servant of God in the book, he views himself as a demon of revenge in the anime adaptation. The Gankutsuou version of him is certainly an interesting take on a famous character; one that I'm sure would likely have created more discussion had more people read the novel Gankutsuou is based on.

The one glaring omission from the anime cast is one of the most important characters in the book: Abbé Faria. In the novel, Faria saved Edmond from killing himself after he had spent many years alone in the prison of Château d'If, giving him renewed hope and someone to converse with. Faria soon become a sort of mentor to him, giving him the vast amounts of knowledge he had inside his elderly mind, eventually changing him from a silly boy and into a respectable man. Faria was the person who led Edmond to fortune by telling him about the treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo on his death bed.

In the anime, no explanation whatsoever was given for how Edmond transformed from a naive boy to the charismatic man you see as The Count of Monte Cristo. He does not even go to the island of Monte Cristo in the anime, his cave of wonders being moved to underneath his house in France. Although the anime changes do work and go along with the changes made to his character, Gankutsuou would have had more depth if Faria had at least been shown.

To sum it up in a sentence, Gankutsuou has an amazing cast of well developed characters. I do recommend you read the novel if you wish to understand them fully, though - a 24 episode anime can only fit in so much.

Art / Animation: 10/10

The first thing that hits you about Gankutsuou is the rather bizarre CG effect clothing and hair has. The effect is hard to put into words; it is as if the characters clothing and hair are reflective. It takes a few episodes to get used to it, but the effect looks lovely once your eyes adjust. If nothing else, you have to praise the studio behind Gankutsuou (Gonzo) for the huge amount of effort they put in.

The second thing to hit you is the bright range of colours used. If, like me, you went into Gankutsuou expecting to see dark and dull colours, the sort fitting for a tale set in the 1800's, you'd be completely wrong since the colours are anything but dull, vibrant being a much better description.

As expected of a Gonzo production, Gankutsuou also has a fair amount of CG, including some mecha fights. The CG is stunning at times, almost jaw dropping for a TV series. It blends in with the animation excellently, too.

The strong point of Gankutsuou is its visuals...once you get used to the unique animation effect. Production values were clearly not low here.

Music: 9/10

First of all, let me say that I do not think very much of the opening (OP) song. The OP, while fitting, is so dull and slow I had to skip it after watching it once. On the other hand, the ending (ED) I am rather fond of, the lyrics fitting the show perfectly and the song being fast paced. I feel the ED would have worked better if it had been used for the OP.

The soundtrack is very high quality. There are not too many tracks I listen to outside of the series, but the music fitted the show like a glove and helped keep the story epic. I also loved how classical music was chosen - it made the experience feel even more special to hear both unedited and edited versions of some of the most famous classical music in existence playing alongside the animation.

I have to mention track 18, one of the best pieces of music I have listened to. It was cheek-tinglingly stunning to listen to when it played during the best episode in the series (strangely enough, episode 18!), making the sequence even more thrilling than it was already.

The selection of classical music (some remixed for the anime), excellent newly created music and one the most fitting ED songs of all time make all add up to make the Gankutsuou soundtrack an impressive one.

Overall: 9.7/10

Having watched a fair amount of anime and being a critical person by nature, I am hard to please. Gankutsuou pleased me, with every area surpassing my expectations. It is a rare, rare feeling to end anything and feel near enough completely satisfied. I cannot see me enjoying another anime anywhere near as much for a long time.

I recommend this series to everyone: those who have read the novel and those who have not. My only suggestion is to watch the anime before reading the novel if possible since we all know how people can be picky when it comes to adaptations. read more

Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO), one of the most loved manga (and anime) titles in existence. A story about a man with little in the way of education finding a place for himself in the world as a teacher, teaching kids with more education than himself lessons about life. The story has a wonderful combination of hard-hitting drama, complete with characters with realistic, easy to relate to problems and over the top comedy. As well as being meaningful, the story can inject warmth into even the coldest of hearts.

Story: 9/10

The story is centered around a man called Eikichi Onizuka. Like near enough every 22 year old male, he wants the easy life; a life involving lots of money, women and respect. And he is determined to get it, taking a resume with him and going to job interviews at big companies. However, there are a few minor problems: he looks like a street punk, he has bleached hair, he barely managed to graduate from a fifth rate college and he boasts about his martial arts skills on his resume, also mentioning the fact he is a virgin. Needless to say, he gets rejected every time he applies for a cushy office job.

Close to giving up on the easy life, a chance encounter with an attractive high school girl, who is having sex with a fat and bald teacher, changes his mind. After he comes to the shocking realization that teachers are surrounded by young and pure girls, he decides to become a teacher and fulfill his dream of marrying an attractive girl younger than himself. But his goal quickly changes once again after he helps a girl solve her family problems whilst on a teaching training course, and he decides to right the wrongs of the teachers who told him he was trash by becoming the greatest teacher in the world.

While the premise is a simple one, the balance between drama and comedy and the wonderful execution makes the simplicity irrelevant. Living in the storage room at the top of Holy Forest (a co-ed private school), Onizuka helps the students in his class (3-4) in numerous ways, varying from using his street smarts to stop bullies by giving them a taste of their own medicine to simply being friends with his more lonely students. Unlike other teachers who, just like in real life, only care about their job and the money, he goes the extra mile, involving himself with his students in an attempt to make them enjoy their school years in a way he never was able to. Whether it involves saving his students from getting beaten and/or raped or helping them appreciate life by tying them to the front of his bike and driving them off an unfinished bridge, he is willing to do it. To begin with his class hate teachers in general because of a past experience, but by the end he manages to unite everyone in his class and earn the respect of everyone.

However, I cannot claim the story is without its problems. Some of the stories included repeat what has gone before and appear to have only been included just to stretch the story out. And, by the end, there are many subplots left hanging, and in some cases it appears that the mangaka forgot to or lacked the motivation required to finish what he had started. Although these are in truth minor problems, largely ignorable because of how enjoyable GTO is to read, I can't objectively give the story top marks when it has so many minor but bothersome issues. It is a pity because, if not for my issues with the story, it would have been awarded a 10/10 score.

Characterization: 10/10

Nearly all of the important members of class four get fleshed out over the course of the story. Some more than others because a few get their very own lengthy stories included, but even those who do not are usually heavily involved in the GTO proceedings. Rather than being driven by an over-arching plot, it is driven by numerous shorter stories that focus on a certain character or two, and Onizuka usually has to step in to help the character(s) involved. I think anyone who reads it would struggle not to find at least one character to add to their favourite character list: whether you are into a mommy's boy who protects his 27 year old (and often braless) mother from men at all costs (Kunio), a mentally slow but innocent and cute girl (Tomoko) or a girl with an IQ of 200 who masks her loneliness with her intellect (Urumi), there is a loveable character for everyone included.

The best thing about the cast is that they all have problems real people have. Some are dissatisfied with their lives, some have family issues, some have been abused - there is something everyone can relate to. If nothing else, pretty much everyone should be able to connect with the characters when it comes to their feelings about teachers and the barrier that exists between teacher and student. And, while it is true that the solutions to the casts various problems tend to be over the top for comedy purposes, none of the meaning is lost. In fact, the addition of often hilarious humour prevents the story as a whole from being a total downer.

GTO is truly worthy of top marks when it comes to characterization. The only possible reason I can think of to mark it lower is that not every subplot is seen through to conclusion, which is fairly bothersome for me since I became so invested in the lives of the characters.

Art: 10/10

Are you tired of seeing the same background art repeated over and over, with new character poses drawn on top? If you are, then look no further than GTO, where even small objects in rooms are drawn with detail and the backgrounds rarely repeat...or at least not noticeably so. Because of the detailed drawings and the usually large amount of text per page, the volumes take me far longer than a 180-200 page volume normally takes me to get though.

I cannot stress enough how lovely the GTO art is. The character models are so well drawn and realistic that I actually found the female characters attractive (the mangaka deserves an award for 'Best Drawn School Girls Ever'). The expressions are spot on and everything looks as close to perfection as I can imagine a weekly manga ever getting. My only complaint is that, towards the end, some of the characters start to look like those introduced previously... But, to be fair, it is very harsh to criticize an artist for that when reviewing a 25 volume series - there are a huge amount of characters and keeping them all looking totally different is impossible.

Overall: 9.5/10

In closing, GTO is a must read for everyone. It would be difficult for anyone not to be moved by the story and/or not get any laughs out of the comedy. Sure, it is perverted and a little over the top at times, but that just adds to the flavour. It is safe to say the series has a little something for everyone, and that is why the series is a worldwide hit. If you do not own the series, go buy all 25 volumes, sit back and get ready for the sort of enjoyment very little in this world can provide you with. read more

Before the third and final Tenchi movie, Tenchi as a whole had been hit and miss for me, ranging from 7/10 to 8/10 in terms of ratings. I enjoyed the first two OVA series but quickly grew tired of all the silliness and the lack of explanations with regards to various plot elements. It started to get stale after the harem cast had been assembled. My thoughts about the first two movies are very similar to my thoughts about the OVA. So, I didn't go into what's most likely going to be the last Tenchi anime I watch expecting anything other than the usual harem fluff, with a random, one dimensional villain thrown in so that there would be a fight to end it with a sense of purpose.

It ended up surpassing my expectations by some distance. I found it to be emotionally moving and involving - I couldn't help but care about the characters. However, it isn't something for Tenchi fans; it's for fans of well written and executed films. It has a low MAL rating - on par with the Christmas special of a second film - and I understand why without even asking anyone: because it lacks the feel of the other Tenchi anime in existence. If what came before is classed as Tenchi for the younger generation, then this is most certainly Tenchi for adults.

To start with, the art differs from the art of the previous films, both of which looking like the OVA series. I wouldn't say the previous art looks cartoony but it doesn't exactly look realistic either. The intention was clearly to make this installment more realistic to go with the story, and they started by altering the art. The faces look more realistic, the size/proportions of the characters look more realistic... everything apart from the ears and eyes looks realistic. This is a weird complaint to have but the ears bothered me, Ryoko's bothering me the most. Instead of having ears, it looks like a number of characters have rectangles stuck to the sides of their heads. I'm not sure if Ryoko always had rectangle for ears and the different art style simply made me notice, but whoever designed the ears deserves to be shot. Repeatedly.

The music also differs considerably from what's gone before, changing to fit with the new direction. In the past fitting but uninspiring and unmemorable efforts good for comedy were used, but in this there are drama orientated instrumental pieces. Even 'Étude No.3' - the famous piano piece - plays towards the end.

...Anyway, getting back on track. The story starts in normal Tenchi style; with Ayeka and Ryoko fighting like cat and dog and Tenchi getting involved. But within minutes (literally), Tenchi randomly stumbles upon a tree and, enchanted by its beauty, walks toward it. He then gets taken somewhere by a mysterious woman who appears before him.

The plot then fast-forwards six months. Tenchi has been missing and his harem have split up to search for him. Ayeka and Ryoko, who have teamed up, have managed to find out the city he's living in thanks to Washu and they work as waitresses while living there to pay the bills. Ryoko has a watch that alerts her to Tenchi's presence but hasn't had any luck finding him.

It's soon revealed that an older looking Tenchi, complete with long hair, has been living with the woman who appeared before him at the start. The woman is called Haruna and Tenchi has lost all of his memories. And when I say living together, I mean they live together as a couple, doing what couples do when alone. It's normal for anything sexual in a harem to be used only for comical purposes, without any actual sexual intercourse taking place, but there's nothing comical about Tenchi and Haruna's relationship. They're shown together in bed, naked, with Haruna on top of Tenchi early on and later Haruna moves herself slowly up Tenchi whilst he lies down, grinding her body against his.

I'm mentioning this and going into detail because it highlights the different audience the film is aimed at. Sex goes from being childish to being handled in a far more mature fashion. That's quite a jump for what was, before this attempt, a simple and straight-forward harem story involving alien ladies.

Once it's clear how Tenchi's living, the plot starts moving slower. The first twenty minutes flew by - I was surprised by the pacing - but then everything slowed down for character development. Ayeka and Ryoko become more and more depressed with every glimpse of Tenchi happy; oblivious to their existence. Despite them being rivals for Tenchi's affection when down in the dumps, rather than fight over Tenchi, they support each other. Ryoko pushes Ayeka's buttons when she's on the verge giving up and Ayeka tries to do the same for Ryoko. It's fair to say their friendship and not the rivalry they're known for shines through in the film.

All of the other development is, as you'd expected, Tenchi and Haruna development, mixed in with some Yosho (Tenchi's grandfather) development because of his connection to Haruna. The other cast members basically just make cameo appearances. Tenchi comes across differently than the plain harem lead type from before; he's far more troubled and always deep in thought, drawing in an attempt to express himself and the memories that lurk in the back of his mind. Haruna, who is the villain of the story, tries to keep Tenchi ignorant in an attempt to keep him close to her and ease her loneliness. Rather than being yet another one dimensional Tenchi bad guy, she's well developed and by the end you can't help but feel sorry for her.

The important characters all receive lots of development, and the story even fills in some small Yosho related holes. The only serious flaw is that, as I mentioned before, it doesn't have the same vibe as the other Tenchi anime. It's very serious, focusing almost fully on drama. There are very few comedy scenes and the cast only gets together at the end. If I was someone who loved Tenchi for being light-hearted fun, I wouldn't be best pleased, so I can understand the problem people have with it... but I'm not one of those people and I respect those in charge for trying something different.

Overall, watching the film was an excellent way to end my Tenchi love affair. I was expecting to end it with yet another 7/10 rating, but I ended up awarding it 9/10 and actually thinking highly of a Tenchi offering. To anyone other than diehard Tenchi fans who can't accept change, I strongly recommend it.

Rating: 9/10 read more

First of all, let me say that no aspect of this series is outstanding. Rather than being brilliant at one thing, it's more of a good all-round series. It's a solid series; one that fans of war stories set in the ancient past will get into from the get-go. And, despite the main character having his own harem, it's safe to say the series can be enjoyed even by those who dislike harem series.

The story starts with a man getting found injured in the forest near a small farming village. He has a mask, no memories and doesn't have a clue who he is or what he was doing in the forest. He quickly becomes friends with Eluluu, the young healer who found him, and her little sister, Aruruu. He gets given the name Hakuro by the village chief - the name of Eluluu and Aruruu's father.

At first all is well but the situation quickly turns ugly. Hakuro has to come up with a tactic to save the villagers from being eaten alive by the angry 'God' of the forest. He does so, and earns the respect of the entire village. Then the local feudal lord pays a visit to the town in order to collect taxes. One of the guards kills the village chief, resulting in Hakuro being named chief, and he helps the angered villagers lead a rebellion against the feudal lord. Hakuro kills him, which leads to the Emperor getting involved in an attempt to avenge his brother.

From there, the series takes a path fans of the Suikoden video game series will be familiar with: armies fight, new, super strong allies join and, bit by bit, Hakuro's army grows in power. Soon a mere rebellion transforms into a war between nations, with war after war following Hakuro as he rises to power, as if caused by him. As he continues to become more powerful, staining his hands with more and more blood, the questions of who he is and if what he's doing is right become increasingly troubling.

Where the story falls short, after an involving opening and enjoyable middle, is the ending. Prior to the last section of the story, it had been fast-paced bows and arrows warfare. Aside from a few winged magic users, there'd been nothing to suggest the ending would be quite so ridiculous. All of a sudden robots come into the picture, with one nation destroying all others with these machines, and Hakuro's true identity is revealed during the mecha action. In an attempt not to spoil the story, I'll just say that Gods, evolution, space stations, hi-tech science labs, blob monsters, reincarnation, a Godzilla style final battle and all of the usual anime ending stuff you can think of comes into play. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, actually... It's best just to say it ends in a horrible manner and leave it at that. It's a shame because if the series had ended like it started, without all of the seemingly random rubbish, it could've been a top anime.

The ending aside, my other story issue lies with the battle tactics. Hakuro's tactics usually come down to him telling people to go left or right and him letting his elite soldiers slaughter the enemy soldiers. With the main character playing the role of tactician and the story being about him quickly rising to power, I expected in-depth, jaw dropping battle strategies. Maybe I was expecting too much? I don't know, but it's fair to say the battles could've been more complex.

While on the subject of battles, if you've played any of the Dynasty Warrior games you'll have a good idea how the combat goes in Utaware. The generals are all powerful, killing the grunts with one blow, and the proper, more intense combat involves one on one battles between opposing generals. But the combat isn't very exciting, with some animation recycling occurring and the important fights just simply failing to get my blood pumping. It's a shame because some dodgy, out of place CG aside, Utaware is lovely to look at. The art is appealing, the colours vibrant and, as far as I'm aware, the backgrounds were all drawn by hand, giving them extra charm.

To end my story comments on a positive note, I'll end by saying that, if nothing else, the Utaware story is an entertaining one to sit through. The story is always on the move, with there rarely being episodes not focused on the on-going struggles of Hakuro, and it flows excellently from episode to episode. Another story positive is lack of perverted content. I may be little off when I say this but I think the game the anime was based on was an erotic one, involving Hakuro picking one of the female characters to be his girl. While there are elements of this in the plot, in the anime it comes across more like a straight-forward romance that develops in a logical way as the series progresses. The only scene that comes close to crossing the line is one where Karula - a warrior with a HUGE sword and big boobs - offers herself to Hakuro in exchange for his help and almost gets accepted. Overall, the series was highly enjoyable and surprisingly tasteful.

In terms of the huge cast of characters, Utaware is a little hit and miss. The cast are more likeable than well developed. The main cast members all stand-out, with most of their names and personalities sticking in my mind straight away, but not many get fleshed out. You learn their quirks and that's it for the most part. Hakuro gets the most time, as you'd expect with him being the main character, but you never see a lot of his past, and what's shown isn't very clear. Eluluu, the female lead, is cute and likeable enough and her interaction with Hakuro and her little sister, Aruruu, adds depth to her character but she very rarely came across like a real person. Aside from those two, only Oboro and Karula get decent development. Oboro fights whilst constantly worrying about his blind and bedridden little sister (some early episodes focus on this subplot) and Karula has her own little story relating to her past. In short, the cast have a lot of likability but fairly limited development, with a lot of the blame for this laying with the series length.

As for the music, Utaware has a solid soundtrack. There are some memorable tracks and lots of fitting music that, while unlikely to be listened to outside of the anime, improves the viewing experience. The opening and ending themes are very good, the opening in particular sticking in my mind.

All in all, Utaware surpassed my expectations but still ended up disappointing me because of how it ended. Until the final volume I was prepared to score it in the 9-10/10 tier, but it'll have to make do with a solid 8/10 instead. I respect the series for not being perverted despite it being based on an erotic game and having a large cast of attractive females. At worst, you could say it panders to the moe market a little, but there's nothing included that made me think the series was aimed more at perverts than people looking for a good story. I recommend anyone looking for some primitive, bows and arrows war look the series up.

Rating: 8/10

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There's one last, non-vital thing I'd like to touch upon: the DVD extras.

Included on the Utaware DVDs is a four part omake series. These short episodes focus on light-hearted fun - very different from the usually serious main story, and I rated the omake series 9/10; one point higher than the main series. Why the rating, you ask? Because the omakes are hilarious. I'm not the sort of guy who roles around laughing, but even I laughed during the third episode when, after Oboro had broke her doll, Touka went batshit insane, beating the crap out of Oboro and making some of the most weird and amusing screams I've ever heard. I loved how Hakuro left the room after seeing Touka's bloody hand and crazy expression, leaving Oboro to his fate (once again!).

Do yourself a favour and watch the Utaware extras. You won't regret it. read more

It's hard to rate this series because it's a collection of five short stories. The only links the stories have is the Phoenix, and the immortal bird of legend tends not to play a huge role in any of the stories, often just being in the background watching the events unfold.

Some of the stories last for four episodes, others one. Some of the stories take place in the past, others in the future. Some of the stories involve battles between Gods, others focus on battles against nature. There's almost too much variation.

The first, four episode story is probably the best of the lot - it flowed well from episode to episode, despite there being a lot of twists. It started with a man washing ashore somewhere, getting captured by a tribe and needing to save the life of a woman to save himself from being executed. The focus then switched to an Apocalypto style raid on the tribe by another country. It then switched yet again, this time to a father and son type of story where one of the invaders raised one of the few survivors of the raid as his own. And, during all this, the story kept switching back to the man who washed ashore trying to survive with the woman from the tribe he saved at the start, with them ended up trapped in a cave and left to the mercy of nature.

Out of all of the stories, the was the most involving. I found myself struggling to care about a lot of the characters included in the series, with some taking drastic actions without any real development having occurred, but in the opening story it was easy to care about the 'father' and 'son' who tried to survive during times of war. My only real complaint about it is that the Phoenix might as well have not even been in this story at all. It did nothing other than get hunted on and off a few times. If the Phoenix had played a more important role, like it does in later stories, I could understand its involvement, but it was just there for no real reason. The messages of the first story are that death is a part life that must be accepted and that war is pointless, neither message needing the Phoenix to be expressed.

The second story occurs in space; on the moon. That's right - a jump from the ancient past to the far future.

The story takes place during a time where the Earth has died and the remnants of the human race have escaped to space. At some point after their escape, some humans on the moon discovered the Phoenix, which has the power to give life, and they managed to get one of its tail feathers. Research on the feather took place on the moon, and one of the men in charge was on the verge of understanding it when an 'accident' occurred, resulting in the destruction of the lab and the death of most in it. Right before the researcher died, he was attempting to save a female friend from falling to her death, her last words being "You traitor..."

After the opening described above, the story quickly caught my interest. The researcher who died had been revived after the 'accident', half of his brain having been replaced by a machine. When he awakened, he couldn't distinguish one human from another - they all looked like distorted monsters to him - and he had no memories of his past. However, he discovered shortly after awakening that robots appeared to be living organisms to him, with one robot in particular looking like a woman, resembling the woman who called him a traitor before his death. Shortly after discovering his new 'female' friend, he runs away from the humans with the robot, escaping to the lab that was destroyed at the start.

I liked the second story a lot. It wasn't as involving as the first, mainly because it only lasted for two episodes, but the story was fascinating. It was basically a story of redemption, where one man had to correct his past mistakes by living on. If there's one thing that's suggested a lot in each story included, it's that, rather than being a blessing, immortality is a curse; a punishment that must be endured.

What follows the above is the only one episode story in the entire series. Back in ancient times once more after the leap into the future of the second story, this time around the story was about a woman killing a healer in order to prevent the healer saving her father. As a punishment for killing the healer, the Phoenix forces the killer to take on the role of the healer she killed, trapping her and taking her back in time. In order to make amends, she must allow herself to be killed by herself and hope that, at some point, the the cycle of life and death stops. It was a decent story but, compared to what went before, it wasn't great and it didn't have the length required to make me care a great deal.

The next story switched back to the four episode formula the series opened up with. This time around, still somewhere in the past, a member of the royal family of some clan or another gets the face of wolf put on him after having his own face scalped. He awakens sometime afterwards to discover what has become of his face and, eventually, heads east to another country in order to try to get his old face back after being informed that his future will be brighter if he does so by an old woman who can predict such things.

I liked the fourth story but never really got into it. The back-story of "Dogface" is never explained in detail, and I was left mystified with regards to what exactly lead up to him getting captured and losing his face. Likewise, I didn't get how the wolves face became his own, mouth movements and all. The only thing that came across clear as day was the message of the story, the message being that no religion is right or wrong; only the people themselves are wrong. Despite it lasting for as long as a movie, I felt the story needed more time, or at the very least needed much better explanations.

What really bothered me was the love story aspect of the fourth story. One of the many 'Gods' of the nation in the east fell for Dogface at first sight, never even having a conversation with him before deciding to follow him. She also risked her life for him without much chatter between the two. Their relationship never came across as a real because not enough time was put into it by the author and/or the animation studio. And the end of the story made little sense, with her leaving Dogface randomly, Dogface randomly getting his face back and the two seemingly ending up back together, despite Dogface losing his memory for some reason.

Moving onto the final, two episode story, the story once again took place in the distant future, just like the second story did. In the future depicted in the last story, humans had moved under the surface of the Earth in an attempt to survive after life could no longer be lived above ground. One scientist (Saruta), however, stayed above ground in an attempt to solve of the mystery of life in order to save the earth. He tried and tried to create life, always falling short. When he was on the verge of giving up, the Phoenix appeared before him and told him that a miracle would occur. It turned out that the miracle would be a young man who arrived at Saruta's lab after escaping from the underground cities because his companion - an alien shapeshifter - wasn't allowed to exist. He ended up getting shot and killed by someone who followed him. The miracle occurred when the Phoenix allowed him to drink her blood and made him immortal.

Following these events, every other life on Earth died, leaving the young man alone. It was then that he realized the true pain of loneliness, with nothing to do and no-one to talk to. For billions of years he lived alone in a wasteland, unable to die. He was eventually rewarded by being able to see the rebirth of the world as it began anew and the cycle of life started over.

For me, the message of this final story wasn't very clear. Why wasn't the man simply allowed to die, instead being forced to suffer the pain of loneliness? If I had been in his shoes, seeing the world restart wouldn't have been enough to make up for billions of years of boredom. The main message of Phoenix - that immortality is a curse - came across well in the last story, but it still seemed a bit pointless compared to the earlier stories.

If you're still with me after reading the descriptions of all five stories and my thoughts, I'm sure you'll understand the difficulty of reviewing this title. On one hand, it's far more meaningful than most series out there and has none of the "moe" elements that plague anime based on a lot of the more recent stories. The mangaka clearly had some important messages about life he wanted to express and did so as best he could. But, on the other hand, the series is all over the place because of the variation between each story, and I wouldn't call any of the stories included polished. The stories were released in manga form a long time ago and, compared to the character development and the like in more recent anime, the age of some of of the stories shows. Depending on how you look at it, Phoenix is either very flawed or brilliant because it avoids the holes stories from our age fall into time and time again.

In terms of the visuals, Phoenix is very nice to look at. Someone on Amazon described the art/animation as being something he imagined Disney coming up with after "going on a bender", but I don't think that's an insult when we're talking about an anime TV series. The character designs are rather cartoony, with characters having HUGE noses and the like, but it looks very nice. It's different than most art nowadays, but not in a bad way. The worst thing you can say about the art is that the character designs of the characters in the five stories are mostly very similar, the recurring character Saruta always having the same big nose and stumpy look. The animation was pleasing, too - whenever there was action, it flowed pretty well. There were some nice fight sequences in the fourth story.

I can't really comment on the music because, honestly, I can only remember the orchestral opening. Since I've only just finished watching the series (well, last night...), that doesn't say a lot good about the soundtrack. But, although I can't remember any amazing tracks, I can't say I remember any bad music, so I suppose the soundtrack was simply good without being amazing.

To sum it up, I'm pleased I watched Phoenix, ignoring the fact it isn't highly rated and isn't a name known to many. It isn't like any of the other anime I've watched, and that's why I respect it. I've watched a ton of anime that have no messages; series that were made just to put something on TV - Phoenix isn't one of those series. And like an IGN reviewer is quoted as saying on the back of the box set, Phoenix has a quality that keeps viewers hooked, preventing them from leaving until the end. In an age where I'm used to constantly checking my DVD timer to see how much longer an episode has left to run, Phoenix was a breath of fresh air. It's far from perfect, and it isn't something I'm willing to score too highly, but it's definitely a series I'm proud to own on DVD, and one I'd recommend to those tired of all the "moe" rubbish going around.

Phoenix: 8.5/10


One last thing (honest!): I STRONGLY recommend you, the random reader who has somehow survived to this point, look into getting the box set. I imported the box set for a lowly sum of £13.99 from PlayUSA, and I'm sure Americans can get it for even less. The box set is made up of a thin box and three book-like cases, which are basically hardback book covers with plastic stuck on to hold the discs. For what is a budget set, getting these unique cases - which I haven't seen used before - is a major plus point. The case covers are even reflective, making the set appear even more expensive than it really is. read more