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"Now I've lost it; I know I can kill. The truth is just beyond the gate...!!"

STORY - For a series that essentially never explains anything, I'm actually extremely surprised I ended up liking it as much as I do. I'm not a fan of overt exposition, but I'm not a fan of dancing around all the obvious questions either, and Darker than BLACK does almost exclusively the latter. The majority of the series is episodic and comprised of two-episode mini-arcs; these episodes serve to explore the world and the characters, but any insight gained is limited and generally lead to more questions than answers. And ... yet, the world presented is a very intriguing and unique; the concept of a select few with special abilities is everywhere, sure, but I'm totally in love with the idea of having to consistently pay a price for it. The series starts off a little slow, but none of the episodes are outright boring, and it's fun cataloging all of the data you receive and formulating various hypotheses about what had happened and why things are they way they are. It's the mystery that keeps you going.

Yes, it's immensely frustrating trying to understand anything sometimes, including the overarching plot and the motivation of any of the characters, which are, you know, kind of important, but even though I say that nothing's ever explained, there's definitely enough there for you to work off of. The episode-to-episode story is easy enough to get at a basic level, and as more and more elements present and repeat themselves, it becomes more and more interesting. It's open-ended in many ways, and there's plenty of room for interpretation. For that reason, it probably isn't for everyone; if you're looking for concrete answers and explanations, you'll almost certainly be disappointed. Most characters in the series don't even know what's going on, so there isn't anyone to spell it out for you.

CHARACTER - It really doesn't seem like it at first, but Hei is quite the fascinating character. It never seems quite clear whether Li is the disguise and Hei is the real personality or if it's the other way around. Both seem so sincere in their actions and words. The duality of his character seems contradictory because he comes off like he should be very straightforward, especially considering that "contractors are logical creatures." The details of his past remain hazy and vague for a majority of the series, though it becomes obvious rather quickly what he still feels towards whatever had transpired. That in itself isn't all that interesting or original, but it's a good starting point for all the contradictions and a huge catalyst for the grand plot. I wouldn't say that Hei actually changes much throughout the course of the series, which is usually what I measure the merit of characters by, but he does learn a lot about himself, and those revelations seem to work just as well.

The rest of the characters aren't nearly as interesting, but together, they make a great supporting cast. Mao and Huang are both fun in their own way, though I do wish they had explored the former's past more. Too much about Yin was left unexplained for me to really take to her, but it didn't bug me all that much either. The detective and his assistant were pretty standard comic relief, but standard doesn't mean bad. Kirihara was also a pretty generic cop-type character, but she worked her role very well and her interaction with Li made for an interesting angle. (Or maybe I'm just a sucker for the secret identity drama thing.) The vast bureaucracy that stood over the plot was confusing to keep up with at times, but after a while, I found that it didn't really matter what the details were -- it's just bureaucracy. And it works out all right.

ARTSTYLE & ANIMATION - Most of the things that BONES animates tend to impress me, and Darker than BLACK is no exception. Everything is smooth, beautiful, and entertaining to watch; the action scenes were fluid and well done, and most of the character designs were slick and distinctive. It's worth noting also that one of the sponsors was obviously a car company (I don't know which though because I don't know anything about cars) -- all of the vehicles in the series are explicitly detailed, with many utilizing 3d animation. There's also a pretty epic driving scene in the second opening's animation sequence. For the most part, this works out well, but there's that occasional 3d car that looks a bit out of place.

One of the sponsors is also the notorious Pizza Hut! In contrast to Code Geass's overt product placement though, DtB is much more subtle in its ways. The logo will appear on a few buildings and storefronts, but as much as Hei does gorge himself every other episode or so, he never actually goes out for pizza. I think this fact helps keep the overall mood of the series relatively serious; there are humorous bits, certainly, but it doesn't come off as nearly as crack-filled as the aforementioned. (I guess that's the difference between BONES and Sunrise.)

MUSIC - My little blurb at the beginning of this review is from the first opening theme. Once again, I really appreciate songs that relate directly to the series and contain lyrics specifically referencing it; I've always respected Takanori Nishikawa for this. Unfortunately, I find that his music under abingdon boys school is sub par compared to his music under T.M. Revolution. "Howling" has an interesting beginning, but the rhythm and melody feel jumbled up until the end/chorus. Being a Rie fu fan, I'd heard "Tsuki Akari" long before seeing the series, but while it's a pretty song, I didn't really feel as if it fit. It was almost jarring to hear it after every episode. The second opening, "Kakusei Heroism ~The Hero Without A Name~" by An Cafe is better in that it's more energetic and not as forced feeling; the second ending, "Dreams" by HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR is similar to the first in tone and mood, but something about it fits better -- I think it was just that Rie's voice itself didn't seem to fit the series, rather than anything about the music.

The soundtrack itself mostly average, though there are a number of standout tracks -- particularly the intense tracks for high-action scenes and the horror/suspense movie-like tracks for the creepy and contemplative scenes. Still, I was surprised to find that Yoko Kanno was the composer because I don't feel as if Darker than BLACK's soundtrack is of the same caliber as the stuff Kanno is generally known for. It's not terrible by any means, but it certainly feels more subdued.

VOICE ACTING - Most of the cast is pretty average -- they're effective in their portrayals, but not particularly amazing. I did like Hidenobu Kiuchi as Hei a lot though; the differences between Hei and Li were really well done and it was great at highlighting the conflicts within his personality. I was also fond of Kirihara's voice, though it was pretty much the typecast for a strong-willed and morally infallible woman. The first two episodes are available dubbed and streaming from FUNimation's video site. Those two episodes didn't really leave that much of an impression on me, but I didn't think it was too bad?

OVERALL - To be honest, the first five episodes didn't do much for me. At six, it started to get more interesting because that was when Hei's past first started affect his present, and that was when the gate started to play a bigger role. After six, I never had a problem staying engaged, and the two-episode mini-arcs really helped keep my thoughts organized. As the overarching plot comes to reveal itself and the series climaxes near the end, you kind of forget that the episodes were ever structured that way because everything comes together so neatly. It's very smooth storytelling. And I liked the ending a lot too; it doesn't really explain much, and I'm still not completely sure what happened, but I like what I could understand and interpret. The concepts were good. It leaves me with a lot of questions, and I'd really like a sequel, but it's not the end of the world if there never is one. Few series can pull off that kind of open-endedness, but Darker than BLACK does.

Ouran Host Club mocks all your shoujo stereotypes while simultaneously utilizing those same stereotypes to create a wonderful series. I'd say that takes talent.

STORY - I avoided this series for a long time just because the premise didn't interest me, and from a distance, it seemed like one of those parodies that would err on the side of taking itself too seriously. I'm really glad I ended up giving it a chance though; Ouran High School Host Club manages to be hilarious from the get-go and is surprisingly adorable. It's perfect in portraying the handful of stereotypes that appear over and over again in shoujo ... and doesn't shy away from blatant self-references and mockery to make sure it doesn't take itself too seriously. And yet, the series somehow still manages to have a captivating "serious" side and great romance potential.

I like to gripe a lot about anime adaptations of manga that aren't finished too, but Host Club has an excellent and concluded storyline (with huge potential for a sequel!) despite the still-running manga. Admittedly, I haven't read much of said manga yet, but from what I can tell, the anime follows it pretty damn precisely. Many of the episodes are very silly and episodic, and there's also the predictable handful of episodes dedicated to each character's backstory, but there's rarely a dull moment. It's entertaining and fun through and through.

CHARACTER - For a cast conceived entirely of over-used stereotypes, Host Club really does an amazing job in keeping everyone interesting, especially since it isn't afraid to point out those obvious type molds. There isn't really anything particular or unique about Haruhi, but that's exactly what makes her so easy to relate to. Her androgyny only furthers this by destroying that gender barrier, and honestly, I'd love to see more reverse traps in anime. Haruhi is great at balancing characteristics that are considered typical of both men and women, and she's also endearingly oblivious. Never underestimate the power of stupidly endearing characteristics... Tamaki is a fun character for all the same reasons.

He has tons of little quirks -- many of them are common, but that doesn't stop them from being effective when they're so well done. Everyone gets those obligatory background episodes that explore their personalities beyond the stereotype. It's a tricky thing to give a parody a personality; how do you give them depth without seeming pretentious or just like the cliches you're trying to mock? I'm really not sure, but somehow Host Club manages. The twins have a completely generic emo twin backstory, but I'm still compelled to sympathize with them and to empathize with their friendships with the rest of the club. Kyouya has a similarly generic sibling angst story, but I still like the bastard. Mori and Honey weren't as interesting to me personally, but I can still see where their appeal would be for others.

In the end, it isn't so much the originality of the characters that make them so good -- it's their interaction with each other. Everything feels natural. It's just entertaining to watch them go about their shenanigans and to hear them mock one another, their genre, otaku culture, and random other things. And the subtlety of their strong friendships is what ties the whole series together. As the episodes build on, it gets clearer and clearer just how important those friendships are. Yes, this is a satire and a comedy, but there's a good story about friendship buried under all that too. It's a simple and generic story, but it's a good story all the same.

ARTSTYLE & ANIMATION - I really love the style and animation used in the opening theme. It's clean and cute and pretty unique-looking. Hell, the opening in general is just adorable and fun to look at, and it's one of the few that I actually sat through and watched more than a half dozen times. The style in the series itself is pretty generic, but as most of the characters were designed to be generic, this really isn't too big a deal. Indeed, all the characters perfectly master the visual charm that made their stereotypes so widely popular to begin with. And at the same time, the designs somehow manage to also capture the personal quirks that each character still has -- the twins are typical badboys, but their emotion is still there; there are probably twenty billion characters that look exactly like Kyouya, but somehow, he still feels like his own person. It's interesting (maybe it's the uniform?).

There are also lots of nice backgrounds in Host Club. It's a very fancypants and elaborate academy after all. Sure, a lot of the wide exterior shots and some of the interiors are recycled a lot, but they're still intricate and pretty backdrops. The animation is pretty average. There's nothing particularly spectacular, but I don't really think there's really anything that needs to look spectacular. Funny thing about shoujo, there aren't usually too many fights that need to be animated super smoothly. XD

MUSIC - The opening theme, "Sakura Kiss" by Chieko Kawabe is a really cute song. It's upbeat and fun and just an all around fitting theme to the series in general. For the dub, the song is translated into English, and it works surprisingly well. The voice sounds exactly the same, and I really thought the singer just had two versions of the song at first. The translated lyrics work pretty nicely too. I didn't like the end theme as much as the opening, but that usually seems to be the case because they're just generally not as exciting.

The soundtrack in the series is nicely varied. To emphasize the rich, upper class and noble environment, there are often classical instrumental themes; the moods are often exaggerated with very shrill, high-tension violins for the action and drama and soft, melancholic piano for the emotional and tragic scenes (cheerful, everyday scenes are usually accompanied by flutes and strings). It's good to note that even the music sticks with the over-the-top and satirical nature of many of the scenes. For more serious bits, the music follows suit and calms down to more traditional melodies, including several instrumental versions of the opening theme and the piano themes that Tamaki plays. As a fan of classical music, I tend to be drawn to soundtracks like this, but either way, I think everything suited Host Club very well.

VOICE ACTING - I saw the first half of the series dubbed (all that's currently available on DVD) and the rest subbed. It's been a while since I've seen a dub first, but Host Club's dub seriously impressed me. Vic Mignogna is the perfect Tamaki. He nails every line and every emotion, and it's just a very convincing performance overall. One of my biggest voice acting peeves is when actors don't change their voices between roles, which gets really annoying really fast in English dubs because there's such a limited talent pool. When Tamaki is acting flustered or funny!angry, he sounds a bit like Edward Elric, but for the most part, Mignogna manages to give the character a distinct voice, and I found that to be very impressive. Caitlin Glass as Haruhi was also pretty amazing, and I was again really happy to hear a distinct voice for the character. Honestly, the entire cast was excellent and all the voices were wonderfully suited to their roles (the only annoying voices were for the annoying characters!).

It seems that the English dub is aimed very much for an otaku crowd as well. A few honorifics are carried over without explicit explanation, particularly "senpai" and "-chan," and the cute shortening of names before attaching the "-chan" (like Haru-chan or Hika-chan) is also kept. It was really weird hearing it at first, but all things considered, I think it turned out pretty well. It doesn't feel overly unnatural, and those little speech habits really keep characters like Honey and Haruhi truer to the original. (Now if only they could figure out a way to translate distinct first-person pronouns...) It's fitting since Host Club does so well to mock otaku culture, and it definitely added to the experience to hear such lulzy culture-generated terms like "twincest." The translation felt very relevant and in-touch to the English-speaking otaku scene which was fantastic.

The original Japanese cast is pretty good too, but I don't think I like Mamoru Miyano as Tamaki as much as I like Vic Mignogna. While Mignogna only occasionally strays to Ed's voice, I often hear a host of other characters when I hear Miyano... of course, that might just be because I've heard more of Miyano's roles than Mignogna, but all the same. Maaya Sakamoto as Haruhi was better, and I found it hilarious that Haruhi's poor singing skills are emphasized when Sakamoto is such a lovely singer. I prefer the Hitachiin twins' Japanese voices to their English counterparts because they're easier to distinguish from one another, and that's one of the easiest ways I had to tell them apart. Since much of the rest of the cast is very stereotypical, their Japanese and English voices were about on the same level; the actors sounded typecasted, but that works just fine. Sometimes, I just get tired of reading subtitles, so while the original cast is good, I think Host Club's dub is one of the few I'd choose to watch over the sub if given the choice.

OVERALL - I don't think I've ever wanted a sequel for a series as much as I do for this one. The ending is predictable but adorable and practically begs for a follow-up series -- how is it that Ouran High School Host Club mocks so much of what's common in shoujo, but somehow manages to use all the same formulas to make you love it? I suppose it's proof that even the most tired of cliches can be given new life if done right. There are no original ideas left, but there are still new, fun, and interesting ways to twist around what's around there. To all the skeptics, I highly recommend giving this series a shot. The first eight dub episodes are available streaming on FUNimation's website (the first three episodes are also available subbed). I was a skeptic too.

It is a time... when collecting space debris... is very important! Really seriously business here, guys!

STORY - I laughed when the narrator said that at the end of the introduction, but I can definitely appreciate the realistic approach to space in Planetes, especially when so many other sci-fi series completely disregard the issues it presents. Radiation exposure and space debris in particular are hugely important real life topics concerning space, and it was both interesting and educational to hear and learn about them. Planetes starts off pretty episodic, but while each episode contains a more or less standalone adventure, the events that take place and ... the people they meet are revisited and remembered, so you still get a feeling of relevancy and continuity.

Most of these adventures center around the technicalities of space life and exploration, but there's also a lot of company politics, global politics, and environmentalism that comes into play, making for an even more realistic portrayal. It's honestly one of the most realistic glimpses into the future I've seen, and it was very impressive. Taniguchi's direction is excellent, and there's never a dull moment. As the series progresses, more and more of the episodes connect and the storytelling becomes more linear. After all their Gundams, it isn't surprising to see a confrontation between Earth and space from Sunrise, but it was really nice to see less of an all out war and more of the personal conflicts and struggles within individuals. Being realistic, there are no fancy explosions and shiny mecha (that would cause way too much space debris!), but the story is nonetheless engaging and very satisfying in the end (the romantic subplot is well done, too). The realism is definitely superior, and I'd love to see more series like Planetes in the future.

CHARACTER - Most of Planetes' characters are reasonably convincing, though I did feel that they stood out a bit against their hyper-realistic environment. Ai Tanabe is pretty much your typical anime heroine with self-righteous and idealistic morals that she tries to push onto everyone else (everything can be solved with love!). In general, I really, really dislike these sorts of characters, and thus, Tanabe rubbed me the wrong way more than once. Thankfully, the rest of the cast was much more down-to-earth and balanced her very well. And while her morals never really change, the rest of her character does manage to grow and adapt, so I'm happy to report that she's not so hard to sit with by the end of the series, and the progression is good.

Hachimaki is arguably the real protagonist of Planetes and who I felt to be the most realistic of the lot. He was the easiest for me to relate to and just all around convincing with his sarcasm, bluntness, obliviousness, and outlook on life. His character was also the one that grew the most, especially in the latter half of the series. The secondary cast was pretty top notch too. At first, many of the members of the Debris Section seemed very gimmicky, but as you expanded on their backgrounds, histories, and families, they all felt more real. It was a good chance of pace to have adult characters with families, spouses, and children back home. The other employees of Technora were similarly interesting, and I really enjoyed the interaction, tension, and politics between different members of different groups. It's a solid cast all around.

ARTSTYLE & ANIMATION - I'm no expert, but all of the technological aspects of the art felt very convincing to me. Space ships and stations are very reminiscent of what we know to be real life designs, and nothing was taken for granted. Picking up space debris with mechanical arms is no walk in the park, and everything was taken into account, including the shine of the sun and the incredibly high velocity of objects moving in space. The art really reflected these details, and it was really fun and dramatic to watch.

The character designs were awesome because they matched the realism of the environment. I loved that there were ethnic differences between the characters and that all hair and eye colors were natural-looking. Everyone was distinct and recognizable, but no one was over-the-top or ridiculous. And that isn't even to say that there weren't some ridiculous shenanigans now and again: Technora's mascot is kind of lol, and there's a hilarious episode with some ninja otaku. Planetes' art really suits its story: it's cold and serious when need be, fun and light-hearted when need be.

MUSIC - I like the opening, "Dive in the Sky," by Mikio Sakai, because the mood suits the series really well. It's inspiring and far-reaching, and Sakai's voice is pretty soothing to listen to. The end theme, "Wonderful Life," also by Sakai, is a bit more upbeat, which is kind of surprising because it's usually the opening that's more energetic and the ending that's more mellow, but it works out anyway. "Wonderful Life" feels like a good follow-up to the opening's inspirational theme because it has that "everything's going to be okay" feel to it. There is a different insert song for the ending to the last episode, and it really surprised me because I've come to associate Hitomi's very distinct voice and sound with Code Geass even though Planetes was before its time. "PLANETES," the insert song, fits this series pretty nicely though. Hitomi's style provokes a thoughtful and poignant mood, which is fitting here too. Space is a deep place.

The soundtrack for the series is mostly average, but I do remember particularly liking a few tracks played during the high tension and serious business scenes. Nakagawa is also the same composer that later does the music for Geass, so I think it's safe to say that his forte is the suspenseful and dramatic stuff.

VOICE ACTING - Thanks to dual audio, I saw about a third of this subbed and the rest dubbed, which might be a testament to how good the dub actually was. Julie Ann Taylor as Tanabe was kind of irritating at first, but as that really seemed to suit the character, you get used to it pretty fast. Her range of emotion is also pretty well played, so I guess the voice is only really annoying when the character is really annoying. I don't have any complaints whatsoever about Kirk Thornton as Hachimaki, but my favorite dub voice is probably Wendee Lee as Fee. Her voice matched up surprisingly well with Fee's original voice (Ai Orikasa!) and just all around suited the character wonderfully. It was really weird for me to hear Lara Jill Miller as Nono, mostly because her voice is identical to her role as Kari from Digimon Adventures, but those two characters are pretty similar in age and personality anyway, and the rest of the cast is similarly appropriate and effective.

The English dub incorporates a few Japanese honorifics into the dialogue, most notably "senpai," but while they never explicitly define the term, it flows in and out of the speech very smoothly. After a while, you don't really notice it at all.

Tanabe isn't nearly as annoying in Japanese, and I was pretty impressed with Orikasa's performance as Fee because it didn't sound much like her other roles, but most of the rest of the cast is pretty average. Because of the international nature of space, I found it a bit hard to tell what language people were supposed to be speaking at times, especially when Hachimaki's mother notes that Yuri's Japanese is pretty good considering he's Russian, or when they throw in Engrish phrases like "Do you copy?" / "I copy!" (This seems to come up a lot in sci-fi and military series though.) I get the feeling that they aren't actually supposed to be speaking Japanese most of the time and that the series is "dubbed" in Japanese. It's really not that big a deal though, and I'm not sure what the best way of dealing with this issue would be anyway.

OVERALL - Planetes is easily the most realistic portrayal of space I've ever seen, whether in a cartoon or live action series, whether from a Japanese or American (or other) production. I think it's important for sci-fi fans to see series like this because it really, really drives in the fact that a vast majority of other series are completely unrealistic. I love Gundam, but all that blowing up of mobile suits in space would realistically make it impossible to exit (or enter) the Earth's atmosphere after a while because of all the debris it'd create. Sure, Gundam's merits don't necessarily lie in its realism, but the change of pace and perspective that Planetes provides feels invaluable to me. I've definitely learned a lot about space from this experience, and I was thoroughly entertained as well. Everything about this series is solid: the story is fantastic and relevant, the characters feel real enough, the art is beautiful, and the music and acting is pretty good too.

For the sci-fi fan, I would consider Planetes a must-see.

I usually don't expect much out of sequels, but slice-of-life stories seem like they should have an advantage in that department, don't they?

STORY - This Paris Chapter picks up pretty much right where the first season leaves off. Chiaki is still working to advance towards his goal of being a renowned conductor, and even Nodame seems to have something more concrete in mind for an end result. The general idea of the story is more or less the same, but unfortunately, I think a lot of the charm is lost in the overseas transition -- mostly because their dreams don't seem quite so distant anymore. ... Chiaki is already fairly well known and well connected; as such, the things that stand between him and what he wants don't seem to be that big a deal anymore. We all know he's capable. This second season gives a little more spotlight to Nodame and her development, but even she seems to have made peace with herself for the most part, so the progression just doesn't seem as interesting.

Episode-to-episode, since it remains quite slice-of-life, the series is still pretty fun and entertaining, but the depth and relevance of the over-arching plot isn't nearly what it was in the first season. It feels more like a continuation of antics because the story had already matured to its height and there's no where else to go. I suppose that's a little disappointing, but at least it doesn't take away from the original series.

CHARACTER - Like the story, I feel like both Chiaki and Nodame had finished all their significant growth and development in the first season and that there wasn't much else to address in the second season. Despite having become an official couple somewhere along the way, there were only small differences in the way they interacted with each other. It was still ridiculously adorable for sure, and it could be said that we do gain some insight on Chiaki's regard of Nodame and their relationship, but I don't really feel much was explored beyond what we could have already figured out on our own. I suppose slow and gradual progression was part of what made their relationship so appealing in the first place though.

Sadly, most of the secondary cast from the first season stays in Japan, and we're greeted with a mostly fresh assortment of support characters in Paris (Kuroki the Oboeist is the only character that reappears). And they aren't nearly as interesting or entertaining as their predecessors. I don't really think there's a specific reason though, honestly; I just had a much harder time caring about them...maybe because they weren't featured as prominently and because none of them really seemed motivated? If they don't care about themselves, then why should I care about them? It also bugged me a little that almost all of them were pianists; variety is good!

ARTSTYLE & ANIMATION - At first glance, Paris-hen seems to have gotten a step-up in budget as far as animation goes. Where season one had still frame after still frame for musical performances, season two has none of that whatsoever. Instead, we're met with a lot of computer-generated music-playing that's fitted in rather awkwardly with the cel animation. Every single performance is animated in the Paris Chapter. Violins move! Fingers glide over piano keys! Chiaki's arms actually wave around when he's conducting! It's pretty neat; I was excited to see instruments move, but after a while, you really start to notice how awkward it looks.

The difference between the CG animation and everything else is too obvious. Chiaki's arms are too stiff. The pianists' fingers are look strange when they move; they're robotic. It isn't terrible, but it's noticeable, and it becomes a little distracting. I think the general character animation took a hit because of it, even in scenes that didn't involve performances. More proportions were off than usual, etc. The animation was never amazing to begin with, so those small things stand out. I'm not really sure whether the still frame panning is better or worse than the awkward CG, but at least they're trying.

MUSIC - You know, for a music anime, Nodame Cantabile Paris Chapter has a pretty terrible opening theme. The animation is uninspired, and the song is just... not good. Thankfully, the ending theme is much cuter, and I really enjoyed the multilingualism of it all. We don't see as much variety in musical selections throughout this season as in the first, but that's probably because it's half the length. Almost all of the performance scenes are also markedly shorter, which may bode well for those that got a little bored before, but I was actually kind of disappointed. Even though most of them had been still pans, it took these shortened pieces to make me realize I did really enjoy all those long performances in the first season. I think there's just something cool about seeing characters perform. It's inspiring. In all though, there really isn't much to complain about.

VOICE ACTING - Tomokazu and Kawasumi are still doing a great job with their leads. Chiaki's noise of disbelief is just priceless every time, as is Nodame's "gyabo!" It really impresses me that they manage to find that perfect middle where she says it just enough times to be endearing, but not enough times to be annoying. The rest of the cast's voice acting was pretty average.

One thing I really wish they addressed better was the bilingual nature of the story though. Sure, they're Japanese characters and thus speak Japanese, and obviously, a show airing in Japan will be in Japanese, but still. The way the series starts off is actually really neat as far as this goes -- Nodame is learning French through dubbed anime and it's really hilarious. There are captions indicating when conversations are actually taking place in French but are being "dubbed" in Japanese. But after a while, these indications disappear, and I get confused, especially when random sniplets of French get woven in to the spoken Japanese. Especially when French characters speaking in Japanese weave French into their Japanese!

I have to admit that it was pretty fun hearing the Japanese butcher another language besides English though. XD

OVERALL - Nodame Cantabile Paris-hen was enjoyable. It didn't quite live up to the standards set by the first season, but it was far from being a straight-up failure. As I haven't read the manga or seen the drama, I'm not quite sure how all this matches up with the events there, but it is a smooth follow-up to the original anime. The story doesn't move much, but the characters are still fun and their interactions cute. The visual aspects could stand a bit more improvement, but the sound is still pretty damn solid (excepting the opening theme).

I'm pretty excited for the third season, anyway. Slice-of-life could conceivably go on forever, and I know I said that both the story and characters feel like they've matured to some kind of climax... but despite that, I'm still having fun with them. There's always room to grow. Maybe there wasn't much movement in this season, but who knows what the third season could bring? I have faith. For sequels, that's a pretty rare thing.

Did you know that Quatre used to be a conceited little bastard?

STORY - Episode Zero explores the childhoods and lives of various characters leading up to the events of Operation Meteor. It's worth noting that Masashi Ikeda, Gundam Wing's director, requested that Katsuyuki Sumisawa, a scriptwriter and the series' composer, write this manga and that these historical details are considered canon since they were originally supposed to make it into the series itself. The volume is split into eight chapters, an origin story for each Gundam pilot and Relena, as well as a chapter dedicated to Operation Meteor, and an extra chapter about the pilots' ... lives as Preventers after the events of Endless Waltz.

The storytelling in Episode Zero is kind of choppy. Each characters' segment jumps back and forth within their history; sometimes there will be dates indicating such, but other times, the transition happens mid-page. It's really not hard to grasp though, and the stories themselves are pretty interesting. The events follow reasonably and lead in smoothly to the beginning of the anime. The Preventer 5 chapter at the end is also a nice little follow-up to Endless Waltz; it's a generic kind of plot, and probably a bit over-the-top, but if its purpose is just to give an idea of what life is like after the series' end, then it works well enough. That chapter is what makes Episode Zero both a prequel and a sequel to the anime and OAV though, so it's probably best to have seen both before reading this manga.

CHARACTERS - The primary goal of this manga is to give more insight into each characters' personalities and perspectives by fleshing out their pasts. To that end, it definitely succeeds. It's very clear from each section how the events that unfold affect the people involved. Of course, some incidents are marred by coincidence, such as Relena's meeting with a "boy that looks exactly like Heero" when they were both much younger. I also felt that Quatre's transformation and shift in ideologies happened way, way too quickly, but most of the others flow better. Duo's is probably my favorite, partially because he's my favorite character in general, but also because his story, along with Heero's, seems to have more details than say, Wufei's. You see him at much younger points and it just seems more natural.

One thing that none of the stories address is how the five pilots got their skills. It's easy to assume that most of them (except Trowa and maybe Wufei) did not have actual mobile suit training prior to their meetings with the various doctors. Some of them had developed skills in other areas, such as marksmanship for Heero, general sneakiness for Duo, and martial arts for Wufei, but if all of their combat practice happened after suddenly finding themselves involved in Operation Meteor, then I find it hard to believe that they're abilities should be better than trained soldiers, even if their mobile suits are superior. That's really my only quip though; as far as their personalities and personal creeds go, things connect pretty well.

ART - Akira Kanbe does a really terrific job with the art in Episode Zero. The younger versions of the characters are all very convincing, and I was especially impressed with less spotlighted characters like Lucrezia Noin and Treize Khushrenada. Surprisingly, I was also fond of Relena's younger design -- I like it a lot better than her older one; her eyes were much more intense and that alone made her out to be a much more interesting character. As the characters age in the story, they get closer and closer to their anime counterparts to the point where the panels just look like lineart screenshots. The style is captured very, very precisely. Kanbe also has some really awesome page layouts that make scenes more exciting to read, especially when there's lots of action going on. There isn't a lot to pick at here honestly; the art's very solid all around.

OTHER - Episode Zero was licensed and published by Viz in 2002. As such, it's in a flipped, left-to-right format with translated sound effects. Considering that, it didn't turn out so bad -- for the most part, the sound effects work okay, and the typography of the dialogue is pretty consistent. There are a lot of emphasized words in bold, making it more reminiscent of Western comics. The only text that I didn't particular like was the font for the chapter titles and the script font they used for handwriting. And once again, Viz took the liberty of inserting newspaper-like clippings in between the chapters of the book. A lot of the information in these inserts are corny and redundant, but it does address certain facts that may not be completely clear, as well as "speculative" information that may or may not actually be true, but is considered canon for the most part anyway. It's pretty nice for making sure you what's what, I guess.

A very detailed timeline of events is also included in the back of the book. It covers all major events from AC 001 to AC 196, including everything that happens in Gundam Wing and stopping when Mariameia relaunches Operation Meteor at the beginning of Endless Waltz. Additionally, there's a translated author's note by Sumisawa, and a short note and concept sketches by Kanbe.

OVERALL - I sold off all of my old Gundam Wing manga except for this one, so I guess that means something. Episode Zero is a good wealth of information, and Sumisawa considers it essential to fully appreciating Gundam Wing as a whole. The storytelling is fair, and the art is very satisfying. If you consider yourself a fan, I'd definitely recommend picking it up.

I usually don't care for spin-offs, but I seem to be on a Gundam kick again, and I'd heard pretty decent things about Stargazer, so...

STORY - Stargazer is a side story that takes place around episode 7 and 8 of Gundam SEED Destiny. I have nothing but contempt for Destiny in general, including its story, but thankfully, Stargazer manages to leave behind most of the nonsense and only utilizes a few key plot elements, namely, the drop of Junius Seven onto Earth. And as colony drop plots are kind of common in the Gundamverse, it's pretty easy to forget about Stargazer's parent series. (Well, Stargazer ... does mention a few prominent political names that tie it into Destiny, but that's pretty nice because continuity and relevancy is always good, even if the parent story isn't.)

As a three-episode OAV, Stargazer has an appropriately narrow focus. It gives the colony drop's resulting devastation an impressively realistic treatment and follows its effects on the lives of two characters, an Earth Alliance soldier and a neutral (Coordinator) researcher. Short and simple. The storytelling mostly relies on the actual events to develop the characters, which are pretty subtle, but it's effective in its own way. I realy, really loved the ending of this series too. Some of the best dialogue is right there at the end. It's ambiguous, but you get a little bit of extra footage after the credits are over. If you do some math and assume certain assertions are true, you could get a definite conclusion. I thought that was pretty damn neat.

CHARACTER - Considering the series' length, the characters felt pretty whole to me. Sven's past was only addressed in a few short flashbacks, but they were broken up enough that it didn't feel like they were circumventing anything major by portraying it that way. Or at least, the holes in his past were the holes in his personality that both he and the audience had to grapple with. Selene didn't get much of a flashback treatment, but her personality and history was revealed discreetly through conversations, which is one of my favorite ways to trump overt exposition. Both characters' place in the world was very clear; their emotions regarding the coming war were subtle, and their hopes for the future similarly so, but that made their actions feel more poignant. There was a lot open to interpretation, which is important when there's so little time to tell the story, and it made the OAV more thoughtful, a quality I think is absent in a lot of Gundam titles because there's so much focus on the fights and action.

ARTSTYLE & ANIMATION - As expected, the art was consistent with the style in SEED and SEED Destiny, but I did feel the animation was a bit slicker and more put-together. It was actually pretty neat seeing familiar uniforms on new characters, and even though all the Earth Alliance Gundams were just recolored versions of the suits in SEED, it was appropriate and didn't feel like it was cheap or too much of a cop-out (I think I prefer the Strike Noir's colors to the Strike's, really). There was also a scene in here that reawakened by love of BuCUEs -- they're just damn badass. As for the Stargazer, I love the concept, and the resulting design is pretty unique; I feel like they could have pushed it a little further still, but it worked well enough.

MUSIC - I was pretty surprised that most, if not all, of the familiar tracks from the SEED and SEED Destiny repertoire were missing in this OAV. I don't know if any new music was composed for Stargazer, but I'm very well acquainted with all... eight soundtracks for SEED/Destiny, and I'm fairly certain that none of the leitmotifs showed up here. And regardless of that, the music for Stargazer is pretty top notch. I'm especially fond of the slower tracks that played during thoughtful scenes. I'm not familiar with the artist (Satori Negishi), but the ending insert song was also very beautiful and fitting.

VOICE ACTING - Kind of generic, but still appropriate. I liked Selene's voice in particular.

OVERALL - All things considered, I found Stargazer to be pretty enjoyable. Honestly, you could place it inside of any number of Gundam continuities, and it would have functioned well enough, so it doesn't have to be treated as a SEED Destiny-specific title. The story and characters were pretty simple, but the storytelling was solid. There's a lot left up to the viewer, so if you're not a fan of having to interpret things for yourself, then maybe it's not worth the trouble, but considering it's less than an hour long, it doesn't take much out of your life to give this OAV a chance.

Sunrise seems to have a habit of producing series that simultaneously contain things I really like and things I really hate. In the end, the question always becomes which there's more of.

STORY - Sometimes, it's easy to become jaded with the Gundam franchise; it's always another war and another group of over-powered mechs piloted by super-capable teenagers. Each series seems to have its own unique set of deviations though, and that's undoubtedly why the franchise has survived for as long as it has. In 00's case, it's interesting to note that there's no clear-cut war between two factions. The world's existing conflicts are a mix ... of terrorism, civil war, and totalitarian oppression. Though morals are still cited a lot, there's no clear-cut definition of "good" or "evil," and our protagonists admit up front that they aren't necessarily "good." Some of the politics are eerily similar to some real life current events, but it wasn't clear enough to me whether they were actually trying to make a statement about something or whether it was mostly coincidence. There are also some religious and environmental messages tossed into the mix, but again, not sure if any of it was supposed to be legitimate commentary. If anything though, Sunrise plays good politics.

Our protagonists, the paramilitary organization Celestial Being, declares its purpose to be the eradication of all war, and it aims to do so by intervening with all armed conflicts with their over-powered Gundams... and that's where the ground starts getting shaky. I never really thought the "war to end all wars" thing had much logic to it, but I can still enjoy a show with that sentiment at its core if the storytelling is all right and if events still seem to unfold logically. But Celestial Being was founded two hundred years prior to the events of the series, and all of their technology was developed then. And yet somehow, they are still mad over-powering against armies built on recent technology? Seriously? Realism does not compute. It's frustrating that not a lot is ever said/explained/discovered about the organization's origins throughout the course of the series, and I really don't understand the need for 00 to be split into two seasons. I don't buy that it's just the four year timeskip because Gurren Lagann proved that you could have a hugely significant timeskip mid-series no problem.

For the record, I hated the ending of this first season. It goes along fine for a while, but then we get this supremely rushed-feeling, arbitrary, and cobbled-together series of events that seemed to serve little purpose beyond hitting some sort of end-point for the season. And the thing I hate the most about Sunrise? Faked character deaths. Zombie characters. They're notorious for it, yes. No body means no death in Sunrise, but knowing this doesn't make it any less infuriating every time they do it. The Zombie problem alone made me disinclined to care about the second season, especially since I felt like they could have legitimately ended the series at 25 episodes if they had cut out a thus far pointless subplot and replaced it with relevant information about Celestial Being. Oh, Sunrise...

CHARACTER - Ensemble casts always wrestle with the problem of underdeveloped characters, and this is especially problematic in 00. It took me a really long time (probably at least ten episodes, which is way too long) to get into the characters and to care about them, and even then, my interest was limited. Of the four pilots, Setsuna's past is expanded upon the most, and I found it interesting the way the viewers' perception of him changed the more we learned even though Setsuna himself doesn't start to grow/change much until the near-end of the season. Allelujah's character and past isn't terribly inspired, but I think the acting really helped to garner audience sympathy to his case, and I liked the way his split personality was portrayed through reflections.

Lockon probably has the most terrible name pun ever (though H/Allelujah is pretty bad too), but I can live knowing that it's only a code name. That aside, he was probably the most generic of the pilots. Easy-going, friendly, righteous, and all that. Nothing special...except that his Haro is probably the most ridiculously adorable incarnation of a Haro ever. I also really appreciated the fact that there was some age disparity between the pilots. Setsuna is sixteen. Lockon is twenty-four. Everyone isn't a fifteen year-old kid! Oh, and Tieria? We never learn anything about Tieria, so I didn't really care about him at all. Sure, there's a whole 'nother season to explain things in, but I shouldn't need to wait that long to care. It's always a problem if I don't care about the characters.

The other characters... ugh, there are just too many of them, and I didn't care about any of them. There were too many characters trying to play puppetmaster and making brief, unexplained appearances every few episodes, and none of them seem to have an interesting motivation or ambition. I am tired of characters trying to take over the world, and I'm sure you are too. Even Celestial Being's founder felt like he was trying to force the world into something... Marina Ismail? She was generic to the point that I had no sympathy for her for that reason alone. Graham Akre? I don't care about your vengeance-driving bullshit. Ali Al-Saachez? Don't care. Super Soldier #1? Whatever. The worst of it was the gigantic subplot involving the civilian characters. Their scenes were awkwardly woven into the politics, morals, and action, and I was thoroughly annoyed with all of it. Most likely, this subplot will lead up to something that (might hopefully kind of) be relevant in the second season, but that's too long of a build-up for me.

ARTSTYLE & ANIMATION - The animation in 00 is pretty top notch. The mecha battles are slick, clean, and super entertaining to watch. The Gundam designs are fun and unique, and I'm especially fond of Exia (come on, anything with seven blades has to be badass). The other mech designs, as well as the battleship designs, are also pretty neat.

Unfortunately, I found the character designs to be a bit lacking. Aside from Tieria's overt androgyny, I appreciated that they didn't have crazy wild appearances, and it is neat that many of the characters are supposed to be of different nationalities, but in the end, it's just supposing. If they never mentioned that Lockon is Irish, that Setsuna is Kurdish, that Saji is Japanese, you'd never know. Especially among the female characters, I felt like I'd seen them all before. Generic political figures, generic princesses, generic prettyboys. It didn't help that I had a hard time distinguishing some characters from others for a good five or six episodes; blame it on my own crappy memory and incompetence, but even so.

MUSIC - Well, I'm pretty biased towards both opening themes for 00. As a L'Arc~en~Ciel fan, I loved "Daybreak's Bell" long before I ever saw this series, and as I'm currently on a Tomoko Kawase kick thanks to Soul Eater's second opening, I've come to really love "Ash Like Snow" as well. They're both great songs though, and I always love when the lyrics feel relevant to the actual series. The end themes didn't feel as exciting in contrast, but once again, it could just be my bias towards the two bands doing the openings. (Actually, I found the first end theme, "Wana," to be pretty annoying...)

The background music for the series pales in contrast to its theme songs, as well as previous Gundam series like SEED, and other Sunrise mecha series like Code Geass. Very few tracks stood out to me during the series; the few that did were generally battle themes, but even those were pretty subpar. It wasn't terrible music, so it didn't really take away from the experience, but I'm sure a lot of scenes would have been better had there been a more emotional or meaningful soundtrack.

VOICE ACTING - Pretty average for the most part. Allelujah has a very unique-sounding and emotional voice; I think that's one of the reasons I warmed up to his character, and Setsuna was interesting in that he's one of the first monotone-voiced characters that didn't seriously annoy me. I appreciate the versatility of Miyano's voice -- it's very easy to distinguish his many roles. Beyond that, none of the other characters really stood out to me. Nothing amazing, but each character had a voice that suited them perfectly well.

Edit; I saw one episode of the English dub (episode #11). Overall, it was pretty lulz-worthy. Tieria and Lockon both sound better than I expected, but they still feel awkward and unnatural, particularly Tieria, though I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that many of his lines are kind of corny. Setsuna didn't have a very big role in the episode, but the few lines he did have also impressed me. Swalie's voice is much more versatile than I thought. Cox on the other hand... Allelujah sounds terrible. The voice doesn't suit him at all and really made him seem like an entirely different character. Hallelujah is passable, but Allelujah fails utterly. Much of the secondary cast feels just as awkward, sadly: both Graham Akre and Billy Katagiri are very lulzy; Feldt and Marina are super generic, as are Col. Smirnoff and Soma; Sumeragi is actually pretty okay, but it can't be hard to sound "okay" when everyone else is just so... wtf. I don't think I'll be watching any more of the dub. The "sound" score component is not affected by the dub.

OVERALL - I think this review might have turned out a bit more negative than I intended just because I'm still annoyed with the season's ending. You might wonder what I actually liked about 00. Well, I enjoyed the story and main conflict for the most part. It's always good to see a blurring of good and evil, especially when characters try so hard to convince themselves that they're doing the right thing. If I could score this series somewhere between a 7 and an 8, I would. 7 feels a bit harsh, but 8 feels too generous. I think 00's main problem is just that there are too many little details to the plot and few of them are explained properly; similarly, there are too many characters, and none of them get the attention they deserve. The intense build-up for the second season leaves this first season pretty void of substance, which is really disappointing. If you're going to divide up your forces, divide them evenly, huh?

I'll see how this second season goes though, but Zombie characters isn't a really great place to start if you ask me.

This movie made me want to hunt down some cherry trees and find out whether petals really do fall at five centimeters a second. Who figures this stuff out?

STORY - It's simple and quaint. It's a story about time and distance that most people could probably relate to on some level. It's cute and poignant, but I did feel that it was a little over-dramatic. The movie is split into three segments set years apart, though there are several flashbacks sequences contained within each segment. As a result, the storytelling felt a bit choppy -- especially in the first segment, I had a really hard ... time figuring out just how much time had passed between the characters meeting and the characters parting. And when I did figure it out... six months isn't that long, guys. Get over it. Letter writing is cute, but I have to wonder whether they had cell phones or email. Drifting can be avoided if you try hard enough.

Okay, so drifting because of distance is an inevitable occurrence for a lot of people. I can definitely relate to that, and I can definitely understand that, but it felt a little contrived for such strong feelings to be affecting elementary-age students and even middle school-age students. Nostalgia comes much later than that. The finality of departure doesn't hit home as you're saying goodbye; it comes much, much later. (And again, I feel like I can say this because I've been through it.) Maybe 5 Centimeters per Second is supposed to illustrate the most severe scenario, but I think it would have been a bit more believable if the story hadn't started them so young.

Still, if that's my only complaint, then I guess it isn't much. The themes of the movie are powerful, and the storytelling is very effective in helping to convey the message. It's very bittersweet.

CHARACTERS - Most of the characters were just a tad on the obsessive side, and they all thought on too high and deep a level for their age. I think it would have helped the audience relate to them more if they had been a little less serious, a little more playful, and had a little less tunnel-vision, but for a short movie, I guess a narrow focus on the themes at hand was important. Akari was probably the most normal character, but Takaki and Kanae were almost to the point where I wouldn't have been surprised if someone had recommended them psychological counsel. (Also, what's up with these characters' parents? Who lets their elementary-age kid take a train four or five hours away, alone, during a blizzard?)

Realism points are a little lacking, but I don't really think individual personalities were all that important to the overall movie. The story's focus was time and distance, so it's beneficial for the characters to be more generic and anonymous. That allows the viewer to project whatever personal feelings they have on the subject onto the characters. 5 Centimeters per Second feels like a pretty personal piece in general -- every viewer walks away from it with something different, depending on their own experiences.

ARTSTYLE & ANIMATION - The art in this movie is ridiculous. It was so beautiful, I had a terrible time remembering to read subtitles, though I almost think that if I had seen this dubbed, I would have forgotten to pay attention to the dialogue anyway. It was just that mesmerizing. Every little detail you could possibly imagine -- it was there. The labels on soft drinks, the posters on the walls, the reflections on desks, the dew on leaves, the dappled sunlight under trees, the inscriptions on subway turnstiles! I always wonder whether background artists are bitter that their grand masterpieces are only shown for all of a second in most cases. I wanted to keep pausing to stare at the details. And the clouds. Oh, god, the clouds, the sky. I could have watched those skies forever. It was actually really disorienting to see such epic skies because they were too amazing to be realistic, and my brother was making jokes about whether or not such skies existed only in Japan because we sure as hell have never seen anything that breathtaking over here! Still, the grandeur nature of the skies really helped to illustrate distance and isolation. If the scoring for the art is based on the backgrounds alone, I'd give it an 11.

The characters are strikingly plain against such incredible backgrounds, but that's not a surprise. There is nothing particularly notable about any of them, which works well enough -- they're anonymous people in a way. Their story could be anyone's. Still, there are some inconsistencies in the character design that's worth noting. Especially for Kanae of the second "episode," it seemed like her relative age changed in every scene because her proportions would be different and her face would be slightly off. In her school uniform, she looked thirteen. In her bathing suit, she looked seventeen or older. I can deal with simple character designs against backgrounds of such amazing caliber, but come on.

MUSIC - There's pretty minimal music for most of this movie, which makes many of its scenes all the more thoughtful and poignant. Most of the time, there are only soft piano tunes creeping in quietly behind the dialogue, which is really nice. Unfortunately, the movie ends with the most obnoxious and random song imaginable. Okay, actually, the song isn't actually that bad, but the fact is that its beat, tempo, and general mood clash horribly with everything in the movie. The montage of scenes it accompanies would have done just immeasurably better with the piano from the rest of the film, or even silence or sound effects, but no. We get a random pop song that doesn't fit. Do not want.

VOICE ACTING - Saw this subbed, and all the voices felt pretty plain and generic, but nothing really sophisticated was required anyway. I think it would have been hard to do a bad job with this. It's almost all introspection, and the voices were appropriately thoughtful, so that's that.

OVERALL - Despite the fact that the subject and themes of 5 Centimeters per Second are actually pretty relevant to me, a lot of things distracted me from the main point. The art was arguably too beautiful, and all the little inconsistencies and lack of realism in the characters bothered me more than it probably should have. Honestly though, it's a really nice and concise story, and I'd definitely say that this movie is worth sacrificing an hour of your life for. As a final note, I think it's worth mentioning that I really like the name of this film. Depending on your perspective, that speed can seem too slow or too fast for falling cherry blossoms. It's a distant metaphor, but it's a fitting one.

This manga version of the events taking place between the anime and the OAV is probably the best.

STORY - Blind Target is one of three version of events between Gundam Wing and Endless Waltz and is written by Akemi Omode, one of the scriptwriters for the series. As with the rest, it addresses the reasoning behind the pilots' decision to send their Gundams into the sun, as well as the reactions of various parties and factions to the conclusion of the anime -- namely, the call for peace. The storytelling flows pretty smoothly and it feels a lot more put together than just a ... rough assemblage of expository and half-assed philosophy. One of the things I liked best is the fact that there isn't a single mecha fight in this entire manga -- it's all character and moral exploration. And it isn't completely idealistic either! Sure, there are a few explosions and guns-in-your-face, as well as a ploy to conquer space/the world, but the backbone of the plot isn't dependent on those factors, which is a huge plus. Blind Target also takes the liberty of introducing the very beginning of Endless Waltz, making the story connect even better.

CHARACTERS - Once again, the characters are appropriately reflective of their anime counterparts, but as the story actually focuses on thoughts more than action and battles, the cast is actually treated to some depth and exploration. The characters that are exclusive to Blind Target are pretty simple, but most of them still feel complete: they have clear beliefs, morals, and the logic to their actions make sense... at least the protagonists do. The antagonists, unfortunately, fall to a cliche ambition, but I guess we can't have everything. The members of our familiar cast all have their moments, and it's very easy to imagine the animated version of the story they're playing out. I was also pleased to see that the five pilots and Relena all got more or less equal focus, something that didn't really happen with both Ground Zero and Battlefield of Pacifists.

ART - Blind Target's art is very reminiscent of the anime. The style's almost a perfect match, but with all the extra details and crispness that comes with manga. Despite there being a good chunk of talking heads, there are also plenty of interesting angles and dynamic action, as well as varied page and panel layouts. The good art really enhances the read.

OTHER - Viz translated and published Blind Target in 2001. The most obvious signs of age are the left-to-right format and the translated sound effects, which I always feel are awkward on the page. Viz also took the liberty of inserting newspaper clipping-like dividers between the four chapters of the story. These inserts have information on the various characters, their backgrounds, and their personalities, but while they're fairly informative, the way they're worded is incredibly corny. The text is rife with rhetorical questions, and there's also a bunch of information from Endless Waltz, which really shouldn't have a place in a book that takes place before it. The typography looks good for the most part, and the translation feels natural and fitting with the anime, but there are a few pages where poor layouting causes the spine of the book to devour some of the pictures and dialogue.

OVERALL - If you're going to pick one filler story to accept as canon, I would recommend Blind Target. It makes the most sense, connects the best, has character exploration, and some pretty nice art.

It's interesting looking back at manga you haven't read in years, particularly when it's several versions of the same filler space.

STORY - Battlefield of Pacifists is another version of the events that take place between Gundam Wing and Endless Waltz. It explores various groups' reactions to the idea of a "total pacifism" facilitated by a "complete disarmament," as well as the reasoning leading up to the Gundam pilots' decisions to send their mobile suits into the sun. The story's logic and philosophy is clear and simple enough to understand, though there's some over-generalization involved, and the ideas aren't really new or particularly interesting. The idealism ... can also be a little irritating too, if you're like me and don't really believe in the morals the protagonists align themselves to. The storytelling itself is pretty choppy. It jumps from place to place, staying only long enough for key players to spout key exposition before moving on.

As the writing was done by Katsuhiro Chiba, one of the scriptwriters for the anime, the flow of the story connects well with the series, and it's easy to believe that the events described take place in the canon. The beginning comes off well from the end of the anime and the ending readily connects to the beginning of Endless Waltz. So in that sense, it's a neat, compact little story that does a smooth job in filling in the space between the anime and OAV, but the quality of the material itself is pretty plain.

CHARACTERS - The characters were all more or less spot on with their anime counterparts, with Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, and Relena all acting rather predictably. I did find it nice that a good collection of secondary characters were included though (Howard, Une, Dorothy), and there were even references to a number of key players that were killed in the anime.

ART - For the most part, the art was pretty decent, but I noticed some inconsistent proportions between some of the characters. Though they're all supposed to be the same age, Heero's proportions made him seem much taller and older than his colleagues. Wufei and Trowa in particular had a lot of panels where their heads were larger, making them seem younger than everyone else. Duo's body shape also made him appear much more feminine than he was in the show. The artwork in the battle scenes were also a bit lacking, and the Gundams looked rather awkward more than a few times.

OTHER - Battlefield of Pacifists was picked up, translated, and published by TOKYOPOP in 2002. The book is flipped and reads left-to-right with translated sound effects. Compared to TOKYOPOP's more recent work, this short story is kind of an embarrassment. The typeface for dialogue is terrible, especially for emphasized words that appear in different fonts. The sound effects as passable until you read what they're actually saying... I don't read a lot of American comics, so I'm not sure how this should be handled, but I find it hard to take a war comic seriously when things go "BLAM" when they're hit and "ZOOOOOOOMMM" when they're speeding towards you. The translation itself feels natural enough in that it matches the mood and emotion of the various characters in the anime, but the technical presentation was a little lacking.

OVERALL - As believable filler material between Gundam Wing and Endless Waltz, Battlefield of Pacifists succeeds. As a political and philosophical commentary on human nature, war, and pacifism, it leaves much to be desired, but I don't imagine that that's really what most readers are looking for here.