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If Winter Sonata Episode 0 precedes or summarises what is to be expected in the full length TV series, then I'd sooner recommend you turn on your TV and watch some infomercials instead, because what we have here is singly one of the most unspectacular romantic drama anime ever conceived.

In an exceedingly frustrating manner, Winter Sonata slowly doles out the story of two lovers who are separated for what one can only assume is their own idiotic and emotionally immature logic. "Separated from one another" makes it sound more romantic than it actually is, so let us use another phrase to describe what actually happens; the guy picks up and leaves, and the girl just stays there and cries on-and-off again. This anime is a magnificent failure of a romance, too self-absorbed with its story and plotting that it neglects the most important thing in a love story: the love.

The grand mistake Winter Sonata makes from the get-go is trying to make us sympathise with a story of this man and woman and their broken relationship when we can hardly care about their relationship in the first place because its depth is never established. How should we, as viewers, even begin to feel any emotions over this man and this woman's separation when we are not even allowed to see what they mean to one another? The flashbacks hardly aid in painting a picture. All they accomplish is letting us know that, "Okay, they are childhood friends." But that's about it. Them being apart means very little to the audience, because there is no weight behind the relationship. There is no passion, there is no aching love--the loss that they feel has no effect whatsoever.

Other than emotionally bland, this anime is also rather annoying. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING reminds the characters of each other. They cannot even walk five feet forward without stopping to go wide-eyed and gasp from the assault of a "precious memory" that is suddenly triggered in their minds.

Despite its painfully plain story, the anime at least looks very good. Winter Sonata is rather lovely as still art. However, the characters stick out like sore thumbs and their cruder designs cause the overall effect of the gorgeous background art to be diminished. There really are some truly beautiful scenes in this anime, of the countryside and of cityscapes, but again, it only works when the camera slowly pans across these settings. The character art pulls it down in the end.

Winter Sonata is afflicted with an equally schizophrenic soundtrack. There are some moments when the score is absolutely stunning, laden with thoughtfully dramatic, inwardly thrilling and poignant piano pieces. Yet in other parts, it just sounds like it sampled BGM from corny soap operas from the 90s. There is primarily Korean dialogue with a few actual American voice actors. The Korean voice actors are acceptable, but the amateurism of the American actors might make you wish the English was Engrish instead.

What makes a good romance? Is it the romance itself or the ones who facilitate the romance, that is, the characters? Since Winter Sonata does not have a stunning love story to tell in the first place, the job immediately falls on the characters to drive the tale. And drive it they do, much in the way that you inch your grocery cart along the line by the check-out counter with the new girl who does not know how to use the register.

The protagonist is a seemingly normal guy whose most outstanding feature is that terrible dye job he has on his head. He loves, LOVES taking long walks and waxing poetic over every little thing. It gets to the point where you just want to punch his eyes in so he can never see another sunset again and then spend the next ten minutes gaping at it and getting ready to pen some Byronic poetry in his head. The girl is a non-entity. Really, she does absolutely nothing and has no personality at all. The characters in their flashbacks are not any better than their future selves, but they certainly are a little more interesting.

Winter Sonata is just an overly sentimental, bordering downright sappy failure of a romance anime. This being the Episode 0, the series possibly leaves room for development, but the crux of the matter is: do we care enough to find out? I certainly do not. If this is meant to be a taste, it truly is a poor offering to anyone hungry for a decent romance. This anime is just uneventful and pretentiously pensive. It goes nowhere slow.

This anime is a fine example of perfectly good sunsets being ruined by the people who are watching them. read more

Forrest Gump's mama always said that life is like a box of chocolates--you never know what you're gonna get.

FLCL shows us that growing up is not like a box of chocolates. It presents us with inevitability and knowing exactly what you are going to get. This is an anime about picking between Choice A and... Choice A. The message it delivers is that it is not the choice that matters. It is not even the end that matters, since the end is unavoidable.

What matters is the person making the decision, and how they determine how the outcome will affect them. It is not where but how the individual ends up that is ultimately the most important thing. FLCL is The Catcher in the Rye if it ever was animated and had a rocking soundtrack, robots and people duking it out with one another.

This anime gives us a tale of rebellious yet helpless people from various walks of life. It depicts their struggle against the constraints put on them by society and even by themselves. Mostly we follow Naota, an adolescent boy who has things suddenly become very tough for him.

You think you're worried about zits? Try being Naota, with a gigantic phallus of a bump sticking out of your forehead. Try dealing with a loudmouth, psychopathic alien, fighting robots, a lecherous father, a girl in school who hates you and likes you at the same time, the aloof, forgotten girlfriend of your brother and the incompetent though annoying military. Being a teenager is as topsy turvy and full of commotion, and what this OAV does is replicate all the feelings one can experience at this fragile time in your life.

What we have here is an explosion of teenage angst captured in animation. All that boiling and often misdirected anger at yourself and at the world is shown in this anime. The hyperbolised effects of puberty and the importance of rock music, lust, jealousy, attraction and confusion are all examined, are all thrust into your face and bombard your senses.

And "bombarding your senses" is an understatement. It will ram itself right into your vision. FLCL is visually a stunning piece of art, utilising various styles (such as manga cut-outs) and thematic symbols to express itself. A guitar and a bat are two recurring props of the anime; one, the age old symbol of rebellion and coolness, the other, just a stick you can turn into a weapon and start smashing things. It is colourful and beautiful in an almost hideous way sometimes. It has presented some of the most cinematic moments in anime, utilising bullet-time and points-of-view in ways that have never been done before. One of the most poignant scenes in the anime is one of the simplest--having the characters look through a half-full water gun at the sky above them. It is a child's toy, but it has the likeness of an adult's weapon, and it reflects the plasticky outlook that we have in our youth.

FLCL's background music and soundtrack is one of the most recognisable and influential. The theme song "Ride on Shooting Star" probably captures the essence of the entire anime, from the sporadic but melodic guitar, to the erratic, heavy drums, and finally to the unconventional and raw vocals. It is driven by indie rock music that accentuate the scenes. It is almost as though we put on the headphones of the characters' favourite music as we watch this OAV.

This is a loud, noisy, confusing, mishmash visual mess of anime, and by God, it works.

FLCL has a very quirky cast of characters. Naota, the lead, is just so incredibly easy to relate to and pitiable. He's the sort of guy who'd ask for a sweet drink, get a sour one, and drink it even though he does not want it. Naota's growth does not revolve around trying to speak against the choices he has to make. His growth is seen when he acknowledges that the choices in his life are just all the same. In the end, he learns to take the things in life he has no control over and just deal with them without fussing too much. It is a sour lesson that he learns, and one he comes to accept. He matures when he changes himself, not the world around him.

The supporting cast of characters is intriguing. How fitting that one of the heroes of this anime is a robot with a giant TV as its head. And Haruko is one of the most insane personalities ever conceived, but her presence is atomic. Most of the character interactions are unconventional, uncomfortable, and brutally honest or brutally deceitful. Things never play out the way you expect them to between them. The entire cast is so heavily flawed and complex, yet these characters are still fascinating and fun to watch. Even the Godot of the series, Naota's brother, shows his own cruelty and selfishness without ever once showing his face for the duration of the series.

This little OAV ends up being one gigantic metaphor for coming of age in a society where life goes on as it always has gone on. Even if we fight against it, guns blazing, guitars screeching, bats swinging, heads pounding and with everything erupting and exploding around us... it really does not matter in the end to the wider world. Life is not affected. It is us who end up being affected. That is what is significant. Not so much what we do that affects others, but mostly what we do that affects ourselves.

In this anime, life is not so much random chocolates as it is a can of sour soda that we open up and guzzle down.

We know it is sour. But we will drink it anyway. read more

Gauche is not a prodigy. He is not gifted. He does not have things easy. He is just a cellist that tries his hardest.

Gauche the Cellist is folksy, quirky anime about a young man, his cello, and a little portion of his life. He lives dilapidated but habitable cottage out in the outskirts of town. The little orchestra he plays in usually takes cheap jobs at silent movie theatres. Gauche's life is incredibly simple, and nothing extraordinary happens, yet this film manages to capture the audience into this world of a man making music.

If anything, the story ends up being more touching as it shows us a young man who does not have the natural talent to become a great musician, but aspires and works hard to become better at playing an instrument he loves.

The anime is not generically slice of life, as the trips into the fantasy realm throws off realism. There are talking animals for one, and each little creature Gauche encounters teaches him a little something new about playing. Whether this is actually happening or is part of his imagination, Gauche undoubtedly learns from his mistakes and becomes better.

Despite being quite an old anime, Gauche the Cellist looks absolutely lovely. It depicts a quiet, rustic town and the beautiful, rural countryside itself. The charcoal-like shading effects of the background art are simply outstanding. The animation is also very fluid and although the character design has the trademark "Ghibli-ness" in them (that is, they are rather very simple), they serve their purpose. The way a character looks is always secondary in their productions as opposed to what the characters do and say, which is given more prevalence.

But there is not too much to be said in this anime. Given more priority than the dialogue is the music. Complementing the gentle art style are moving, gorgeous orchestral compositions, stunning cello solos, and vibrant, lively, powerful, intoxicating background music. Gauche the Cellist has a magnificent classical score, and it envelops the anime like a warm blanket.

Also warming is Gauche himself, the young cellist who works hard and feels a lot for what he does. However, he seems to lack the professionalism and passion that is required when making music. His dedication and will is strong, but his practising is futile until he realises he needs to love wholly, entirely, fully what he is doing. He comes to understand that music is something he must make, not simply reproduce.

The rest of the cast consists of little woodland creatures that seemed to have been Bambi rejects. The human supporting characters of any importance are Gauche's maestro (a short and short-tempered little man) and female violist who appears to be subtly interested in Gauche himself. These characters, while harmless and satisfactory in their purposes, are left rather flat.

Gauche the Cellist is just as any Ghibli production: pleasant, quirky and undoubtedly charming. While this may be no epic fantasy or moving slice of life anime, Gauche this anime works on the level of its simplicity. It just gives us Gauche in pursuit of his dreams. Which we learn, is not something he can ultimately grasp. Since there are no boundaries to Gauche's dream. To fulfil his goal is to pursue it.

There is no real limit to improving ourselves, is there? read more

You will get your very own moment of truth in watching this movie: it is nothing like what the previews or video that came before it seemed to promise.

In regards to the music video, First Squad teased the audience into waiting and expecting a fleshed out movie about renegade youth fighting against the great army in Russia. What we get is a tale of ghosts fighting ghosts during World War II. Young Nadya can foresee events to come, and she sees that a demon army from the dead will come and destroy the Russian faction out on the battlefront.

The story becomes downright confusing and convoluted in attempting to piece together a legend, actual historical fact, the characters' motivations and fantastical elements of the anime. What exactly is it trying to say? We go through motions that are never really explained to us. Yet, so much of the anime is spent explaining things that need not have even been touched upon. More so, why is this story nothing like what the music video promoted?

First Squad: The Moment of Truth is an interesting blend of realism and fantasy. It takes the factual documentary portion and slips it in between the animated portions which play out like a supernatural fiction. An interesting concept indeed, but it is not executed well. In fact, considering that these moments are meant to provide explanation to the historical, psychological and supernatural elements of the anime, it comes across as more of a distraction than anything else.

Which is a shame, since this anime has near perfect animation and art backing it. First Squad looks spectacular. The icy white snowfields of Russia, the dank and dreary towns, the smoking battlefields and the colourful carnivals all create a magnificent atmosphere for this anime, replicating both the dilapidation and folksiness of Russia during the war. The character design border more to the realistic side rather than trying to be pretty or cute. First Squad's 3D art is seamless and extremely detailed. The animation is absolutely spectacular, though sometimes it seems as though the animators attempted to be frugal by cutting the fights in half and slipping in the live action segments.

The sound of the anime is also very good. The first noticeable aspect of it is that it does not come with Japanese audio. In fact, the entire anime is in Russian. The voice acting seems to be decent, though having no personal experience with the inflection and nuances of the language, it is hard to discern whether the voice actors did great jobs or were mediocre. The score is suitable and attempts to sample the rich style of music that comes out of Eurasia.

First Squad's characters are mostly stagnant and unimpressive. They do rather impressive things, such as train hop, cut people's heads off, blow things to bits and have some good fight scenes, but they all severely lack personality and chemistry. An important plot of the anime relies on Nadya's connection with her group of friends to be carried out. However, other than with one person, Nadya has zero chemistry with them. In fact, it's like watching five strangers with one another who work together to fight. They attempt to give them some backstory, but only Nadya comes out as the most developed character, and she still is not even that. The movie introduces so many characters yet it does nearly nothing with them.

If you are expecting a more detailed version of the music video, be warned, this is not it. Well, it is, but it is truly unsatisfying and not what you would expect. The fact that it is about World War II even takes away something from this anime, as it grounds it in reality that it quite unnecessary. It would have been fine being a fantasy/action/war anime set in an alternate historical setting of Russia in the 1940s. But the insertion of the documentary commentary disallows us in seeing it as such, and instead, makes the fantasy elements rather irksome than enjoyable.

First Squad: The Moment of Truth is possibly one of the biggest disappointments in terms of the build up surrounding it. But that is not to say a disappointment is entirely bad. It did not rise to the expectations of excellency that surrounded it. It did not be all that it could have been. It instead drips in mediocrity that it does not deserve.

Stick with the music video. At least you can use your imagination and think up a better continuation of it for yourself. read more

Sometimes ignorance really is bliss.

At least, that is what one will take from the Flash-animated mini-series Mameshiba.

This anime features hilarious and educational shorts in which these absolutely adorable dog-faced beans, peas and nuts tell the people who are about to eat them trivia about random things. The catch is, the things they speak of are all usually gross or depressing facts of life and nature.

And this is important, since most of the time, these poor people are either left distraught or lose their appetite. Perhaps this is the grand scheme of these little tricky mameshiba! Mameshiba is undoubtedly one of the most unique anime shorts to be seen.

For a Flash animation, the art is very smooth though not exactly detailed. It does have that low budget feel to it, but it does work within its medium. It is colourful and easy on the eyes, and the comic timing of the action is done extremely well. Also, the mameshiba are just so ridiculously cute!

The sound is driven by dialogue accentuated with a light, haunting chorus in the background, creating this creepy yet hilarious comic effect. It sounds as though an ethereal choir is singing when the mameshiba come to life, and this is so entirely appropriate, since the characters all seem to wear this expression as though some divine (or devilish) occurrence is taking place. The cute and innocent voices of the dog-legumes are truly cute. And in an almost teasing manner, each short closes with a happy little song you'd expect to hear from a public service announcement cartoon. It is delightfully wicked without ever once being evil or mean-spirited.

The characters of this anime are victims. However, you are left to wonder WHO exactly is the victim in all this. Is it the mameshiba that is about to be eaten by the irreverent human? Or is it the poor human who is forced to lose his desire to eat again when the sneakily adorable mameshiba educates him or her about the world? The quirkiness of these mascot-like mameshiba makes one wonder if they are pure evil with their cute, tiny smiles and sweet little voices, since all they essentially do is ruin people's day with useless, usually embarrassing and unpalatable trivia.

Mameshiba is an engaging, light-hearted and ridiculously funny anime. It is educational, witty, and downright amusing. It does not drag on, and it delivers its punch lines solidly. What is so interesting is that these are not even really punch lines--what the mameshiba speak of is nothing but simple truth. Yet that truth sets no-one free. It pretty much just makes them sick to the stomach or sad. And for the audience, it makes us smile.

Maybe the forbidden fruit of knowledge was forbidden for a darn good reason. read more

Nazis, time travellers, girls with guns... URDA is pulp fiction in motion.

URDA is unrealistic as it gets despite being set in a real historical setting. This very short OAV takes the most ridiculous concepts and tired old clichés and uses it for its own benefit.

An amnesiac well-endowed super shooter fights against a Nazi badass while she tries to send a bio-engineered girl from the future back into a wormhole. Yeah, that's the story. Nothing this silly is meant to ever be taken seriously. What URDA wants from its audience is to let them turn their brain off and just watch as they recycle old and certainly unusual elements of cinematic history and make something usable with them. The trick of enjoying this anime is to be aware that it aims to be nothing more than what it is--it is not going to give you a wink and nudge like parodies or satirical anime do. But this is not a parody or satire; it is an homage to sensationalism. If you miss that tidbit, you miss the entire point of this series.

URDA's story is not actually about politics, Americans versus Germans, or even war--it is action anime that is a testament to time travel. Taking it as a whole, we realise it is a nod to the notion that no matter what we did in the past, what we do in the present, and we will do in the future, everything is pre-ordained and ultimately unchangeable. Taking it in bits and pieces will make us realise that it is an anime about a chick fighting a lot with another chick with lots of explosions in the background. And we should see it as that because that it was URDA is as well.

The art of an anime is not only how pretty it is, how much detail is in it, or its colours. To measure it would be to also analyse the way the scenes are directed, camera angles, how movements are executed, the importance of the settings and the characters movements and positions in a frame. URDA, while it is not eye candy, is rather impressive when you consider all the other facets of its artwork and animation.

The action scenes in this anime are actually rather terrific in terms of conception though less so in execution. There is the typical shoot out on top of a moving train and rather than be dull, we get an amazingly directed sequence involving the characters running as the carriages fall down a cliff one by one, helicopters shooting missiles, a motorcycle darting around falling debris, and lots of explosions. Despite all this action taking place at the same time, the scene is well executed and exciting. There is even one stunning scene where the protagonist stands on a cliff side at dusk holding up a big ass gun while several fighter jets in the distance dance around the sky. The director of these scenes is nothing short of a visionary--it's a shame he had such limitations in terms of the presentation. Which then leads to the only downfall of the art: the style.

URDA utilises CGI throughout; the 3D aspects of the animation makes the movement rather choppy than fluid, and garish rather than good. There is no doubt that given either a higher budget, more detail or even a more traditional 2D art style, URDA would have been a spectacular looking anime with some jaw-dropping, over-the-top action. Nothing needs to be changed, since the art direction is damn near perfect. Flashbacks are spliced right into present action, which in turns allow the story to progress in a non-linear fashion keeping you interested and entertained while still giving you information as to not be completely confused.

Intense piano-driven scenes accentuate the background of URDA. The score is fairly standard and what you would expect to hear in series or movies based on World War II. The voice cast is pretty underwhelming and that can be chalked up to the lack of variety in the scenes. This anime is a sci fi action, so most of what you hear is dialogue based on scientific explanations or screaming and shouting. The cast of this series is based on archetypes and the characters never grow out of their roles. Erna is the tough badass with no memory and questionable moments of compassion, Clls (pronounced as "Chris") is your typical helpless "needs to be rescued all the time" girl, the cruel and brutal Grimheld is the anime's antagonist who is just all grand plans and crazy behaviour, there's the laid-back sidekick chick, and then there's Alan who is... just there.

Not an inspired cast here at all. They exist solely for the purpose of carrying the plot, but even as they stand, they are not impressive characters nor will they be characters you care about or remember. Good pulp makes you at least involved in the characters' lives, whether you despise them or not, as pulp-masters like Tarantino have shown us over the years. (In fact, URDA should be considered as believable and accurate as Inglourious Basterds.)

URDA plays out like the summary of a movie or series. It gives you the crucial scenes, vital moments of action or exposition, and the history of the characters all in a short span of time. And even with its shortness, this anime manages to pull off a pretty decent plot twist within the last minute that makes the entire viewing experience just all the more satisfying.

This anime is quite lean--the fat is all trimmed, which is a good thing as it is not bogged down with dull or unnecessary scenes, but the downside is that perhaps too much was taken off. URDA lacks the meat of a good series, which would include deeper characters and a more developed story.

What we have here is the skeleton of what could be a great and estranged action/sci fi adventure. The good thing about URDA though it that all it aims to be IS that skeleton. And in that regard, this anime succeeds. URDA does not attempt to be anything more than it already is, thus we should not consider it to be something less because of that.

URDA is for those who can handle their orange juice (and anime) with lots of pulp. read more

Kanamemo is an anime that was born in the wrong body.

It markets itself as a comedy when really it should have been a slice of life anime. This difference is actually rather significant, since it changes our perspective of this anime on the whole. Instead of regarding it as a slice of life anime with humorous moments, we must now see it as a comedy. And as a comedy, it manages to be a large disappointment.

What you have here is not an anime of high calibre. It lacks intelligence, it lacks wit, it lacks silly charm, and even the content catering for the lowest common denominator falls flat. The one thing Kanamemo benefits from is having a certain quality that makes it hard to hate it completely. It is different from other ecchi comedies because it attempts to tell a touching story of an orphan who is taken in by a group of older women, all of whom welcome her and treat her like part of a big family.

The word of the day: attempts.

Kanamemo tries to pull this off but it actually does not. Kana's escapades with the newspaper company she works for and the room-mates she acquires after the death of her grandmother are not that funny at all. Amusing, maybe, but hilarious? No.

If it did succeed, there is no doubt this would have been a rather warming and funny series, but the focus on the service and fan pandering detracts from what had the bones to support a rather meaty series. It is sad to see that this anime loses its chance to shine within the first few episodes. It is only the fact that it tries to have some heart that manages to save this anime from being complete garbage.

Kanamemo's story can also be downright depressing sometimes, as it veers into the bittersweet territory that most comic anime try to avoid. It is comedy, after all. Do you really want to stop in between laughing at a perverted joke because you are seeing an orphan "talking" to her dead grandma? No. It is sort of uncomfortable. It is not to say a comedy is incapable of having serious or emotional moments--it is just that Kanamemo has poor direction and transitioning into these moments. Actually, there are a lot of uncomfortable moments in Kanamemo. Haruka's drunken antics for example will either be the high point or low point of the anime, depending on the audience. For the normal viewer, her actions are reproachable and downright upsetting even for an ecchi comedy. If you like to see a grown woman groping the undeveloped breasts of a pre-teen and a young teenager... then by all means, enjoy.

The art for this anime is fairly standard. You have some generically cute designs, and lots of girls with unrealistic hair colour. It is a bright anime and it seems to be working with the same formula as, "If it's a comedy, no need to spend money on it." which hopefully will be a practice that will die out, especially when anime like Detroit Metal City, Natsu no Arashi and K-ON! have detailed artwork backing them.

The best thing about this series is the sound aspect. You have tons of famous seiyuu working on this anime. (If you are a fan of voice actresses, this is probably the only occasion you will get to hear Horie Yui playing a constantly drunk pervert.) Kanamemo even comes with its own musical episode, which has garnered a lot of mixed reactions. This is actually the high point in originality as far as this anime goes. The OP and ED songs are pretty fun, if happy, poppy energetic songs are what you like. And regardless of whether or not you like her presence, the music that plays in the background whenever Haruka appears is ridiculously funny.

Kanamemo works with an ensemble cast based on broad types. You have the insipid "heart of gold" domestic ditz, a deadpan loli, the perverted drunkard, a cheapskate miser, a lesbian couple, and a midget tsundere (guess who does her voice...) and unimportant filler friends and classmates. Despite the fact that they never grow out of their two dimensions or even leave lasting impressions, these characters are all rather likeable. It is hard to really hate anybody in Kanamemo. Surely, you can get terribly annoyed or frustrated with their shoddy, bland or stagnant characterisations, but you cannot help but look at them like puppies that chase their own tails--cute as heck, but undeniably dumb.

Overall, Kanamemo is fairly unspectacular as far as comedy anime go, especially those based on the 4-koma (Japanese 4 panel) style, yet its style of comedy does not entirely resemble that of a 4-koma. Punchlines are a large part of the derived humour, and you wait for said punchlines to hit but they just end up being rather lacklustre. Sometimes they never come. As aforementioned, Kanamemo might have been better suited to be a slice of life anime with comedic elements rather than a comedy anime with slice of life elements.

However, it is not to say that this anime is boring. Far from it, actually. Kanamemo has its amusing moments. While most of the time you may not be laughing tears of mirth away or even managing giggles or snorts, the humour in this anime might manage to make you just chuckle or smirk a little at it. When it is actually funny, you get your laughs, undoubtedly. Just avoid looking forward to LOTS of laughs. And it sure is cute sometimes. This anime is more a disappointing affair than anything else, since it is not like it was just terrible material. It is potential swept under the rug and then stomped on to flatten it down.

Do not go into Kanamemo expecting the sarcastic Lewis Black or the crude Chris Rock or the goofy Ellen Degeneres of anime. You're getting a retarded Dane Cook with this one. read more

Moe mahjong!? Wait, this might actually just work.

Work it surely does, as Saki proves to be an unabashedly entertaining series that you can watch for either the large cast of girls or for the mahjong. Or both, if you want to have your taco and eat it too.

Saki's story is intensely simple: high school girls on their school mahjong teams go to tournaments and duke it out with one another. Primarily, we follow teenager Saki as she learns to love the world of mahjong and competition while she tries to deal with a messy home life.

What makes Saki work so well is that it manages a perfect balance between being a thrilling mahjong series and being a fun anime about cute or cool girls with quirky personalities. Come for the mahjong, stay for the girls or come for the girls and stay for the mahjong. What also makes it work on the whole is that you do not have to know a thing about mahjong to like or enjoy this anime. There are explanations, but not of the shounen variety (where a character takes about fifteen minutes to explain the delicate artistry of his super special awesome attack). Even if you do not have a clue what a particular move means, the energy that surrounds the characters as they sit around that table will suspend you and thrill you.

If you want an mature, intense mahjong anime, then an anime like Akagi is a better bet. If this were about football, Akagi would be the Goal! or Bend It Like Beckham. Saki would be Shaolin Soccer. So if you want an anime that takes mahjong seriously (not referring to "serious business"; mahjong is pretty serious business in Saki), then this is not the anime you want to be watching. If you want an over-the-top, goofy, slightly angsty, electric, service-driven anime catering for otaku and layered thickly with moe but has surprisingly and conceptually cool mahjong games, then you got yourself a winner!

Saki's art is a hit or miss at most points. Surely, the character designs are cute and it is a colourful and generally easy on eyes, but the anime suffers from repeated scenes, still shots, and sloppy artwork in the background and sometimes even foreground--a clear sign of animators working within a budget or just simply rushing the job. The 3D mahjong tiles are glaringly obvious but they look pretty fine and actually are rendered well enough for them to take precedence in scenes where they should be noticed.

The music for this anime sounds sometimes like it was ripped right out of a kickboxing or karate movie from the 90s, but rather than cheesy, it adds a certain appeal to this anime, making watching what is a particularly uneventful sport in reality seem like you are viewing an intense (if not amusingly hammy) action flick. Mostly, the background music is fun, and the OP and ED themes are upbeat and cheery. Saki though is blessed with an extensively impressive cast of seiyuu. Generally every popular or commendable seiyuu of the last five years (Horie, Nakahara, Koshimizu, Itou, Kugimiya, Chihara, Fukuyama, Kobayashi) show up in this anime along with some promising newcomers.

Even if the mahjong does not interest you, Saki's cast will. Every character has a speciality that is intentionally exaggerated to make them seem like superpowers. There are no tricks or magical arts or Matrix-like mind hacks in the actual games, but the anime makes everybody's talent or skill seem to be a "power" of sorts. For example, it is actually rather fun to witness an unnoticeable and unremarkable girl use her forgettable nature as an advantage in a match--her opponents actually forget that she is there and do not notice her plays; she figuratively "becomes invisible" to the naked eye. Another example would be when the characters "turn into" battling mahou shoujo existing in other realms to show off the power of a particular move they made.

Saki's huge assortment of characters will definitely allow you to make some favourites from each major team: Kiyosumi, Tsuruga, Ryuumonbuchi or Kazekoshi. Almost everyone in Saki is likeable (except for one or two magnificent bastards, but even they have backgrounds and personalities) and quite a handful of them are downright loveable. At least to watch in their antics, anyway.

If you do not mind super-power mahjong and missing panty/boob/loli-service with some questionably homoerotic tones to it, then this anime is definitely an enjoyable and alternatively (it all depends on what you go for) rewarding experience. Saki is what it is, and for that, it is a wonderfully fun, sometimes really silly, and mostly very entertaining anime. There are moments that prove that it could be better, but even as it stands, it is pretty darn good. The story is not actually over as we are left with a teaser of future epic and outer-worldly mahjong skills and crazy players to come, so hopefully someday there will be a second season or sequel in the works--it will be met with great anticipation.

In the good spirit of bad puns, I'll leave you with the one thing you will surely learn from Saki: mahjong has never been this titillating! read more

The Bible speaks of Canaan, a son cursed for his father's sins, left to bear a mark upon his skin for all to see. Canaan is the "Land of milk and honey", a paradise for those who traversed the desert with Moses, populated by the accursed descendants of Canaan. Canaan is a symbol to remind the worn and weary to keep hope and not give in to despair.

This is the importance of the concept of "Canaan" to the anime CANAAN.

CANAAN begins as a high octane adrenaline rush of an action anime with slight political intrigue set in the darkly beautiful and vicious streets of Shanghai. This place is an exotic paradise to those who can see beyond the crime and grime. It is home for those who see it for all its ugliness as well. It is a safari of ruffians, the wild and spirited, and the violent.

Who sees this more than Osawa Maria, a photographer who tries to capture the true and horrible beauty of life around her on camera? Who sees more than Canaan, a young woman whose sight allows her to regard the world in colours that we can never comprehend? Who sees it as something to be owned and destroyed more than Alphard, a terrorist who has grand plans for getting rid of the weak and assuming power and control over the strong?

The anime follows those who are cursed and takes the story back to the land of the accursed. CANAAN focusses on the bio-terror presented by people who are "blessed" with powers greater than the average human (or in one humorous instance, does nothing worthwhile at all). They each hail from the same unnamed land, but it is a place affected with the deadly Ua Virus. Those afflicted bear the marks upon their skin, a natural tattoo to show the world that they are blemished. These people are cursed for the sins of their "fathers", whether it be in the literal or figurative sense.

CANAAN is not an anime about its story; it is an anime made for its directness and plot. The actual story leaves many open ends, unexplained events and unclear developments, but prioritisation of this is not what this anime aims to accomplish. It is a violent ballet from start to finish. In a dance, words, feelings and thoughts are expressed by movement and action; CANAAN's method of storytelling follows the characters as they convey their emotions through brutal and beautiful acts of violence and through inaction that reveals their inevitable helplessness. To try to search for something deeper is to be looking for something in the daylight with a flashlight--unnecessary and not recommended.

CANAAN is commendable for its beautifully choreographed fight scenes, car chases that will take your breath away and leave your heart pounding a mile a minute, quirky, offbeat sense of visual humour littered around unrepentant violence and darkness, and the contrasting imagery that reflects its themes. The action is this anime is fluid and downright impressive. Hand to hand combat, gun showdowns, and knife fights are extremely common and yet never once has a fight scene in this anime fallen short of being simply stunning. This is a carnival of colour, celebrating beautifully rendered settings from the gorgeous yet dangerous Chinese metropolis to the dusty deserts of the Middle East.

This anime also comes with a lovely score accentuated with the air of conspiracy. The music aches with strings, winds, and brass that speak of intrigue and contained passion. The frenetic energies of the anime are captured by its background music and it even comes with an energising and rough OP theme and a reflectively melancholy ED theme. The possibly most astounding aspect of the sound is the voice acting. The seiyuu truly show you what professionalism is as they give life to their characters.

Speaking of the characters, CANAAN comes with an eclectic and eccentric cast, from the titular character right down to even the recurring background comic relief characters.

What makes Canaan herself better than being a "killer with a tragic past" is that this does not consume her entire characterisation (ironically, unlike Alphard). She has a personality outside her persona. Canaan, despite being a killing machine, is rather warm-hearted unlike other cold killers. What makes her an attractive character is not simply because of her skills or abilities, but because of that warmness within her; something that most other people except Maria or those who actually get to know Canaan are not able to see. What we have is someone not wanting isolation, but wanting interaction.

The tortured heroine Canaan has an almost innocent demeanour through her lack of socialisation. Life has given her endless experiences. Living, however, is something she is not used to, and she finds a bit of humanity and normalcy in her relationship with the pure-hearted and optimistic Maria. Maria sweeps people along with her, her radiance is something that gives Canaan's darkly colourful world some light.

Then there is the antagonist, Alphard, a woman whose every action seems to be related to a cruel game she plays where only she knows the rules. Alphard develops unlike the traditional "big bad" in an action anime since despite her malevolence and harshness, she seems to be on another plane of understanding than most of her villainous cohorts. While her motivations seem rudimentary, her actions are grand. She wants the world to recognise her.

Each character in CANAAN is driven by another one as a form of affirming their existence. Canaan needs Maria just as Maria needs Canaan. Alphard needs Siam, and having lost that, she turns her interests to Canaan. Even the minor characters are motivated by their emotions for another, such as Mino for Hakkoh, Hakkoh and Santana for one another, or the extremely and increasingly insane Liang Qi with her warped affections for Alphard and her sadomasochistic relationship with her underling Cummings. Perhaps the only character not thematically driven by another is Yun Yun, but she exists almost outside of the anime, despite being so involved with every major faction. Much in the way the Fool exists in King Lear, Yun Yun is a static character who lives and shines within her scenes and not beyond that. Even stagnant characters like the taxi driver or the idol who shows up now and again aid in containing the world that is created in CANAAN.

While they may not extend into being three-dimensional characters, CANAAN's characters have fully developed their existing dimensions; they are characters whose actions, feelings, personalities and ambitions mirror that which you would find in characters in a play, something not uncommon in the best of theatre. And CANAAN certainly is a theatrical anime, with its high tension, over the top action scenes, and hyperbolised drama.

This is an anime that succeeds in being exactly what it is: pure action. Digging for something deeper is possible, but is not what this anime wants from its audience. Complicated plots interest you? You shall not be finding that here. CANAAN is rooted in its basics and is driven by singular themes. Love and hatred, hope and despair, trust and betrayal--these are all extrapolated upon and are at the core of every character interaction and plot twist in this anime. Simply, CANAAN is an exciting, explosive viewing experience.

While there may be more questions raised than answers given, the most important and truly the only question CANAAN ever poses to the audience, is ultimately answered. Just who or where or what is "Canaan"?

"Canaan" is an identity. It is a person. It is a place. It is a parable. It is the potential of a promise. It is much more than just a name. read more

Do you remember your first love?

This is a question posed numerous times and is delicately answered in various ways throughout Aoi Hana. Sometimes we can remember but do not want to, and sometimes it escapes us despite us truly wanting to know.

Aoi Hana is an anime that follows many firsts. Manjoume Fumi moves back to her old home town without any enthusiasm and starts her life as a high school freshman. She fatefully meets the best friend of her youth who she had almost forgotten, Okudaira Akira, and from there, the two girls rekindle their friendship and go through the trials that teenage girls face at that age. The anime primarily focusses on Fumi's perspective and the many bridges she crosses at that confusing and bittersweet time in her life.

Mostly we witness a coming of age and coming out story, and the way these two best friends support and stand by one another through the toughest of times. How do you tell a friend a secret that's eating you up inside? How do you handle hearing a secret from a friend that might make you think differently of them? Fortunately for us viewers, Aoi Hana features a story of growth and deep understanding with a cast of characters who are lovely, kind and wonderful people. This anime does not rely on fireworks and theatrics; it uses single actions and understatement to get its messages across.

Simplicity can work really well, and for an anime focussed on storytelling and characterisation, the art style of Aoi Hana proves suitable. The artwork and animation vacillates between being absolutely excellent to very inconsistent, but the one constant is the magnificent art direction. The minutest details in a character's action (such as lightly thumbing the handle of a tea cup, or the slow, deliberate, and very subtle curling of a hand into a fist) are illustrated. So small, so tiny are these actions, yet they contribute more to the story and reveal the inner tribulations of a character more than a litre of tears or ten minutes of hysterics could ever do.

The lighting is absolutely spectacular; sunlight filtering through a canopy of trees, splaying across skin, or gleaming through glass are some examples of the intricate and painstaking details given to this aspect. However, the character art suffers sometimes from lazy work and it shows, making the presentation less than perfect and sometimes really unacceptable. Despite this, the visual significance of certain close-ups, the controlled, contained actions, the almost unnoticeable movements that speak volumes more than words could, and the truly beautiful watercolour setting of the seaside town in which the story is set provide some quietly breath-taking sights. The soft palette and hand-painted backgrounds give this anime the look of gentility and peacefulness, making it very easy on the eyes.

The sound for this series is soft and acoustic, keeping in tone with the atmosphere and mood. The problem with a soundtrack so soothing is that it sometimes does not leave a lasting impression. The OP theme song truly is magnificent, providing a mature vocalisation rather than ear worm J Pop; 'Aoi Hana' by Kukikodan is a vocally driven, piano and guitar accentuated song that perfectly captures the spirit of the slice of life aspect of this series.

The voice acting may be hit or miss for a lot of listeners. Fumi's light, feminine voice and Akira's raspy though high-pitched voice may be considered entirely appropriate or annoying depending on the audience. This anime also has veterans like Horie Yui (voicing a character type to which she is not used, but she pulls it off well), and Noto Mamiko and Nakahara Mai taking back seats rather than leading. Surprisingly, these lead seiyuu show they can pull off supporting roles extremely well, bringing something a little different than what they usually do than when they voice main characters.

Aoi Hana has successfully utilised both the visuals and dialogue to develop and express the growth and personality of the characters. The characters prove to have chemistry and maturity to them that so many school dramas lack. There is nothing loud or blatant about their interactions. Their conversations are heavy with double meaning, clever quips, deep insight and the expectant youthful naivete that personify teenagers. Aoi Hana never treats the characters' ignorance as something exploitative, but uses it as a means for them to look within themselves and develop gradually. The conflict of growing up is accurately presented by these girls.

Surely some of the issues such as sexual orientation and arranged marriages will not be common for everyone, but the other important themes presented are things anyone growing up would understand: forming friendships, dating, jealousy, self-denial and self-acceptance, and emotional responsibilities to yourself and to others. The characters each have the sensibilities and rationalities of girls their age (mind you, intelligent girls their age), and it is utterly refreshing to see an anime not where irritating fools fall in love, but where deserving characters form fulfilling and plausible relationships whether they are healthy or not.

While the protagonists Fumi and Akira appear to be standard archetypes, as the plot unfolds, they show us that they are so much more than that and rise above our pre-conceived notions of them. Fumi is not just a shy crybaby; she is extremely sensible albeit emotional. Her inner fortitude is utterly inspiring at moments without her seeming like pillar of strength--she is a fragile person, after all. She does not cry because she is weak and wants to complain. She cries because she accepts the inevitability of life, and knows that it makes no sense mulling over these problems and wishing for something else--life will continue, and so she must as well. Is it wrong to let someone who accepts her problems cry a little over them? Not at all. Akira is not just energetic and supportive, but she is also perceptive and naive. In fact, while she starts off as the typical Messianic character, we come to understand that Akira cannot help but insert herself into people's lives. While she tries not to meddle, her overwhelming desire to protect her friends overrides her rational side, but she does not act rashly or stupidly. Also, despite appearing to be inexperienced in life and love, Akira proves to be the most understanding and astute character of the lot.

The most important relationship in this anime is shared between Fumi and Akira. Whether it be instantly forgetting about her much-searched after crayons to run to Fumi's aid or absent-mindedly banging her knees against a table to rush to her friend's side and comfort her, Aoi Hana skilfully shows us that not only words are necessary to express how much Akira cares for Fumi. And it is all too clear to us just how important Akira is to Fumi. The depiction of such a wonderful friendship is actually quite warming.

Aoi Hana's second group of protagonists consists of Sugimoto Yasuko, a dashing older student with an understated though evident charm (and a mean, selfish side that people are not aware of), and Ikumi Kyoko, a headstrong, stubborn though graceful girl who seems to forget her pride when it comes to matters of the heart. Some of the anime's best scenes take place between Yasuko and Kyoko, and the most mature and brutally honest conversations occur between them as well; they have smart and clever discussions without ever once sounding unrealistically wiser beyond their years. The comic trio Pon-chan, Yassan and Mogi, and Akira's extremely over-protective brother Shinobu provide humour to the anime. And there is the utterly sympathetic Kou, Kyoko's fiancé, who is quietly determined to get Kyoko to return his feelings.

Aoi Hana is all about subtlety and graceful presentation; you get drama without melodrama and romance without sap. This is an anime made for those who can sit back and just let the story and the characters soak into their bones. It is something to mull over lightly with some tea. You will not get tense drama, but you will get reasonable drama. You will not get fairy tale romances here. You will get real ones. The characters will not snap and change--they will grow, and you will witness that slow and satisfying growth. If excitement is what you enjoy, then you will not enjoy this anime. This is not an anime about grandeur. It is about the quiet aspects of life and love. And of course, of all those first times that one can possibly experience.

A first love is always the one you hold closest to your memories and you think of it fondly, sometimes painfully. Aoi Hana reflects on the first loves that have come and gone, first loves that are yet to happen, and long time loves that are preserved safely like a fragile memory of sweet blue flowers in our hearts. read more