Interest Stacks

You know that feeling when you don't really want to watch something but when you start doing it, amazingly, you have lots of fun? Well I do because that is what Slam Dunk is doing to me. It is about this basketball team in Shohoku highschool and its main character, Sakuragi, who tries to complete himself as a basketball player and gain the love of a girl, named Haruko. Sounds cheesy but, believe me, it is nothing you have experienced before.

Years ago, a tragic incident befell a young princess when both her parents died. Devastated, it seemed nothing would calm this poor soul. However, a prince traveling through the area came to see the princess, hoping to cheer her up. After wiping her sorrowful tears, the prince gave her a ring carrying a rose emblem and told her as long as she holds onto the ring, they are destined to meet again. The event leaves a deep impression on the girl, Utena Tenjou, leading her to become a prince herself.

Aired just two years after the end of Mobile Suit Gundam, a show which defined the mecha/space genre in anime, Macross takes the 'humans attacked and on the run in a super ship' template and blazes forward a new path of its own.

Macross is the sexier version of Gundam, the carefree serenading romantic. There is an air of enthusiasm and happy-go-lucky charm to its characters that the Gundam franchise rarely ever allowed on its unlucky downtrodden crew. Whereas Gundam grinds Amuro and company through the emotional wringer from episode one, Macross lets Hikaru and gang regularly let off steam in the interior city residing within the Macross itself.

When it was initially released, Macross: Do You Remember Love? was a benchmark by which other anime films would be judged. Its beautiful, detailed animation holds up even today, over 20 years later. This is in no small part due to the always gorgeous work of character designer Mikimoto Haruhiko, and now-legendary mechanical designer Kawamori Shoji.

In comparison to the TV series, Do You Remember Love? solves a lot of the problems people have with it. The animation holds up much better. There are no shortcuts or sudden drops in quality due to budget constraints. In addition, the movie format cuts a lot of the slower parts of the story that put off some fans. The pace is much more consistent, and downtime is minimal.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes is an epic tale of the rise to power of two men born at the right time on opposite sides, leading to a clash of brilliant spectacle that could only be executed with care in as an animated original. Though Legend of Galactic Heroes is 20 years old the visual quality and care is quite priceless. As a viewer who is reluctant to watch series over 40 episodes or over 10 years old, I was taken aback by the engaging art ranging from Ancient Rome, to Victorian England, to Blade Runner-esque futuristic set-pieces and costuming. Both factions, The Free Planets' Alliance and the Galactic Empire, had its own distinctive look, engaging the eye in nearly every direction. Add to these looks, the numerous space battles waging between the two factions and you have a piece of art that is timeless.