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Oct 25, 2022
So Exception is a 3D Scifi Anime about a group of people who are printed clones on a spaceship who are trying to colonize some planet, but the mission get complicated when one of them, Lewis gets misprinted into a grotesque creature.
The Character Designs are done by Yoshitaka Amano, who is the concept artist for alot of the Final Fantasy games. And they hired a famous musician named Ryuichi Sakamoto to compose the Music. The English Release of the anime also stars some famous VAs such as Nolan North as Lewis, Ali Hillis as Nina, Robbie Daymond as Mack aka David Bowie, and Laura Bailey
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as Kate and the ship voiceover. The ones for Oscar and Patty, Eugene Bryd and Nadine Nicole are on camera actors who makes their voiceover debut here but managed to give pretty competent voice performances as well.
I was pretty skeptical myself going in, but ended up finding myself interested thanks to the ongoing mystery and twists. And the Finale is pretty Bittersweet but gives Closure. If you can get past the fact this show is in 3D CGI and the Designs, viewers might be in for a nice scifi watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 26, 2022
Spriggan is a modern adaptation of a late 80's Manga published by Shonen Sunday that had a late 90's movie that liberally adapted one of the story arcs. Despite only having 6 Episodes produced, there's a post credit scene at the End of Episode 6 that suggests more Episodes may be produced in the near future.
Story: Each episode is a standalone mission where protagonist Yu Ominae gets sent out to stop some over the top anime villain from trying get their hands on the Ancient Relic of the Episode. Yu usually has someone helping him out, such as a French Bishonen Werewolf or a Greedy
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Treasure Thief, but most of them only show up in only one episode so far save for the Thief girl Yoshino, who pops up in 3 and 6.
Characters: Yu is the only recurring character with any sort of characterization/development, most of his allies are only given one episode of screentime, but leaving you wanting to know them more than what we are given. Only a few other characters I can recall were Colonel MacDougal from Ep 2 for how entertainy he was, even if he wasn't as creepy as in the 90's film. And Lieutenant Colonel Maria Clemente in Ep 4 since she managed to have some form of a character arc in the only episode she appears in. Many of the supporting cast fail to leave some form of impression for me and a lot of viewers and I found that tsundere schoolgirl Hatsuho to be pretty obnoxious.
Animation: I was weirded out by it at 1st for being this hybrid 2D-3D mix, but the results turn out alright and the action scenes do get better later on.
Music: Lot of Techno music playing in the background during actions. And I did find myself jamming to the OP and ED themes done by Taisei Iwasaki.
Voice Acting: I have only seen the English Dub, but the VAs do a pretty competent job in their roles. Kyle McCarley as Yu in particular is a standout. Though it did had some repeat castings like Kaiji Tang voicing 3 different characters for example.
In Conclusion, the show is most likely worth watching for the action scenes, science technobabble, and might have a favorite voice actor involved. But the series really needs to evolve past it's episodic nature if it can be able to stand out more than what we are given. Especially since I want a Project ARMS remake to be greenlighted since the manga creator also worked on that.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Dec 9, 2021
I’m actually rather surprised to learn that the Manga of this series has managed to sell over 15 million copies in Japan over the years, despite the lack of international attention. However just because the Manga is a success, doesn’t mean the anime will fare as well, and it’s unfortunate that this applies to what I am about to discuss. Here I will go over why the 2nd Chapter falls flat as an adaptation of its source material and killed western interest (As well as back then when Viz Media used to sell the series on DVD split across 16 volumes for all 52 episodes,
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which was a big expensive investment for anime buyers back then).
Story:
The 2nd Chapter is a continuation of where Season 1 left off, where the main cast leaves Japan to pursue the Egrigori across the United States. The 1st half of the 1st episode being a recap episode of key events of the 1st season. However certain plot elements and characters got adapted out along the way as the manga was finishing up back when it aired on Japanese TV in 2001-02. This is one of those adaptations that was made in mind to promote the manga to Japanese consumers at priority rather than being a worthy standalone adaptation, which used to be a common flaw for a lot of manga based animes back in the 90’s and early 00’s. It also turns out there was also an OVA that only ever got dubbed in Italian by Yamato Video’s release that takes place after the 2nd Chapter is over, only to serve as a tease for the Final Arc in the Manga, only to end of an Icy Cliffhanger.
Characters:
Ryo is a pretty straightforward lead with his motivation on getting his best friend Katsumi back and returning to a normal life as his main drive, which plays a major plot point in that the Egrigori are just emotionally toying and leading him on as part of their goal. But because of story elements that get cut off, his character arc doesn’t get as much payoff at the end compared to how it was orchestrated in the manga. Which is a shame since this is our main character of this tale, especially one who has avoided a lot of traits usually associated with Shonen MCs of today.
Hayato is pretty much the team’s Jerk with a Heart of Gold motivated with wanting to avenge his village, where Hayato eventually starts to realize that he has managed to find himself some new friends he can call a family, even starting to adapt to a more protector role, befitting of his ARMS being the White Knight, also tames himself a “brother” in the form of Al Bowen (even despite getting into foul mouthed bickering with each other played for laughs) as well as slowly settling aside his differences with Kei overtime. Though because the final arc and epilogue is adapted out, they don’t get the proper conclusions needed, as well as Hayato getting robbed of his chance of being able to truly avenging his village.
Takeshi’s characterization isn’t as compromised compared to the other ARMS users, though he doesn’t get as much opportunities to shine here in America compared to the past events in Japan as much since he ends up getting himself into some passive situations and behind the scene antics on his own. Notably later on when he goes on a special “trip” by himself, let’s just say that the anime skimmed over most of his time there and had to give him something to do on the sidelines when he’s back from his solo sequence. So sadly he doesn’t get to cooperate with the other ARMS users as much because of circumstances.
Kei’s Backstory on how she lost her eyes was also changed in the anime where they made it pretty much Kei’s fault in a naïve manner, since her manga backstory was likely seen as too disturbing for Japanese audiences back then, her backstory in the manga made more sense as a catalyst to her trust issues, which is not the case with her anime backstory, making it difficult for casual viewers to understand and tolerate/care for Kei since her new backstory doesn’t correlate to her issues and arc well.
Katsumi seems to be that one character that makes and breaks the show for some viewers (If the youtube comments mean something) since she’s basically born to play the role of a Damsel in Distress. Which has become one of the most hated tropes amongst western society. The 2nd Chapter is where they start revealing some personal twists of her and some of the foreshadowing got left out, which possibly makes a certain reveal seem like an asspull.
Besides the mains, there is also Al Bowen, Yugo Gilbert, and Koichi Kabuto who accompanies the Main Four. Al Bowen gets some needed development where grows to like his new companions and shows a hidden heart of gold despite how he sees the others (except Yugo) as Morons. Kabuto more or less remains the same, but get some fun lines and a small romance subplot with Lee. Yugo is my favorite of the supporting cast for how willing she is to go out of her way to help out, especially for Ryo, even if she is aware she has little chance on ever scoring a potential relationship with him knowing that Katsumi is still in the picture. Though she keeps her personal feelings to herself and gets a pretty epic moment towards the end of the anime.
Finally are the Keith Series, who plays a more prominent presence. Silver is sadly a character that doesn’t last long and gets a pretty abrupt end compared to how his character played out in the manga. Silver is pretty much introduced as the bloodthirsty brute of the bunch, though it’s revealed that he used to be a rather sweet and naïve kid who cared for his pet bird in captivity before things take a nasty turn for the worst, leaving him a broken bird who accepted his fate as a living weapon of mass destruction (In contrast to Ryo who actively wants to avoid this fate). Green is basically a yandere for Katsumi to the point of wanting to cuck and kill Ryo for her as well as the Jabberwock. He lacks a noteworthy backstory compared to his siblings, but the lack of standing out fuels his newfound obsession for Katsumi, as his newfound role as her babysitter is what gives him a sense of purpose in life. Violet is my favorite of the Keiths, serving as an observer who’s interested in knowing the ARMS gang despite being enemies and is surprisingly rather sympathetic despite her place in the Egregori, helps that she doesn’t seek to commit a malicious act unlike her brothers, making her something of an anti-villain and even despite the anime’s liberties, her character arc transitions just fine by the end. Then we finally have Big Brother Black himself (Or Black Nii-San as Violet calls him in the sub lol), who’s currently a smug hammy schemer that really likes to chew the scenery and following and relying on the concept of Fate as a crutch, though we do get to learn who he was like as a kid and his relationship with Blue and how Black ended up becoming the Card Carrying Villain he is now.
Animation:
While Season 1 was Cel Shaded, The 2nd Chapter made the switch to Digital Paint that was the norm of early 2000’s anime, and hoo boy were the results sloppy. From Ryo’s green striped purple shirt suddenly losing its color out of nowhere, to someone having a derp face moment. You could make a drinking game every time something goes offmodel. The Quality did start to get more consistently passable later on, but the initial impressions are already damaging as is. Even the Special Edit Version that only Japan got (Though the Italian Release is based on the Special Edit) only fixed some of the Animation errors.
Sound:
As for Opening, “Time Waits for No One’ by WAG gives off a strong going to the Beach with your Friends in the 2000’s vibes that I cannot help but really like. The 1st Ending, “Timeless Sleep” by Garnet’s Crow is a melancholic tune that fits the dreary situation Katsumi is in, and the 2nd Ending, “Owaranai Yume no Nakade/In an Unending Dream” is a cheesy upbeat pop song sung by the Japanese VAs of the 4 Main ARMS users that sometimes come off as comical how it enters at the end of an episode. As for Background music, they recycled a lot of the BGMs from the 1st season, but added in some really corny sounding trumpet music here and there. My favorite of the tracks were the Music Box Theme, a Fast Paced Techno track in a few fight scenes, and the one with the Dramatic Strings with a bit of a flute. And I have yet to find an official OST playlist of it on Youtube with no luck.....
Voice Acting:
Season 1’s Voice Casts reprise here. As far the Japanese Cast goes, it’s a mixed bag at best at this point due to being held back by rather bland scripting and occasional stiff delivery that can get really dull and don’t stick out a lot of the time, especially for background characters. Still the main seiyuus are doing the best with what direction they got, with Nobutoshi Canna as Ryo, Yukari Honma (A unknown VA who’s only been in hentai) as Yugo, and Tomoko Miura (Another unknown VA who voiced Child Guts in Berserk, with Canna as Adult Guts….) as Katsumi being the best of the lot. Still they were performances that I just did not care for such as Mami Matsui as Oscar, the late Eisuke Yoda as Tillinghast (who falls comically flat in a tragic scene), and the late Kan Tokumaru as Kou, they were really dull if not straight up bad performances. Joining the rest of the cast include mostly big names like Hoko Kuwashima, Yasuhiko Kawazu, Atsushi Kisaichi, Ryotaro Okaiyu (who really got to ham it up real good as Black), Kazuhiko Inoue, Aya Hisakawa, and the late Kinryu Arimoto.
As for the English Dub, this is where I can easily say this is the Version I highly recommend, if only because they adlibbed a lot of the dull Japanese scripting into hilarious Ghost Stories tier gold. Still they did take some of the scenes pretty seriously and do a well job at it, so it’s a balance mix of abridging and playing it straight at the right moments. Even the characters who seiyuus I disliked were more bearable, especially considering they gave them pretty funny lines for the actors to work with. Some of the standouts in the dub include the late Kirby Morrow as Ryo, Brian Drummond as Hayato, Nicole Oliver as Kei, Willow Johnson as Yugo, Jillian Michaels as Al Bowen, Janyse Jaud as Violet, Samuel Vincent (who’s just as hammy as Okaiyu) as Black, Tabitha St. Germain as Alice, and Ted Cole as White. Pretty much one of my favorite dubs to come out from the Ocean Group, if only because they avoided the pitfalls the Japanese script had and manages to make an otherwise flawed adaptation the mainstream anime hivemind don’t care about a funny entertaining watch.
Conclusion:
This could have potential to have been a cult classic had TMS not derped on the Animation and wasn’t held back by a 52 Episode limit. Especially for someone who has genuinely grow fond of this series, especially after reading its Manga. This is a series that honestly a reboot, especially one that can manage to bring back most of its Voice Cast back to reprise. Nothing much came after out of this series in the west other than Discotek Media relicensing the Anime in 2017.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Aug 5, 2019
I decided to give this show a watch since this was Nobutoshi Canna's (Or Hayashi as his surname used to have been before changing in 2000) 1st lead role back in 1991.
Story:
It's a pretty episodic series about a Hotblooded Police Officer named Ken Kanzaki, who he, a Formula Racer named Ryo, and Wrestler named Go all happen to secretly be cyborgs who can JACK ON to their suits when the situation calls for it. Basically they have to look after some rich kid named Jun, who happens to have connections with the Bioroids that be causing trouble in pretty much nearly every episode. It
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was originally meant to be 50 episodes but was cut down to 37 due to low ratings, probably because it was too episodic for it's own good to keep long term interest. And while the story itself isn't bad by any means, it isn't anything great either.
Character:
I found the cast to be pretty stock to leave much of an impression, but they are harmless. I did however enjoyed Ken Kanzaki as a lead to watch, and his interactions with his sister are genuinely a sibling relationship that fortunately isn't fetishized like most sibling relationships are depicted nowadays for whatever reason. Though I did found his sister Sayuri to be pretty obnoxious at times, especially with her "ONII-CHAN!!!" spammage, not to mention the moments where she would try to stop Ken from using his gun to fight back and protect civilians I cheered when he backhand smacks her in the face. Though her crush on Jun is rather sweet. Ryo and Go do get their limelight episodes here and there, though they are pretty predictable, and they just feel kinda there in the long run, They eventually introduced a brooding anti-hero with dark backstory named Shadow later in the show and he's an ok addition. And then there is Jun, the standard child genius character with a mysterious background, pretty much the only other character I was genuinely interested in beside Ken and his character arc holds up fine.
Animation:
It's pretty early 90's, but it holds up pretty well for the most part. There are a few blink and you can miss offmodel moments here and there, but it's pretty serviceable for a 1991 production.
Sound:
Pretty 90's as you can get, but pretty enjoyable. The Opening and Ending Themes "Just Dream On" and "Hold On" are pretty classic.
Voice Acting:
Nobutoshi Hayashi/Canna was the reason I even gave this a watch, and his performance as Ken holds up pretty good, Probably helps that he has been acting since the age of 3 and it didn't take long for him to adapt to voiceover when he accidently ended up in Aoni Productions when he wanted to pursue an acting career. Other noteworthy performance was Kae Araki as Sayuri, and that is probably because it's literally her voice for Miaka from Fushigi Yuugi, who Canna would end up voicing Tasuki in that series, where Tasuki and Miaka had a similar but more complicated type of relationship. Other seiyuus to be found include Daiki Nakamura as Ryo, Ken Yamaguchi as Go, Yu Shimaka as Shadow, Mari Maruta as Jun, and Sho Hayami as Toridai. The overall voice acting quality is decent, though can get rather corny here and there.
Conclusion:
Armored Police Metal Jack is a pretty alright series, even if does falls flat due to it's overall episodicness, even if it concludes itself just alright. I'd say it's only a worth a watch if your a big Canna fan or if your in a mood for some 90's cheese.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jun 19, 2019
Speed Grapher, An anime series I 1st caught on IFC Channel Late at Night over a decade ago, along with Witchblade and Hell Girl. I am compelled to write my own review of it, so hop on board everyone! Series Composition done by Shin Yoshida, who has involved himself in some of the Yugioh series.
Story:
Speed Grapher is about a Former War Photographer turned Photojournalist with an odd photography fetish named Tatsumi Saiga, who gets involved in investigating an underground fetish club where he witness all the lewd and illegal activities going on, eventually stumbling upon a ritual where he ends up gaining to power to
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blow people up through a Camera, the show is then about him trying to free the Club's "Goddess" Kagura from the Club. It's follow a monster of the week style format in the early and the middle episodes as Saiga having to fight a club member that had been blessed by the Goddess known as a Euphoric.
Characters:
Saiga weirded me out at 1st with his photography kink early on, but ended up winning me over with how despite his jaded outlook in life, he still desires to do what's right despite his status, plus he's a hot Ossan with nice sideburns and goatee, which isn't exactly common protagonist material. So he stands out in my book.
Kagura Tennouzou, while I'll admit could favor for some character growth, is a Damsel in Distress done right as the show actually goes out of it's way to show her circumstances and how it affects her sheltered lifestyle, along with how Saiga goes out of his way to inspire her to live on and get her darn freedom, despite the rest of the cast getting in the way of that.
Chouji Suitengu, or as I like to nickname him "Pimpcoat Sephiroth" is the show's main villain, at 1st he seems like your standard hedonist mafia boss, but as the show goes on we eventually learn his origins and true agenda despite his reputation.
Hibari Ginza, Or as I like to nickname her the "Cop THOT". is easily my least favorite character in the show, her whole character is that she stalks and lusts after Saiga, wanting to get into his pants despite his lack of interest nor consent. And also becomes jelly of Kagura for having Saiga looking after her instead of giving Ginza the D. While the show does try to redeem her towards the end of the series, it's still wasn't much to excuse her BS.
Other Characters of note include Shinzen, Kagura's cruel b**** of a mother, Suitengu's lackies Tsujido, Niihari, and Makabe. Bob, Saiga's gay neighbor. Togashi, Saiga's Boss, and Ryougoku, a doctor who's well acquainted with Saiga since the war, as well as the various Euphorics Suitengu hires to try to kill Saiga and capture Kagura. Overall a pretty decent cast, even if alot of the characters are scummy hedonistic jerkfaces you want to see get their just desserts.
Visuals:
It's average GONZO fare with the occasional offmodeling GONZO is infamous for, but at least they hardly relied on CGI here which is a good thing. Backgrounds hold up pretty fine, though Character Models may seem rough by today's standards.
Sound:
Shinkichi Mitsumune of Yugioh and Utena fame composed the BGM here, and I will say this is one of his more underrated works, appropriately Gritty, Melancholic, and Jazzy, even upbeat at some points. The Original Opening for the Japanese Release is Duran Duran's Girls on Film which is great. Though because of licensing, the Funimation Release used one of the bgm "Shutter Speed" for the OP, which blends in with visuals just fine. The 2nd Ending Theme "Break the Cocoon" by Yorico is great, though the 1st ending theme "Hill of Poppy" feels rather out of place and jarring considering some of the earlier episodes end on a disturbing note.
Voice Acting:
The Japanese Cast stars Yuji Takada, a not so prolific VA in his only leading role as Saiga and Kei Shindo (who won the role from a contest of over 300 participants) making her VA debut as Kagura. They fair fine, if a little lacking at times in Takada's case. The Big Highlight of the Japanese version was without of doubt Toshiyuki Morikawa as Suitengu, especially considering he's Sephiroth himself, who does a nice job showcasing Suitengu's ruthlessness and angst. Other seiyuus to find include Takako Honda, Gara Takashima, Hiro Yuki, Hisao Egawa, Kenjiro Tsuda, Takehito Koyasu, Rikiya Koyama, and more. Though it does suffer from some really bad attempts of English speaking from Saiga and American characters later on in the show, so be prepared to LOL (or Cringe depending on how you react to Engrish).
The Funimation Dub is what intrigued me alot more, and I will say it's stands out alot more than the Japanese cast here. Christopher Sabat got to showcase a more jaded and weary performance as Saiga, which is a big contrast to the roles people usually know him for. It was also notably the 1st time he and Monica Rial (who plays Kagura) got to covoice together here long before the likes of DBZ Kai, One Piece, and Fairy Tail, and their vocal chemistry here holds up strong. Also of note is Christopher Ayres as Suitengu, who also does a great portraying Suitengu's ruthlessness and angst just as good as Morikawa, and makes the eventual rivalry between Saiga and Suitengu more amusing in hindsight since Ayres would eventually voice Frieza in the Kai dub of DBZ. As much as I hated Ginza, Clarine Harp knows how to steal the show whenever Ginza is on screen and does an amazing job showcasing Ginza's selfishness and how much of a ruthless psycho she can be. Other VAs to find include Mark Stoddard, Pam Dougherty, Greg Ayres, Bob Carter, Robert McCollum, Antimere Robinson, Kent Williams, and more.
Overall: One of GONZO's stranger original titles they made, yet It's a show I still remember fondly to an extent to this day, even if it's a show that will have you disgusted, but intrigued for what they were going for here.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 30, 2019
As someone who has seen the anime 1st before it's manga. It's an interesting read to see how the source material turned out. As well as more well presented and rich it was.
Story: The initial set up is still the same, Ryo Takatsuki is a seemingly normal student who finds himself provoking the interest of new student Hayato Shingu, eventually leading to pursuing him to an abandoned building late at night when Ryo's childhood friend Katsumi Akagi went missing. During their fight, Katsumi ends up getting herself held at clawpoint by some meathead thug named Claw, who happens to be working for a secret organization
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known as the Egregori, and that Ryo and Hayato were set up against each other. Ryo during the fight eventually grows himself a nanomachine bioweapon out of his right arm during the fight while Hayato brandishes out his bladed left arm. After the encounter it leads to Ryo, Katsumi, and Hayato forming an alliance and finds themselves having to learn just what the heck are the Egregori and why does the guys have nanomachine limbs. Leading to a action packed tale of Scifi wonders as they must face various type of enemies such as Cyborgs, Child Soldiers and Prodigies, Mutants, Supersoldiers, Psychics, Clones, and exclusive to the manga, Prehistoric Animal Statues! However in the manga, there is actually one more story arc that happens after where the anime ended. Let alone some vital scenes that didn't make it into the anime (Season 1 was the 1st 77 Chapters out of 241, nearly 1/3 of content) which results in some plot holes, and even some minor differences.
Characters: Characterization is the nearly the same here as in the anime. Ryo is a lowkey cinammon roll who must deal with his newfound power and befriending the other ARMS users while his relationship with Katsumi gets more complicated along the way. Hayato is still best bro, even if he sadly doesn't swear as much like he's Kaine from NieR, or have as much wonderfully weird and quotable dialogue like in the anime's English dub. Katsumi is the childhood love interest trope, though she is alot less boringly presented, especially towards the end. Takeshi Tomoe, who ends up joining the group shortly after the prologue actually has his character arc paying off later on here in the manga compared to the anime where most of his moments late in the story were adapted out. Kei Kurama, an ARMS user who gets introduced sometime later, is also pretty much presented the same, although her backstory on how she got her ARMS is different than in the anime, and makes more sense considering her trust issues. Other supporting characters are also pretty much the same as their anime counterparts. Along with some characters that were unfortunately not adapted into the anime, notably a blind mutant named James Huang. Also one of the main villains got to last longer than how he fared in the anime.
Visuals: The Main Cast has a more slender and more age appropiate designs (Most notably Ryo) compared to the the anime where they look like they are in their mid 20's despite being 17 yr old highschoolers. Another interesting detail is that certain characters, such as Takeshi are introduced with not so flattering initial appearance character designs but over the course as we learn more about them and how they develop, their character design changes to a more flattering design, similar to how they look throughout the anime. Which I find to be interesting. Also it's more noticeably bloodier and violent here in the manga compared to how toned down it was in the anime. Though it's not exactly over the top gorn to warrant an M Rating. Oh and it's also more consistently well drawn when compared to the anime's infamous bipolar animation quality. lol
Overall: The Original Manga Version of Project ARMS is a much more well presented (and less narmy) and more complete take of the story. With even a more satisfying and conclusive ending compared to how the anime ended. Not to mention the manga avoids constantly recapping itself to the point of absurdity like in the anime
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 18, 2019
Project ARMS is a 2 Season 52 Episode 2001 Anime Adaption of a Award Winning 1997 Biopunk Action Manga that used to be published on Shonen Sunday. And in Japan, was pretty popular enough (Having sold over 3 milion copies in the early 00's) to get a Toyline, Card Game, PS2 Game, Multiple Manga re-releases including one with the anime's artsyle, and even a Pachinko back in 2013. Produced by TMS Entertainment, the same studio behind the likes of Sonic X, Detective Conan, Lupin III, and School Days.
Story: 7
The story is about a Highschooler named Ryo Takatsuki who ends gaining the attention of the new
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student, Hayato Shingu, who after getting into some fights all from a misunderstanding all set up by an mysterious organization that calls themselves the Egregori, as well as awakening a lethal power from their arms. The boys along with Ryo's childhood best friend, Katsumi Akagi form an alliance. Not too long after they meet another recent transfer student named Takeshi Tomoe, who's legs also can turn into a mechanical weapon. The story is then about them trying to unravel what's going on while being confronted by members of the organization. Some of these plot twist being quite shocking but some that may be seen as silly by today's standards. Sadly however after reading the manga after finishing the series, I discovered that certain plot elements and characters, along with the true final arc of the series never made it in to the anime. Not helped by the fact the manga was still finishing up back in 2002 while the anime was still airing, which also led to some liberties taken such as certain villains meeting their downfall sooner than intended and a certain area's location change.
Visuals: 5
Even though this came out in 2001, the 1st season looks rather vintage for its time. Let alone some inconsistent off modeling moments so tongue in cheek, it makes you wonder if it was done on purpose for the lolz. Though Season 1's visuals got the whole dark sci-fi atmosphere down despite it's datedness. The same cannot be said for it's Season 2, which switched to Digital Animation, resulting in not only having a much different and brighter aesthetic, but also manages to be much more inconsistent in it's quality due to Digital Animation being pretty new at the time back then. Definitely the weakest aspect of the show.
Sound: 6
The Opening Themes got this Nirvana style rock to them and are admittedly catchy and the Ending Themes are nice, especially Ending 2 and 3 (Garnet Crow FTW!). The Insert music is serviceable, though some tracks like a certain melodramatic violin piece tends to get overplay at points that it comes off as comical. I however did like that one Organ Music Piece Katsumi played later on and a certain Musicbox tune much later into the show.
Characters: 7
Ryo is like a mix between Akira Fudo from Devilman and Bruce Banner from the Incredible Hulk with the E Rank Luck (And Seiyuu) of Lancer from Fate/Stay Night, he's a chill and friendly guy who happens to get himself involved in the whole plot and basically has to get used to defending himself and his newfound comrades while having to learn and eventually come to accept his newfound powers from his right arm.
Hayato is the foul mouth shouty angry guy who swears a lot and doesn't take people's crap that easily. He is motivated in wanting to avenge his parents and village's death at the hands of someone named Keith. Despite his hostilities towards Ryo early on they do over the course of the series become best buds and Hayato proves to be a total bro who lives up to the title of White Knight. Easily one of my favorites in this series. Not to mention he provides a lot of amusing lines of dialogue, specifically in the English dub.
Katsumi is Ryo's childhood friend and clearly his love interest. She doesn't have any powers of her own. She's kinda like Fiora from Xenoblade Chronicles, minus the badass traits to balance out the Damsel in Distress tendencies. Her Relationship with Ryo gets more complicated as the show goes on.
Takeshi is the wimpy and timid Everyman, who over the course of the show has to grow himself a spine and become just as much of a capable fighter as Ryo and Hayato. Unfortunately, some of the more interesting stuff he goes through much later on in the story in the manga didn't get adapted over to the anime, giving him less screen time and presence that he had there.
Other noteworthy characters that get introduced along the way and join their cause include:
Kei Kuruma: a Female ARMS user with Eye Powers and Trust Issues.
Al Bowen: A Bratty Child Genius initially sent to kill the ARMS users along with his Twin Brother Jeff.
Koichi Kabuto: A Police Detective who gets involved investigating.
And
Yugo Gilbert: A Blonde "Angelic" Psychic who eventually finds herself drawn and attracted to Ryo.
Sure the cast do sound stock on paper, but they do manage to be pretty entertaining and do avoid being complete stereotypes, though because the final arc was never adapted, they never got to reach proper conclusion to their character arcs, save for one character.
As for the Villains. Alot of them fall under being laughably over the top and rather cartoony, though some of them do managed to be entertaining like Cliff and Keith, and especially the main members of the Egregori that are eventually introduced later on, each with their own backstory and motives despite all of them being fated to try to fulfill a certain goal.
Voice Acting:
The Japanese Version contains some well known seiyuus such as Nobutoshi Canna, Shinichiro Miki, Yuji Ueda, Minami Takayama, Megumi Ogata, and Shuichi Ikeda. Many of whom having done work on Persona and/or Danganronpa, making their roles here a lot more amusing in hindsight if anyone's familiar with their work. Though they're performances, while competent (save for a few minor characters), isn't exactly their most outstanding work. It's not that they are bad per say, but more of being stuck with working with dialogue that can get admittedly laughably cliche and over the top at certain times (Volf, Karl, and Kou being the worst offenders to the point they are the most bland and forgettable performances). Also one minor antagonist, Kyklops sounds like a screechy cat. Still personally enjoyed most of the cast for what they were despite the overall scripting being mediocre at best, particularly Nobutoshi Canna as Ryo, who I'll admit his performance as Ryo is rather underrated (In fact, Canna considers Ryo to be his most underrated role in his career according to his interview at Fanime 2019). Didn't stop them from reprising their roles years later for the Pachinko game back in 2013.
As for the English Dub produced by the Ocean Group, it's manages to be pure fun self aware tongue in cheek cheese that relishes in on the sheer surreality of it all, especially moreso in The 2nd Chapter. The Dub features some known Canadian VAs such as Kirby Morrow, Venus Terzo (Both she and Morrow were also Jean Grey and Cyclops in X-Men Evolution), Brian Drummond (who gets some of the funniest lines as Hayato), Brad Swaile, Nicole Oliver, Jillian Michaels, Willow Johnson, and more. Even including some VAs from Ed Edd n Eddy in Villain Roles giving gloriously hammy performances. It also contains pretty hilarious dialogue, especially in the context of the situation they are in such as "Ryo's always been nuttier than a squirrel turd" to "These guys have gone crazy! Like Frat Boys on a Panty Raid!". It may not be their most professional effort when compared to their other dubs they made in the past, but it's an amusing campy project reminiscent to that of the English dub for Ghost Stories that is highly worth checking out if your into that kind of thing, especially considering they knew that this show ain't gonna sell jack back then.
Overall:
While the show may not be seen as the most original, groundbreaking, or having the most stellar animation, especially by today's high standards. It manages to have a more grounded than the usual shonen formula but unusually strangely presented storyline from the blatant Alice in Wonderland references to some surprising plot twists and the hilariously strange designs of the ARMS. But is a overall pretty flawed adaptation of it's manga source material. However given that the Manga artist's previous work, Spriggan, is getting an anime adaptation on Netflix by David Productions, there is a probability that a Anime Reboot of this franchise might become a thing in the near future.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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