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Obviously nobody is going into Fist of the North Star for any form of artistic subtlety, and I was no exception. First of the North Star's narrative is serviceable like any other movie where super buff dudes make each other explode with their pure ability to throw their meat at one another really really hard. Of course this review can pretty much only critique how well the bodies explode and how awesome the characters look while doing it. So without further ado.

Characters:

Kenshiro is not particularly interesting or eye-catching in anyway, which for the nature of the anime is almost unexpected. But Ken's lack of ... personality is hilarious when combined with over the top violence, since he never fails to look like he is literally taking out the trash while cleaving through bikers.

Shin is the perfect slimy braggart to Ken's tasteless wood 2x4. Shin along with Jagi are the two characters who sort of carry the audiences engagement with the story. Villians rarely capture the audiences interest in seeing their downfall, but personally I actually wanted to see Ken fight each one, since the characters of Jagi and Shin were so gloriously in love with themselves. Too bad that nether of them are still kicking for the finale of the film.

Roa is just sort of an imposing bag of meat. Enough said.

Yuria is really in the movie as more of a plot point and not a real character that is really affecting how the movie will turn out. She isn't boring or particularly interesting, just a good way to get more people to punch face and make organs explode.

Art:

The gritty look of the animation is very good. Like other anime of this type the imagery doesn't look physically dirty in a cheap way which is a relief to the eyes. Although the anime takes place in the post apocalypse no frame, besides those altered to censor violence, looks rushed or un-detailed. For an 80's anime it's A quality animation.

Sound:

The music and sound effects give the anime a feeling of scale. The brass, and percussion in the music sounds bloated and stiff which works well for a world of violent straight-faced savages. The effects for the brutal fights and cracking landscapes have a hollow echoing quality that makes everything the characters do feel grand and powerful. Much like the effects from Indiana Jones, Fist of the North Star really has it's own particular sound that can be recognized in the shortest exposer.

The Gore:

Yes this movie has a lot of gore if you have not guessed from the everything about it. From start to finish blood is always being spilt and bodies are literally exploding. It's something you have to watch to get the full affect of, since you couldn't possible describe all the mayhem that is contained in a single fight. Somehow First of the North Star never gets boring. Personally I think that the range of strange characters keeps it fresh, with the additive that unlike many other fighting based anime the combat isn't very refined and overly stylized.

Final Score 8/10

Cowboy Bebop was not the first anime I had ever watched, which looking back probably hurt my enjoyment of the series. I had been spoiled with other action/drama series that had a much better flow to the overall story, Trigun being a prime example. Cowboy Bebop for the most part scatters plot important episodes around the series, most others being ether filler or character focused. Now I'm not complaining about filler episodes, I to a certain extent I love them since they can take more liberties to be unique in various ways. My gripe is with character-focused episodes, because they're so boring I had to ... attempt to watch a few of them more than once not having the care to finish it the first time. The problem is that these episodes are slow, usually take up most of the screen time with just a single main character, and have an addiction to flashbacks / somber moments. It's not the worlds biggest problem, there are only about 5 episodes like this, and 2 others that are debatably so it's not a capital offence.

I mostly only have good things left to say about the show, and if you've heard anything about it you already know what I'm going to say. The animation is exceedingly good, hand drawn and beautiful. The jazz soundtrack is iconic and is frequently compared to others that are like it. Most of the characters are memorable and interesting (excluding Ed, I have zero clue why people like her).

As a closing I'll give both a compliment and a criticism. I really liked episodes that kept the amount of science fiction elements to a minimum, not talking about space ship type stuff, I mean uploading souls to the internet. The show is at it's best when it keeps it's noir feel and collapses when it goes Star Trek. Most episodes sticks to the noir, but every once in a while you feel like you put on the wrong series.

Only Yesterday is a very uncomfortable sit, and I'm not just talking about the twenty minutes dedicated to young girl's periods. The film's world is fairly well animated, but it looks and feels very empty, giving the story a depressing mood as if someone died. I want to mostly talk about the plot generally so I'll get everything else out of the way quickly.

Art: Looks pretty good, but the simple style can sometime exasperate the feeling of emptiness

Sounds: I like the soundtrack, but a few moments during the film the music is unnecessarily kitschy.

Character: Most characters are ether mean spirited, self-centred, kooky, or boring. I ... can't even imagine how most of these characters were supposed to be endearing since they were defined by negative traits (besides the dad because he has the best delivery).

Ok the story is absolute garbage. I assume that they were going for some sort of coming-of-age drama, that was supposed to have a nostalgic feel for the audience. Did it achieve that.........no. The flashbacks to Taeko Okajima grade five self seem to have little to no baring on the present day's story other than the fact that she has changed a lot since she was in grade five, so immediately the majority of the film can be disregarded plot wise. The present day is also flooded with thinking about the past or just sitting around feeling good about life with the occasional "decisions are hard" conflict. I have praised a movie like Ocean Waves for having a loose plot and lack of important events, but in Only Yesterday's case it presents everything from Taeko grade five life as being important to the present. Sitting through the movie you feel like you're watching two different unfinished films that were jammed together in the hopes of making it to 118 minutes.

To be fair the grade five parts of the movie if expanded could have been made into something good, same thing kind of goes for the present day. As it stands currently both parts lack a real ending to there plot lines and never create a world you want to stay in.

Maybe I just had a really strange high school experience, but my nerd friends and I were very much like these characters (not in action but in personality), so I loved every minute of the show. The mini plots of each episode are mostly fresh every time which keeps you motivated to continue watching. The soundtrack to the show is very monotone most of the time, but I want to highlight how much I feel like it did a perfect job at setting the tone for a gag a day show. The animation was pretty standard fair, but the extra affects they added to character ... appearance every once in a while helped to add to gags that might have seemed shallow without the great visuals. My only complaint is that it wasn't longer, and a few scenarios were repeated a couple times too many, which is odd since the skit style of the show would presumably allow for a wide range of variety.

I come from the perspective of not needing to love all of the characters in Love Hina, and that is generally where most criticism comes from on this show. To be fair everyone would probably also agree that the plot is vapid and a thin plastic covering for the harem setup, but I usually hear the character criticism first. So basically my weak defence is that characters such as Naru Narusagawa are supposed to be awful, unreasonable, and mean. Some of the comedy for me is the fact that Keitarou likes in ether a romantic or friendly way the majority of the female cast. So ... in that sense the show sort of saves itself from being a standard harem anime, and deflects the criticism if you take my lopsided view.

I must be reaching for an excuse to find the show sort of funny and entertaining, but the mindset sort of helps coming into a show with such a low reputations with veteran otaku.

Ocean Waves is to me an under-appreciated film. First off the animation and soundtrack are particularly beautifully done, simple, but it matches the atmosphere and weight of the story - very light. The plot is where this film can be seen as poorly done or strangely memorable, and I am coming down on the latter of the options. I myself have never really been one for coming of age tales, and this movie didn't change that fact, due to it almost being an pseudo coming of age / romance story. Characters don't go through life changing arcs as they mature, nor is there a heavy ... romantic overtone, or even undertone for that matter in the majority of the movie. Ocean Waves almost creates it's own sort of genre which I will call the "personal story" due to the story feeling mundane, but realistic, as it would be for the viewer's life experiences. So from the point of view that you are witnessing a very realistic depiction of a younger man's life, the story and characters may not be your absolute favourite, but it is immensely satisfying after you watch it. My only gripes being that it wasn't longer and having had more light shined on some of the side characters who were sort of made relevant at the end.