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Ah, the series that started the whole Yuusha craziness (in Asia anyway). Yuusha Exkaiser is the 1st installment of the 8 Yuusha (Brave) series that have been released.

For those who don't know about the Yuusha series, here's some brief information on it. GaoGaiGar, being arguably the most well known out of them all, Yuusha series all involve giant transformable mechas (robots) that basically fight evil and save the world. Although they all have "Yuusha" in the title, they are not connected to each other story wise. Here are all the series listed chronologically.

1. Yuusha Exkaiser (1990)
2. Taiyou no Yuusha Fighbird (1991)
3. Densetsu no Yuusha Da Garn (1992)
4. Yuusha Tokkyuu Might Gaine (1993)
5. Yuusha Keisatsu J-Decker (1994)
6. Ougon Yuusha Goldran (1995)
7. Yuusha Shirei Dagwon (1996)
8. Yuusha Ou GaoGaiGar (1997)

You could say that I basically grew up watching the Yuusha series! I decided to write a review on Exkaiser first as although it's not a popular one, it is the one that started it all.


STORY

This series is aimed towards children. The episodes are not related to one another for the most part. Generally, you would see some bad guys do something, but then the good guys (Exkaiser and the gang) come in, have a nice fight against the enemies and the episode ends (good guys win of course). I will not get into the specifics of the story as I don't want to spoil anything here. Basically, you could skip a couple episodes here and there and you really wouldn't be lost until you get to the later part of the series when the storyline really starts to count. If you try to have a marathon of some sorts, you might get kind of tired of it as it does kind of get repetitive.


ART

This is an old school anime. The transformation/combination scenes are still quite impressive, but don't expect GaoGaiGar here! When you look at the character designs, there's definitely that 80's~90's feel to them. The characters designs remind me of Hayao Miyazaki’s characters. The animation’s nothing too extraordinary, but it really isn’t too bad if you think about when it came out and how many episodes there are. Now, the highlight of the series: the mechas! Many of them transform from vehicles (car, jet, train, etc.) to robots (should remind you of Transformers) and they combine to form bigger and more powerful robots. I’ve always loved combination sequences... The animation and art quality is much better in those scenes as they are reused. The mechas are quite nicely designed and although I would be baised in saying this, but I like them better than Transformers.


SOUND

Well, the audio quality wise, it isn’t very good, considering it is an old anime. Voice acting is well done as they are done nicely to fit into the show smoothly (kind of cheesy as the intended audience is children, but it’s not too bad). The soundtrack’s quite nice and they kind of have that nostalgic feel to them. Unfortunately, the OP and ED songs stay the same all the way through the series, but it really wasn’t a huge factor for me. Basically, the music tracks are quite good and they fit the "good vs. evil" theme of the series.


CHARACTERS

The main characters of the show are a boy called, Kouta and a transformable car called, Exkaiser, who actually is a space police (don’t worry this is revealed in the beginning of episode 1). Kouta is a typical boy with good nature and Exkaiser has that perfect trait as a hero – a dedicated and an unshaken will to fight evil and protect others. I’ve felt that Kouta could’ve had a little more distinct personality rather than being a typical boy. There are other transformable mechas, some good, and some bad. From what I remember, no personalities were extreme or really unique, which was a little downer for me.


ENJOYMENT & FINAL THOUGHTS

This is one of the series that you should watch without huge expectations. It was worth watching for me, because it is the first Yuusha series. I’ve actually watched many of the later Yuusha series before watching Exkaiser. People who have little or no experience with older anime might find it a little difficult to keep watching, which is understandable. The real problem is that, an old anime like this is extremely difficult to find (especially if you’re looking for English subs). I’ve actually watched the raw versions with Korean subs, so unfortunately I cannot help you (unless you can read Korean of course). :( read more

After watching the whole series in just two weeks or so, I will tell you how I felt about this series. I will be keep this review spoiler-free. I watched the orignal Japanese version, just so you know.

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX is a sequel of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series as most would know. The game of Duel Monsters has gotten so popular that there are pro leagues as well as specialized schools to mainly train and teach students to become great duelists. It's an interesting setting and did intrigue me.

The story follows after a young boy named Yuki Judai, who just starts to attend an elite Duel Monsters school called, "Duel Academia" The school is divided in three different classes, "Obelisk Blue", "Ra Yellow" and "Osiris Red" (the names should sound familiar for those who watched the original series). It is basically dividing students into their skill levels, Osiris Red being the lowest class, Ra Yellow in the middle and the Obelisk Blue, consisting of the school's best duelists.

The series starts off with a lighter tone, just following Judai and his life in school as he makes new friends. But as the story progresses, it gets much more complex and intense. I felt that there were quite a few story elements that seemed forced and didn't make sense, but it was watchable overall. Much like the original series, there's heavy emphasis on friendship. One thing that does get a little annoying is that duelists read their card effects every time they play it and it kind of gets tiredsome when I know a lot of the cards. But I guess they can't help it since there will always be people who aren't familiar with the cards and their effects.

I wasn't too impressed with most of OP and ED songs, but soundtracks were quite good, although I would have liked a little more variety of music during duels. It's like when you hear a certain music starts to play, you know that our hero's pulling off an awesome combo to finish the duel!

Art wise, I felt that GX got a slight down grade from the original series. Not a big difference, but I never thought that GX had better animation or art quality. Not the worst, but not too impressive on most parts. However, I never expected it to be amazing since it is a 180 episode series afterall.

There are quite a bit of characters in GX and I felt that there were a little too many. Character developments are there, as it would be crazy to have a 180 episode series without character growths. Some character developments being more natural and suttle than others. The series inserts new characters here and there, which keeps it interesting, but it feels too crowded later on.

I mainly watched this because I play the card game myself. It will be much more enjoyable if you play the game. It does gets kind of repetitive, but that could be because I was having a marathon (almost). I never read the manga, but I heard that they are quite different. Unfortunately, since I didn't read the manga, I can't compare them. This series is good for people who actually play the card game or just to kill some time.

In conclusion, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX was a decent series, but it was never at the level of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series. read more

Cyber Formula series has been keeping its position at #1 in my anime list for a long time. Of course, I'm not just talking about this TV series, but also the sequel OVAs because they are quite arguably better. It's created by Sunrise.

In a nut shell, Cyber Formula is about car racing (Grand Prix), but there's a catch. It takes place in a near future, where the technology is more advanced. All cars are equiped with a computer system that aids the racer in many ways such as giving advice and tips, detecting dangers ahead, and basically fulfilling drivers' wishes. The computers understand human languages and can somewhat intereact with people.

This TV series was first aired in 1991, so it's considered as an old school anime I guess.


SYNOPSIS

It is 2015. Kazami Hayato, a 14 year old boy gets involved in an unexpected event that eventually leads him to become a driver in Cyber Formula Grand Prix. Racing cars are equipped with advanced computer navigation system that can interact with its driver to aid and fulfill driver’s needs. With “Asurada” a racing machine that was created by his father, Hayato and his team take on the world’s toughest drivers to become the youngest champion in the history of Grand Prix.


STORY

In a sense, it has a story of typical sport anime. A main character tries to become the best at what he does, in this case it is car racing. You will definitely see a lot of car racings in this anime. What makes racing unique in this anime is that each round takes place in different parts of the world with many different and difficult obstacles that racers have to face. It’s not your typical “just go around in circle” car racing. This series also shows us what kind of hardships and challenges that racers face while striving forward to their goals. What makes Cyber Formula shine are all the intense dramas that take place, complimented by some timely humor and heart warming moments.


ART

Well, it is an old anime so don’t expect Gundam 00 or anything like that! It’s still not too bad at all, considering when it came out. There are some inconsistency in that some scenes are flat colored (one tone) while some scenes have shadings (two tone), but it didn’t bother me too much, maybe because I was used to a lot of the old school anime series. Character designs are quite nice looking and I felt that the designs suit the personalities very well. The highlights of this anime are the racing machines, designed by one of my absolute favorite artists, Shoji Kawamori. The racing machines look very unique, but believable, which is always important to me. Oh, did I mention they have boosters?


SOUND

I really loved the soundtracks in the anime. They do have that 90’s nostalgic feel to them, which I enjoy a lot. Intense moments, sad moments, heart warming moments… They are all complimented well by great soundtracks. Rock music are quite prominent. OP and ED songs are great, I’ve been listening to them since over a decade ago and I still enjoy them to this date. Finally, voice actings were not flawless, but nothing was major enough to bother me. I think they found right voices for all the characters.


CHARACTERS

No story is great without good characters and Cyber Formula got them all. There are some characters that are just like us, that we can relate too. Then there are characters with great variety of personalities, which strengthen the enjoyment of the show. Another charm to this anime are some major character developments in the anime, mostly the drivers who face obstacles and hardships that they’ve never faced before. I could personally feel for them and sometimes I found myself really rooting for someone that I didn’t think I would be rooting for before.


ENJOYMENT

I’m not a racing fan and I don’t watch racing. However, Cyber Formula really takes it to the next level not only because it is futuristic, but you can see all the dramas that take place during races (unlike TV broadcasts). I think this anime has great replay value.


OVERALL

I loved Cyber Formula when I was a kid and I still love it to this date. Not only can kids enjoy this, but I think many grown ups will still find this series quite enjoyable. If you can get over the fact that this is an older anime, you will be hooked (especially for sports/mecha fans). There are OVAs, which are sequels to the TV series. The art quality skyrockets in the OVAs so if you weren’t quite impressed with the art quality of the TV series, keep watching because I’m sure the sequels will impress you. Giving 10 overall score for this TV series is likely biased, but I'd at least give a solid 8 to 9, considering when this series came out. read more