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Feb 3, 2014
Kino no Tabi is a series that caught my attention through it's comparisons to Mushishi (One of my all time favorites). It follows the journey of Kino and her talking motorcycle as she navigates a number of different countries, it's essentially a study of human nature wrapped in a unique little package of 13 episodes.
Being episodic in nature, each story is self-contained in just over 20 minutes. (with the exception of one two-part arc). The stories mostly revolve around Kino and her motorcycle entering a country and interacting with it's inhabitants, the particular theme for the story may not be apparent at first and is
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usually covered in a little mystery, but at the end of the mere 20 minutes it somehow manages to convey a sense of insight into the most deepest of topics, often leaving an emotional resonance as most stories are tragic in nature. The themes of the episode range from relationships, culture, war, religion to many more.
The main character is Kino, she is a small and almost genderless in appearance but has a very deep, thoughtful side to her. Her interactions with the countries and it's people are what makes this anime so absorbing, she approaches each situation with an almost enlightened indifference, allowing the characters to express their motives and situations without any restraint. In contrast to her unassuming nature she has a deadly side to her as well, her backstory isn't full explored but at some point she trained to become an excellent marksmen and fighter which adds an extra dynamic to her travels since they aren't always peaceful. The motorcycle Hermes isn't anything special in my opinion and doesn't add to the insight, but he provides Kino with an outlet for thoughtful reflection on her encounters.
The art and sound in Kino didn't jump out at me in any specific way, but it serves it's purpose fine. Kino no Tabi is gentle and meditative in nature, and the art designs and sound fit that. There's no overly elaborate characters, and the music itself is subtle and rarely used. Most of the time I barely noticed the sound apart from some gentle background tracks. The uplifting opening and end themes are the only ones that stick in my mind, and both are great choices.
To summarize Kino no Tabi is a thoughtful series, it may be small in it's number of episodes, but it's huge in it's ambition and insight into various topics. I'd recommend it be viewed slowly, an episode once every night or two and give it your full and undivided attention to get the most out of a truly beautiful series.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Feb 3, 2014
A little disclaimer... I'm going to review the whole series here, not just season two, since neither season has a great shift in quality from the other and the main story arc takes place over both seasons.
Code Geass can be described as many things, if I was to try and sum it up in one line I'd say it's an epic mecha sci-fi romp, intertwined with political scheming, super powers, superfluous dialogue and a hint of fanservice. I mean this show really is epic in every way, if there isn't something epic happening then something epic is about to happen or has just happened. People
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converse in the field of battle with overblown speeches and retorts, and even when characters are alone there is usually a soliloquy of some sort. Depending on your preference this might sound terrible, or awesome, but I'll just say that it works. Yes, the series is over the top, but that's exactly how it needed to be.
Aside from watching mechas (Knightmares) play beat-em up there is a story to be told. It's the tale of a world suffering from the tyranny of Britannia, in this fictional future Britannia have taken over roughly 1/3 of the world, the most recent country being Japan. The story focuses on Lelouchs (An exiled prince of Britannia) rise against the enemy in order to create a peaceful world for his sister. Lelouch is masquerading as a Britannian student, but when he stumbles across C.C he is given the Geass. The "Power of the Kings" which allows him complete control over any person. The bulk of the series takes place in Area 11, formerly known as Japan. We see that under the rule of Britannia we have a segregated country in which the "Elevens" have little rights and are kept in poverty, the racial undertones of the series may not be the focus of the story, but it adds depth. It's not all just robots and superpowers, but it's a fight against oppression.
The series is backed by some great sound work and art design. The soundtrack captures the moods perfectly with adrenaline pumped battle music for the fight scenes and softer poignant pieces for the more heartbreaking moments in the series. The voicing of the main cast really stand out, with Lelouchs voice actor stealing the show, I imagine this series wouldn't have been half as enjoyable with his commanding vocal presence. In a series with such verbose dialogue you need the voices to pull it off, and all the cast do a fine job. The character animation has a lanky style to it, but it's all obviously well drawn, the mecha battles especially are fun to watch. I might as well mention the fanservice here, there is a bit of nudity in the series (those really are some odd shots of the female knightmare pilots, I guess an under-the-seat view of the action really helps!) but it's nothing extreme and neither adds nor detracts from the series.
There isn't a shortage of characters here and despite the constant mecha battles it's really the characters that are the driving force. Our main protagonist is of course Lelouch, his character is one of righteous indignation who believes that the ends justify the means. He doesn't hesitate to use his powers to kill, and often uses even his own allies as pawns in his greater scheme. But despite all of this he remains a constantly moral character, everything he does is for "the greater good", yet his likeability does remain divisive among fans. Lelouch and his closest friends/family share an incredibly well woven relationship. The start of the series has a light feel to it, but as the story progresses the show becomes emotionally charged by the breaking or strengthening of bonds between them. Somehow Code Geass manages to give depth to not only the main characters, but also the myriad of supporting cast are each given unique personality and set of relationships. I was impressed at how such a large cast was assembled yet almost all of them were memorable in their own way.
All in all it's a highly enjoyable show. From the first episode the pacing is set to turbo and it never relents, with the final few episodes culminating in a crescendo that ends with one of the most heartbreaking, bittersweet or even happy endings depending on your point of view. If you want to experience the ultimate creation of "extravagant anime" then there really is no better choice.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jan 22, 2014
Elfen Lied: Everyone hears about this anime at one point, chances are you are already aware of the basics. It's got gore, violence and nudity. Now, the opening 10 minutes had me thinking "Oh man, this is actually gonna be awesome" as the 573rd limb was severed. It did everything right as it shocked and appalled me but had me wanting more, but then when the ditsy waitress comically falls across the screen in the middle of an orgy of violence I was wondering what sort of style this anime was aiming for. And I'm afraid that was a sort of foreboding for what was
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to come...
Story-wise you have a promising premise. A mutated form of human, Diclonius are captured and kept for study by mankind. Think evil x-men. Not Magneto "I'm actually not that bad evil", but "You are in my way, I'm going to remove your limbs evil". There's an overtone of "Who is the real bad guy here", Humans or Diclonius? But that falls a bit short when it appears that the Diclonius are pretty much the enemy of mankind, showing a complete lack of human emotion when they are severing heads or removing limbs. The story follows the story of psychopathic Diclonius Lucy as she is shot during her escape. She washes up on a beach with no memories and reverts to a childlike persona who can't speak, and is found and adopted into the home of our two main characters. Who don't particularly find it strange that there's a girl with horns...
I think thats maybe the problem I have with the characters. They didn't have the depth (or common sense intelligence) I'd expect from such a popular series. With the exception of Lucy the main girls are pretty much interchangeable stock personalities who all kinda have a crush on Kouta. And have a real penchant for taking baths together. Most of the "depth" given to our main characters come from their pasts. Now if a character is poorly written I'm not sure a disturbing backstory really compensates for it.
As for Lucy, she alternates between psychopathic and braindead. Although I found her psychopathic personality to be much more preferable, I guess I would have just liked to have seen more of an "inbetween", some sort of conflict perhaps.
As the story goes on we find out there is a history between certain characters. And more Diclonius are introduced to add a welcome change to their one dimensional evil nature. I've went pretty hard on this series so far, so I'll give credit where it's due. As the history of the characters are revealed it does manage to hit the dark notes it aims for as troubled pasts of the characters are all horribly traumatic in nature.
I have to mention it has a great opening theme, it's haunting latin opera soundtrack is used throughout the series, maybe a tad too much, but it really captures the moments when the anime is at it's best. Dark and disturbing. The artwork is fantastic in the backgrounds, although kinda lacking with the character animations.
Also it's violence isn't always gratuitous, but serves a purpose. The invisible limbs that can shoot out and tear a person to pieces had me constantly feeling uneasy whenever a Diclonius was on screen because I never knew what they might do.
In the end, I actually found myself enjoying a fair portion of the anime. Despite it's flaws it has a certain ambition I respect with it's blend of violence, gore, humor, nudity. But it's weak characters and inability to strike an real emotional cord had me feeling apathetic towards it's conclusion. I'd recommend this series for anyone who isn't afraid of anime with an extreme nature, it will certainly test the boundaries of what you can handle.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 17, 2014
Phantom - Requiem for the Phantom: It's been a week since I finished this anime and I still occasionally find myself visiting youtube just to listen to the "Canzone of Death" theme to reignite my thoughts on the series and it's conclusion. When an Anime has such an emotional impact on me that it leaves me reeling yet still coming back for more, I'd say it's done a pretty damn fine job, right?
The premise for Phantom is rather simple. Our main protagonist is an innocent tourist who is brainwashed and turned into an assassin. A few montages later he perfects his skills and is ready
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to kick some ass. Now I know that sounds a little generic, but this anime is anything but. It coulda just been a cool thriller but it manages to find a clever balance by putting a lot of focus on the relationship of the two main characters and their internal struggles, so there's a pretty big "human" element to it.
The rest of the characters in Phantom really are a strong point and the main reason for it's emotional pull, with almost every character having it's own distinct personality and feeling completely fleshed out. Here every plot twist, every betrayal, every death has a huge impact because of the presence each character has in the story.
When it shifts away from it's character focus we are treated to a constant battle of wits as the leaders of Inferno (the group of assassins) struggle for power over the organization. It has a well paced and twisty-turny style, with each episode ending with a cliffhanger of sorts. It's unpredictable macabre game of power and betrayal means you never quite know who is going to come out on top so you'll never find yourself thinking "Oh, I KNEW that would happen!" (Unless you are one of those people that always says that, and if you are.... I hate you people!) Due to the nature of it's storytelling it's really hard for me to go into specifics, I'd prefer to give a few examples of what I liked but I fear I'd ruin half the experience if I did!
I gotta mention the art and sounds since I loved both. The artwork was as good as anything I've seen, detailed characters and well drawn settings. (Some of the panning shots of the city looked almost lifelike). As for the sound I am a HUGE fan of dark melancholy vibes, so the opening theme "Karma" shot straight to the top of my favorites. It's haunting opera, battle music and Zweis cool latino style rap theme are used to great effect.
To sum up this anime, for me it's a masterpiece in well crafted story telling and fleshed out characters. Maybe there's one or two faults in the story, which are mostly contained in the third act, but I feel that they pale in comparison to what I consider is a near perfect anime. This is 100% recommended for anyone that likes their animes dark, but beware, this is a rollercoaster of emotions. And I don't mean the kind of rollercoaster that ends with it slowly grinding to a halt so you can get off safely, it's the kind of rollercoaster where the track leads to a cliff face and hurtles you off with no regard to your safety!
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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