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Like everybody else in the United States with access to basic cable, I had seen bits and pieces of this show out-of-order on [adult swim], and had picked up most of the story through osmosis just by being involved in anime fandom. Maybe that is why I felt as though I could put off a total watch-through for so long. There were three shows that, for most of my high school career, everybody was obsessed with: Naruto, Bleach, and Fullmetal Alchemist. I'm none-too-fond of Naruto, and Bleach is fun but not a favorite, but FMA had always intrigued me. I remember seeing it available through ... fansub when it was still running in Japan, and wanting very badly to see it--it reminded me of Folken from Escaflowne, my current obsession, who was a sorcerer/alchemist with a metal arm, and I'm obsessed with arcane sciences and magics--but, alas, for whatever reason, I never got around to it. And here I am, a junior in university, finally having sat down and watched all 51 episodes in order.

Whatever. That's neither here nor there.

I do not give out 10's lightly. I give out a lot of 9's, even 8's, but 10's are the shows that work their way under my skin, tug at my chest, and express so beautifully the things we already know deep down, but could not put to words, or consciously conceptualize. Fullmetal Alchemist is a singular show in that regard. It is a singularly imaginative, beautifully-written masterpiece on par with the greatest works of literature. Some of the political commentary feels a little heavy-handed, but then again, when does it not? The oppressive, violent military is not portrayed as a singular body of "AMERICA FUCK YEAH" heathens, but a diverse body of human beings with individual motives, value judgments, and sacrifices. The Ishbal people are not portrayed as selfless martyrs--usually, the oppressed people have to be perfect to garner any sympathy, but in this case, they are flawed humans as much as anybody else.

Ultimately, the show does not make any black-and-white assertions of right-and-wrong, truth-and-myth. Everything is still shades of gray when all is said and done. The only conclusion that can be made, as Al so beautifully states, is that there is no one law that governs the world--it's too complicated and flawed. Life is unfair and sacrifice does not guarantee gain. And yet, the power of determination is not undermined. It is not wholly pessimistic nor wholly optimistic. That would be too simple. That would be too clean. Life is not like that.

This is one of those shows I feel I can recommend to anybody. It is universal, it is powerful, and it is not dogmatic in a way that would turn off somebody who does not agree with that central dogma. It represents fundamentalist religious activists and atheist scientists with equal humanity and flaw. Ultimately, nobody is shown to be in possession of the one, and only, truth.

I have been meaning to watch this show for ages. Now that I've seen it, I'm wondering what the hell exactly took me so long to get around to this. It's a fusion of some of my favorite elements--steampunk, books, history, music, and espionage. Yomiko is an absolutely adorable character, and her personality is well-established the moment you get a look at her house. The characterization for the rest of the cast is excellent as well. The artwork is lush and gorgeous, and the action sequences flow beautifully and intuitively. As a bibliophile and history buff myself, the inclusion of various random intellectual figures as ... villains was a nice touch. Though Beethoven gets no speaking lines, seeing him pound away at the keyboard with his archetypal wild hair made me far giddier than it should have.

I cannot recommend this show highly enough. It is well-worth your hour and a half.

I found it amusing how much the US president looks like Dubbya, and how much of an absolute trigger-happy pussy he is. He wets his pants at least three times when things get tough, and at one point he flips out and instead of proceeding calmly through a tight spot, tries to pound the 'nuke them all' button. Political commentary much? You must recall this vintage 2001, a very familiar year in his political history.

I'm glad I had the chance to watch this when I was visiting a friend. I had always meant to see it--it's been a staple of anime canon for ages--but just had never gotten around to it.

This is one of the few anime with a Petite Ditz as the main character where I did not spend most of the show wanting said ditz to choke. Sae is genuinely adorable and lovable, everything most anime heroines aspire to be. Her over-the-top klutziness is endearing as opposed to hackneyed and grating. She pulls off the old school "Love Conquers All" magical girl beautifully. She seems GENUINE.

For ... a short OVA that devotes a lot of its time to slapstick, I was pleased with the subtlety of character development and interactions. It really is a character story, in the end, all magic wands and hats aside, and that adds something special. By the end of six episodes I really did care about these characters and wonder about their welfare in the future (to be answered in the TV series), and that is the emotional tie every writer aspires to create between the characters and the reader.

"Mahou Tsukai Tai" is not without flaw, of course. Some of the episodes drag with filler, and sometimes the slice-of-life aspects become dull. This slower pace is truly a relic of 80's and 90's anime, almost unseen in modern shows, and in that I find a nostalgic value.

This aside, if you don't require your anime to feature guns, vampires, or giant robots to enjoy it, and if you are not adverse to overwhelming helpings of cute, I recommend giving this show a try.

This was a cute one-shot manga for "Gyakuten Saiban", though it lacks the depth and suspense of either the game or the other manga adaptation. It's enjoyable to game fans, but probably not so much to those unfamiliar with the characters. I take this opportunity to recommend playing the games; they are excellent.

Admittedly I go into this review with a huge bias. I LOVE the original "Gyakuten Saiban" games with a frightening, obsessive passion.

I've admittedly only read a few chapters of the manga adaptation, and thus far, it seems to be pretty good. The characters seem pretty true to their game counterparts, and it's interesting to see the case investigation in the third person as opposed to first-person playing as Naruhodou/Phoenix.

That being said, a few things already caught my attention. The cases are too short and simple for my taste. The cases in the game are complex, twisting puzzles that can take quite a long time ... to figure out, but a blast nonetheless. The manga limits the duration of each case to a few chapters, tops, and only so much can be crammed into one manga chapter. In that sense, this may be likened to "Great Detective Conan" ("Case Closed"), but "Conan" pulls off the one-chapter case with better pacing and depth.

That aside, the manga is still great fun to read, good detective-mystery pulp with characters who (if they stay true to their game counterparts) are all batshit insane. This can be a good starting-ground for those not familiar with the games, but in my opinion, the stories and cases in the games are far, far better. I hope the quality of the manga improves with each installment.

So, the infamous "Sensitive Pornograph". Here we go.

Let's be honest about one thing first off: these are certainly not stand-alone stories. By that, I mean that graphic (no invisi-penis here!) sex scenes aside, the stories, characters, etc, in this OVA are not at all strong enough to stand of their own merits. This is porn, plain and simple. It's porn blissfully devoid of rape and tentacles and bukakke and the other litany of fetishes that are not my fetishes, but it's still porn.

That aside, this is one yaoi that is, especially as compared to its contemporaries, blissfully devoid of darqueness and angst. There is ... no cutting, no suicide attempts, none of that bullshit that, usually, within the context of a yaoi OVA, consists of the meat and bones of a character's... character. There is a scene about ten minutes in where one of the characters indulges in typical angst (oh, he's just using me; he's just a slut), and as soon as the other character confirms that he IS loose, lightning crashes and it starts raining. And I snorted up my cranberry juice. And the second story, with the boy going to pet-sit the "rabbit"--whatever. Said "rabbit", henceforth the nubile and handcuffed Aki-chan, is a DEAD RIPOFF of Ayanami Rei from Evangelion in male form, especially at the end of the story when he is bandaged up and has the same damn head bandage. And I think there was some magical soul-affirming secks involved in there, not entirely sure, though I can see why a sex slave would find it gratifying to realize that somebody cares about HIS pleasure as well. Whatever.

Those foibles aside, I admit I have to bump the OVA up to "above average" just because despite its faults, it avoids so many of the laughably-bad yaoi cliches plaguing the genre. The characters, for the most part, don't take themselves too seriously and seem to realize that they are involved in utterly absurd situations, which I appreciate--because they are. And, for something that is blatantly porn, that ain't bad.

I do have major issues with the music. It's HORRID. It's this generic synth-acoustic crap that made me want to shut off the speakers. I know porn is not known for its original soundtracks, but DAMN this was bad. It's like a throwback to everything that was wrong with early-90s anime soundtracks.

Artwork--because let's be honest, again; in porn visuals are important--is the most solid aspect of the OVA by far. It's pretty high-quality. It looks like old-school cel-shading done right. And there's a lack of the ludicrous invisi-penis common to so much yaoi. If you're going to draw porn, dammit, draw it right. Go big or go home. All the boys look like they need to eat a sandwich or something--the rabbit-boy looks damn near anorexic--but I like slender boys, so this is okay.

All in all, this is one of the most solid titles in the genre for what it is--porn. Gay porn. Men fucking men. That is to say, it isn't gauge-your-eyes-out / laughably bad. If yaoi tickles your fancy, this is one of the best titles you can find. If it doesn't, there is absolutely nothing here to interest you. Go home and play Super Smash Bros. or something.

Admittedly at first I expected this story to just be cute. Something light, something fluffy to "baw" at for a while. It is as sure as hell cute, but there is a hell of a lot more to this manga that initially meets the eye.

For one, it's PAINFUL. For all that the ending feels a little deus ex machina, there is a lot that is not idealized. Suicide, death, and loss permeate the characters' lives. There is a focus on letting go of loss, on being held back by past tragedies, and having the courage to keep living when you have to reconcile that your ... worst fears are, in fact, true, and are not going to change. Many of the characters have stopped LIVING because they do not want to let go of their pasts, and as Mitsuki discovers, the more you step forward, the more your past becomes detached from your heart. And it hurts, especially if that pain is the strongest link you have left.

At its core, this is a story about living one's life to the fullest and being willing to get go of the past for the sake of the future. Mitsuki gives the people around her, dead and live, the courage to let go of the tragedies chaining them to the past and move forward with their lives (or afterlives, as the case may be). Mitsuki's love for Eichi is heartbreaking, and anybody who has loved and lost has felt her gut-wrenching sorrow. This understanding of what she is going through makes her courage all the more remarkable.

I highly recommend this shoujo title to anybody who has ever known loss, who has ever wanted to give up, who has wanted to curl up in a ball and stop the world from turning while they stay in stasis. If you don't belong to that group, I have to wonder if you have experienced life yet.

It is every fanfiction writer's dream to have his or her story made into anime. We all dream about how our stories would look on celluloid. It's normal. It's healthy. And in defense of fanfiction, I have read some stuff good enough to actually make the cut. Hell, I've read some stuff better than the original canon. It's few-and-far between, but it's still there.

This is not an example of the latter.

"Eikoden" was originally somebody's fanfiction that became an officially-published novel, and then somebody else decided that making this catasterfuck into an OVA would be a good idea. I'll openly admit that the original "Fushigi Yuugi" ... had (more than its) fair share of gratuitous shoujo angst and Mary Sue reverse-harem elements. "Eikoden" is worse. It's just... bad. Like eye-rollingly, make-you-wince bad.

The crux of the whole story is Tamahome's True Love(R) for Miaka and this psycho bitch in his gym class who finds the "Four Gods Sky and Earth" and uses it to get herself pregnant with the baby Miaka is pregnant with, go into Konan, and then threaten suicide (and the baby's resulting death) if Tamahome does not start loving her instead of Miaka. Sure. This is going to work. So Tamahome goes back to Konan to meet with New Friends and Old (R) while Miaka stays barefoot in the kitchen, or something. In the few scenes she has, she's even more of an obnoxious Mary Sue than in the original anime, eternally forgiving and oozing the Power of Love and Faith(R). In the end we all learn that you can't force somebody to love you and that true love conquers all. Or something.

Whatever.

If you're an absolute die-hard Fushigi Yuugi fanatic, especially a Miaka/Tamahome shipper, you may enjoy this more. Chichiri was the only redeeming quality for me. I love the man. Otherwise, don't bother.

So this was playing in the "yaoi" (not really) room at Fanime 2007, and I parked myself and my luggage in there since I did not yet have my badge or a hotel room in which to store my stuff. (Con advice: make sure at least one person from each travel party has a name on the hotel reservation so you can get a key upon arrival.)

Guh. GUH.

Admittedly I was interested in this anime upon seeing the previews. The character designs reminded me of "X" and "Tokyo Babylon" (the main character is a Seishirou ripoff liek whoa), and there was some nice scenery. I have ... a weakness for urban fantasy, and like every girl, I'm crazy for a sharp-dressed man.

That isn't enough to hold my attention more than ten seconds, unfortunately. And that is where this show's good aspects end.

The story sucks. The dialog sucks. The anime itself DRAGS with filler that fills in the gaps between a story that is boring enough in-of-itself to feel like filler. It's filler within filler. There are some gratuitous shounen-ai-esque touchy-touchy moments. Woo-hoo.

It was so boring I don't even really remember what happened, something about a war and the main character being reincarnated and zombies. Sounds like it has the potential to be interesting? It's not.

Just watch "X" and save yourself the grief.

This manga wasn't BAD, per say. It was just very, very flat. If not for the canon-ghey appeal, there would be nothing left to this, not even to fangirls. It takes the uke-seme stereotype and plays it up to cardboard. I just got bored and gave up on it after a few volumes.

If canon-ghey in-of-itself, regardless of good story or character, is enough to hold your attention, then by all means. You may enjoy this. If you prefer shounen-ai with character, read "FAKE"; it's a good old standby.