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- JoinedMay 17, 2008
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May 15, 2009
Shingu is one of those animes that comes along rarely that does what it intends to do and does it well. Shingu tells an interesting story and does it in a way that's enjoyable to watch, and somehow relaxing. Except for a few scenes Shingu doesn't resort to cheap tricks to suck the viewer in to the story nor does it try to play with the viewers emotions. It just tells a story, and not too bad a story at that.
Shingu has a wonderful old school feel to it, from the anthem solo at the opening to the wonderful jazz arrangement by Yuji Oono at
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the closing everything in between is a delight. The art is well drawn but not overly detailed and the background music is mostly well done jazz. The characters have the old school wide eyed look and one of the main characters is a mystery superbeing whose facial expression rarely ever changes from amusment. The characters have no problem with breaking the 4th wall and speaking directly to the audience (which usually precipitates another characters saying "Who are you talking to?"
There's even narration by the main character as was seen in older anime and each episode ends with the narrator saying something like "all these questions will be answered in the next episode" which also is another old school touch.
For all the old school qualities this is definately a 21st century anime. The concepts behind the main plot seem simplistic at first but give it time, as the episodes continue the plot and various subplots get infinately more complex. Another plus is that Shingu is unabashedly Japanese. I'm growing tired of anime that try to position themselves in a generic location. There's no question that this story takes place in a small Japanese costal town and it's refreshing to catch glimpses of Japanese culture.
I recoment this anime for anyone that's getting tired of the same old giant-robots-save-the-earth story, this one is fresh and refreshing with comfortable familiar feel to it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 4, 2009
There's one scene in Dai Guard that says it all: While waiting for the Hetrodyne (evil monster) to attack Tokyo the crew is getting bored waiting for the call to action. After several hours of 'hurry up and wait' the pilot of Dai Guard sighs and says "I've been watching giant robot anime all my life and they never mentioned this part."
That one line struck such a cord with me, and sold me on Dai Guard, and Dai Guard immediately became my all time favorite mecha anime the moment it was uttered. XEBEC and director Seiji Mizushima did a wonderful job injecting a lot
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of hard core reality into the fantasy genre of mecha anime, and they did it with a lot of humor and a lot of heart.
Hard core reality like all that paper work that needs to be done after a mission, or bickering among the best pilots ruins the mission, or what does the military do when they see an insurance company doing their job with military surplus equipment? (They get jealous... big time.)
Dai Guard was built as a military robot to fight Hetrodynes by the 21st Century Defense Corporation, however when Dai Guard was finished the Hetrodyne threat stopped and the military allowed 21st Century Defense Corporation to keep Dai Guard as a cooperate mascot. 13 years later the Hetrodynes return and only 3 office workers can pilot Dai Guard who is in serious need of maintenance.
Some of the show cracks me up like no other; at first they have to truck Dai Guard across Japan in pieces in a multiple truck convoy, assemble it in the path of the enemy only to have the enemy change course and they have to tear down Dai Guard and load it back on the trucks to the next anticipated battle site. If you've ever been in a mobile military outfit you know how painful that is. But a lot of the show is very touching too, it's not all giant robots and evil monsters, there's a lot of human drama going on and quite often Dai Guard doesn't make an appearance.
I give the story a 10 - it's intriguing, humorous, and very fair; meaning there's no deus ex machina waiting to spring out and ruin the plot. What you see is what you get: there's no super powers, no alien interventions that will change the story, no hidden back plot to spring out at the end and change everything.
The art I gave an 8 - the animation could be smoother, but there's no long still shots with the camera rotating to denote action, there's no inappropriate chibi or super deformation when a character becomes embarrassed, and there's no jiggling... actually no fan service what so ever. Hey! This is a large Japanese corporation, I'm sure they have fan service rules.
The Sound is an 8 - surprisingly good for a mecha anime. Mostly I like the music, and the opening and ending songs are very very catchy.
The Characters are solid 10s, every one of them. The characters are very individual and they always stay true to their nature. There's no sudden epiphany that creates a complete and total personality change in any characters, although several do have an epiphany - they end up handling it like any normal person would. There's a few characters there for humor but they're not clowns. Just about every character is very likable and each for a different reason. Even the characters you detest are detestable for appropriate reasons.
Enjoyment is a solid 10 - every episode was and is a celebration.
Overall - a big 10. On the surface this looks like a silly little anime, but wait a few more moments... if you're not hooked when you see how the crew of Dai Guard win their first battle then anime may just not be your thing.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Feb 15, 2009
When I first started watching Mahoromatic I mistakenly considered it a light and fluffy piece of anime with just enough eechi in it to keep interest up. And in the beginning it was light and fluffy. But I fell into a trap; many great anime series started out light and slowly evolved into something completely different; Neon Genesis Evangelon and Trigun for examples.
I thought at first it was a bit sad to remind the viewers at the end of every episode how many days Mahoro has left to live, and unlike western programs I know the Japanese aren't going to find a magic way
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to save her but in the end it worked for the best.
The story I rated 9 - it was very entertaining, with a lot of humor and sweetness to make you fall in love with Mahoro, but as the story develops it becomes richer with more depth as the back stories come to light. I only wish there were more information on the three struggling powers: Saint, Vesper, and Management. I also wish there were more information on Siguru's ancestry. My advice is to kick back and just enjoy the first season, but as the 2nd season progresses pay more and more attention to what's going on outside of the house.
I also rated the art a 9. I don't rate anime on how well the drawings project the human body, but how well the drawings project the idea of the story. When Mahoro goes into battle mode the art is incredible - the orange/red/black coloring of the artwork is incredible in its ability to project power. Then again the art also projects the tranquility of a Japanese spring morning, or the loneliness of a man without a home or a friend.
The sound was ok, but what can I say, I'm a sucker for cute feminine voices and up tempo closing theme songs. A mambo! Who woulda thunk up that besides the Japanese.
The characters were all well defined and stayed true to themselves through out the entire series. Minewa was the epitome of cute while Mahoro was the embodiment of sweet - even in battle mode. While a couple were a bit annoying their quirks made the more reasonable characters that much more reasonable.
Enjoyment for me was a solid 10. While not Gone With The Wind or War and Peace material, it was a good solid view that left a lasting impression. Along with telling a wonderful story it also shows interesting things that the Japanese take for granted, things we westerners aren't familiar with; The Japanese version of Christmas is more like our version of Valentines, their version of Valentines is backwards compared to ours (the women there give candy) and White Day, where the man repays for the gifts received on Valentines doesn't exist here. The episode that showed the 'typical' New Years celebration was also fantastic. Many fansub groups do a good job explaining these differences but unfortunately the companies that release the DVD's to the US market ignore our need to figure out what they are doing.
I highly recommend this for anyone (over the age of 16) to add to their library.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Feb 12, 2009
I stumbled across this anime at Funimation's Anime Selects On Demand channel and was pleasantly surprised. Lately it seems like anime has become stale and formulaic, but Witchblade brings some American energy into the mix with this US/Japanese co-production.
The characters were energetically imaginary but with enough reality mixed in to further endear them to the viewer. I've known several people like Masane - flighty and incapable of holding down a real job, but with enough heart and love to do what ever it takes to raise their kids. Rihoko is the mandatory kawaii injection that just about every Japanese production seems to require, and
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her cuteness is a bit overpowering but it doesn't detract from the story. The rest of the gang is fairly well scripted, the good guys being Noir good, meaning there's enough bad in them to make it interesting, and the bad guys are really bad.
What also engaged me is that the story is not solely focused on the action and the fight scenes. Like truly great anime, like Neon Genesis Evangelon or Full Metal Alchemist, the story focuses on the bigger story; how the characters got to the point where they're at and how the current situation is effecting their lives. And all is done without long, boring, confusing flash backs that make you wonder if you're still watching the same anime like Tenjou Tenge. The action is there like frosting on a cake; not too much or it will get boring - sort of like Bleach's 4 episode long fight scenes. This action is well animated and exciting to watch.
One of the best points, like any good story, not everything is wrapped up in one tidy package at the end of the story. Life isn't like that, and even though you may be able to see how it's going to play out several episodes from the end, the final scenes are satisfying, but Witchblade still leaves plenty of threads dangling for one to savor and ponder long after the show is done. It's a fan fiction authors God-send.
I highly recommend this one - kick back and enjoy. It's good viewing.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 7, 2008
It is a fun watch for someone who wants to be entertained with some humor. It would have been better if it stuck closer to it's Manga eechi roots, then the talking cat panties would have made more sense in the overall story line. Over all it's not outstanding but cute enough to keep your attention, but the ending really really drove down my rating for the story. It's like deus ex machina gone wild - like the writers suddenly decided to get serious at the very last moment. This ending makes the ending for Neon Genesis look reasonable.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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