CX anime reviews

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CX anime reviews

Postby CX » Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:06 pm

About Me:

I can honestly say that my first experience with anime was Sailor Moon, back when it aired just before school when I was in something like 6th or 7th grade or so. Since I've pretty much always been a bit of a perv, even at this relatively young age I was pretty much only into this series for the fan service, even if I didn't know that was what it was called. Plus it came on right before Highlander: The Animated Series. Needless to say, my tastes have changed, and I'm, well, more grown up now than I was at the time, so I doubt I'd ever watch Sailor Moon again. Mostly I just like to make fun of it now.

The first anime I really got into as an adult was Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and it's a testament to its quality that I was hooked despite not having any clue as to what the hell was going on plot-wise. This was as it was aired on Adult Swim, so thankfully they repeated the show and I was able to watch the whole thing from start to finish. Also airing on Adult Swim was Cowboy Bebop, and while I wasn't as hooked as GitS, I usually watched if it was on. A couple summers ago I actually bought the series and finally watched all of it, and it remains one of my favorites.

Anyway, long story short, I have some friends here at college who introduced me to the local anime club and also to some anime they figured I might like. I've also looked around online and put together a list of anime I decided I wanted to watch, and that's pretty much what all these reviews are going to be. Keep in mind, though, that I haven't started writing reviews until this summer. They tend to vary in length, and there are some good shows I'd like to go back and do a bit more justice to, but that's pretty much a project for the future (like so many others I'd like to do). I'd also like to do some things with screencaps, but same story. Same thing with some of the series I've watched and are actually on my recommendations list: I just don't feel I have the time right now. Actually the reviews I'm posting are a bit old, so while it might seem like I'm being really prolific, I'm just going through a long list I already have, sorry.

My Recommendations:

These are shows I especially liked for whatever reason. Some are good sci-fis, some are funny, some are over-the-top action "man-ime", or well, whatever. The only bad thing is that I haven't written reviews for all of these yet, so you won't be able to see why I liked them so much for a while, I can only say that they were good and that I would recommend them. I can also say that I will update this list as I see something that I think deserves to go on it.


I will post links to the reviews I do have as I actually manage to write and post them.


The Index

As for the reviews themselves, here are the reviews I've written so far in the order I intend to post them in:


I'll be posting direct links to each review as I post them.

Oh, and as a warning, some of my reviews can get a bit spoiler heavy. Not all of them are, but either way, read at your own risk.
Last edited by CX on Mon Dec 19, 2016 12:22 am, edited 185 times in total.
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Re: CX anime reviews

Postby CX » Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:07 pm

009-1
(13 episode series)

As you might guess from the title, this is basically the Japanese version of James Bond, naturally featuring mostly female spies. Set in a fictional future where the Cold War never ended, countries have single letter names, and the cybernetic implantation of firearms into one's body isn't all that uncommon, really all this anime has going for it is the amusement factor. Heavy on fan service without any real actual nudity, this show manages to give new meaning to the phrase "killer set of tits", as the main character isn't the only woman who has either machine guns or lasers for nipples, which apparently come standard issue for female spies in the future. The male agents apparently pack, too, though in a different part of their anatomy.

The series itself is very episodic in nature, with the only real character development being the title character moving away from being an unquestioning spy into being more of an independent operator. The series does play a bit with morality as far as the main character's role in this cold war, as well as some romance with a character who's a spy for the other side, but in my opinion it never was very serious. Basically it's about a chick with guns in her tits having action-filled adventure in each episode and that's about it, which earns it a 4/10.
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Re: CX anime reviews

Postby CX » Thu Mar 03, 2011 2:51 pm

A Wind Named Amnesia
(1990 movie)

Of the post-apocalyptic variety, this movie tries to ask questions, but in the end only rhetorically.

Basically humanity has reverted to something like cavemen, having lost its civilization along with its memories, which all disappeared on day thanks to a mysterious wind that swept over the entire planet. Fortunately, all the neat toys the military had been playing around with were left behind, one of which was a convenient teaching tool that allowed the main character to relearn how to be human, if not his own actual past. He's taken on the impossible task of restoring humanity to its former self, but really all he can do is drive around in a jeep and help a few people as he comes across them. Along the way he meets a strange woman who also seems to be a normal, civilized human, except for the fact that she seems to know an awful lot about what's going on in any given situation.

In a way this almost would have done better as a series, but it probably wouldn't have been a very good series either. I found it just interesting enough to keep watching, though amusement with the Japanese interpretation of the United States (the movie took place entirely there) helped keep me watching, too. In the end it really didn't pay off. As I'd suspected early on due to some really obvious foreshadowing, the mysterious woman was in fact an alien, and the wind was caused by these aliens, who took it upon themselves to punish humanity or something like that. I never really understood the reasons, but the message in the end was the standard issue "humanity is growing too fast and too out of harmony with Earth" variety. So really there was nothing special about this movie. The main character didn't even act upset at all at this revelation, and instead had some good-bye sex with the alien chick before she left him in the ruins of his civilization, neither of them really having accomplished anything toward the goal stated in the beginning of the movie, which earns it a 2/10.
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Re: CX anime reviews

Postby Distracted » Fri Mar 04, 2011 1:57 am

Hmmm. :vulcan: Tit-guns? A "wind" that causes amnesia? Jeez. Who writes these things?
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Re: CX anime reviews

Postby CX » Fri Mar 04, 2011 4:12 am

Who writes most sci-fi? :crazed:

Pretty sure the tit-guns were ripped off from Austin Powers though. ;)
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Re: CX anime reviews

Postby CX » Fri Mar 04, 2011 3:08 pm

Ah! (or Oh) My Goddess!
(50 episode series)

Yeah, I know there are movies and other versions to go along with this series, but really I'm a little embarrassed that I watched this series in full as it is. It was actually one of the first when I started watching everything basically alphabetically on my huge "to watch" list, and for some reason, I actually did watch this angst-fest beginning to end. On the other hand, if I hadn't, I actually would have missed a few interesting stories.

What I'm referring to has more to do with stories involving the Motor Club within the series that the main character, Keiichi, was involved in. One of them was actually a ghost story, and it's actually my favorite of the stories I found somewhat interesting. It actually managed to tug on what's left of my heart strings a little, mainly because it involved a sick young woman who died before someone could fulfill a promise to her, which in this case was just something as simple as a motorcycle ride. So basically she ended up haunting the property she died at until someone else could come along, fix the now classic motorcycle and give her a ride around the nearby lake. I also have to admit that I liked how the writers pointed out that love comes in many forms, even in the form of someone taking care of their old cars/electronics/etc.

Belldandy, the title goddess, really was too sweet that way. And really she was just too impossibly sweet. A "harem" anime, we got to meet her sisters too, but while they were anything but sweet, I wouldn't call them all that interesting either. That could be because I found most of this series either boring or really frustrating. The two main characters are basically living together as a couple from the very beginning, but the male lead was horribly immature and the female lead wasn't much better. It was completely obvious that the two of them cared a great deal for each other, and yet the vast majority of what happened revolved around the other one trying to show their love to the other or still trying to determine if the other loves them, no matter how many times they show or outright say that they do to each other. No, really, right up to the last episode.

I guess if you like angst (I'm looking at you TnT 'shippers – you know who you are), this might actually be the thing for you. Otherwise, not much to see here, and if you were only interested in the stories I was talking about being interested in, I'd be happy to look up the episodes for you and list them. It's for those that I'm even bothering to throw this series any kind of a bone, scoring it 1/10.
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Re: CX anime reviews

Postby CX » Sat Mar 05, 2011 1:53 am

BY the way, if you see something on my mater list there that you'd be interested in seeing the review for a bit sooner, let me know and I'd be glad to post it up.
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Re: CX anime reviews

Postby auroraborealis » Sun Mar 06, 2011 6:58 am

I kind of can't beleive you don't have Death Note on your list. lol. Death Note and Elfen Lied are the only two animes I've watched and liked. I just can't seem to find an others as interesting as those.
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Re: CX anime reviews

Postby CX » Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:31 am

Death Note isn't really my kind of show. I'm more of a sci fi nerd, so most of the shows I'm going to watch and like are going to be along those lines, which is why Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell rank so high on my favorites list. Actually the only reason I've given any shows like Elfen Lied a chance is because I'm also a bit of a perv, and as it turned out Elfen Lied just happened to have a halfway decent story that struck a bit of a cord with me. Gantz, on the other hand, despite being very similar, annoyed and bored me more than anything.
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Re: CX anime reviews

Postby CX » Sun Mar 06, 2011 8:11 pm

Akira
(1988 movie, new dub)

So this is the famous movie that is credited with making anime cool here in the US? Well, it's not bad, but it's not really as awesome as I was hoping it would be. I'm not even sure what the point was supposed to be, aside from the standard "science gone wrong". The movie itself is set in the future, after a nuclear WWIII that apparently started with an explosion going off in Tokyo. Well Neo-Tokyo has been built in the crater, with the old part of the city surrounding it pretty much in ruins. It's easy to see why this movie is classed as cyber-punk, which can pretty much be summed up as "high tech, low life".

The main characters themselves aren't exactly good guys, most of them belonging to a motorcycle gang which regularly goes out and battles another motorcycle gang called The Clowns. That is, all until a fateful meeting with a little kid that looks like he has that freakish rapid-aging disease. Turns out the kid is special, and not in a back of the short bus way, as he uses some kind of a mind force-field to keep from getting run over by Tetsuo, basically the secondary main character of the film. Why the freakishly old kid didn't use his mind force field earlier to protect himself and the communist revolutionary who rescued him from the secret military lab he was being kept at is never really made clear, or addressed even.

Oh, yeah, Japan is apparently in the throes of a recession which has resulted in massive civil unrest and a practically fascist police state to deal with it. Naturally where there are fascists, there are communists to fight them ... well, they never really identify as communists, but let's just say I had the feeling. In any case, the movie never really delves into any of this all that deeply, instead focusing on the main storyline of Kaneda, the film's main character, and his exploits in trying to find and rescue his friend Tetsuo from the military (with a little commie tail-chasing on the side). It seems Tetsuo is suffering some rather odd side-effects from the mind force field, which is why the military and its scientists have taken an interest in him. It seems he remind them of another really powerful psychic kid they experimented on named Akira, who has become a messianic figure to a large portion of the anarchist types who make up most of the mobs seen in the movie being oppressed by the police.

This brings up one of the secondary characters, a JSDF Lieutenant Colonel. He's hard to put a finger on, mostly because at times he's a complete bastard, and at other times the movie basically makes him out to be justified for being a complete bastard, who occasionally has a heart. He's the one in charge of the military's research into these telekinetic kids, and it's more than hinted at that Akira caused what appeared to be a nuclear detonation at the beginning of the film. Naturally, the colonel doesn't want this to happen again, and he's determined to kill Tetsuo should he get out of hand, which is naturally exactly what happens.

Akira is an okay film, and is kind of cool. There is a lot of awesomeness, especially as Tetsuo grows out of control, but it isn't really an awesome movie. The storyline is at times hard to follow, and there's a connection between some government officials and the communist revolutionaries that is never really explained, and really has nothing at all to do with the main plot as far as I could tell. That being said, this movie is still worth a watch, and scores a 7/10.
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Re: CX anime reviews

Postby CX » Mon Mar 07, 2011 9:03 am

Area 88
(12 episode series)

I tried to get into this series, but there really wasn't much there for me aside from cool warplanes and cool air-to-air combat.

It takes place in a generic middle-east country which is undergoing a civil war, with the government having hired on a mercenary force of combat pilots to aid their side against the rebels. The concept of mercenary jet fighter pilots never really makes much sense to me, and what makes even less sense is that the mercenary force itself is like the French Foreign Legion of old, which kidnapped people and pressed them into service. Well, technically everyone signs up for a stint of service, but they're still treated like slaves in the sense that they can't leave the super-secret base they are stationed at unless they serve their full contractual stint, or they buy their way out of it with the money they earn from their kills.

While the series' main character is in fact a reporter who is there for reasons not made entirely clear until later, the character being focused on is a blonde-haired Japanese pilot who flies an F-5. He's your basic moody type yearning for home and the one he left behind. Considering he got screwed over by his friend and shanghaied into service that would normally make him pretty sympathetic as a character, but unfortunately this is ruined by the aforementioned moodiness, which fails completely at making him mysterious or even really interesting for that matter. Ironically the reporter/photographer is more interesting as he develops from the typical snooty press type into someone who's sympathetic towards the pilots at this base. He ends up having second thoughts about his job, and actually ends up quitting it, which makes it that much worse that he gets the tar beat out of him by the pilots and is almost killed by them when they find out what he was originally sent there to do in typical kill the messenger style.

Well, fear not, all turns out "right" in the end as far as the main pilot's girl deciding to not marry the douche that betrayed him and had him shanghaied, and the fact he's completely forgiven for trying to run, but he still has to serve out his time and do exactly what he's been lamenting he hates doing by shooting down and killing other human beings, which is what's made him such a moody bastard. I guess if you like the eye candy, this series might be worth the time to watch, but there isn't much of a story that's worth watching. 4/10.
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Re: CX anime reviews

Postby CX » Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:47 pm

Argento Soma
(25 episode series)

This is a classic example of an anime that takes too long to get to the point. While I understand and like the idea of meeting characters and getting to know them as they develop, there's something to be said for keeping the plot moving at a steady pace, which this series doesn't until the last few episodes. What's worse is that from the beginning of the series, you're teased by an image in the end credits that doesn't become significant until the last half of the series when the big mystery is finally solved and the series finally gets to the point.

Superficially this series reminds me of what I've read about Neon Genesis Evangelion, at least in the sense that giant alien robots dubbed "angels" have been randomly descending from the heavens and wreaking havoc on humanity. In fact, New York City, the place they first landed, had been completely destroyed and left abandoned. Giant mechas also seem to be humanity's only hope, but that seems to be where the similarities end. There are no children piloting these things, the aliens all seem to be setting down in North America and heading towards a "pilgrimage point" which is just north of the North Dakota border in Canada. This is the big mystery of the series, as well as the origin and purpose of the very different looking giant robot dubbed "Frank" (short for Frankenstein). All is eventually answered late in the series, but the pace getting there is what makes it frustrating, because really the series probably could have gotten there in about half the time it did.

I guess the main storyline itself revolves around the character whose false identity the series is named after and his struggle to find out what his girlfriend was doing experimenting with this mad scientist type on Frank, and what the military has to do with what happened. He's basically made a spy by a person whose identity we don't learn until almost the end of the series in order to infiltrate the FUNERAL organization, which is charged with the defense of Earth against the alien robots. Hilariously, it's headquartered in Minnesota on the edge of Lake Superior. In any case, the military is butthurt over what it sees as someone invading its turf, and there is a power struggle which results. Also hilarious is that while this is set in 21st century America, it's seen as somehow special that a woman is in charge of Funeral, despite female commanding officers being not all that uncommon even now. In fact the only thing women are restricted from doing is actively engaging in combat, which is something you see in a lot of anime. The misogyny is very open and frequent, and it all comes off as a hammer-to-the-head message against it. This is probably because it's from Japan, where misogyny is pretty common.

I guess I found it interesting enough to keep watching, and I don't really regret watching it exactly, but it was very frustrating to have the story crawl along at a snail's pace for about the first half. The main character is also something of a whiny misogynistic bastard, which also affects the watchability of the series since it's hard to really sympathize with him. It might be worth a watch, but it's also a bit of a waste of time, earning it a 6/10.
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Re: CX anime reviews

Postby Distracted » Tue Mar 08, 2011 4:36 pm

Pretty dismal reviews so far, CX. Why do you watch this stuff if it's so awful? :vulcan:
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Re: CX anime reviews

Postby CX » Tue Mar 08, 2011 11:55 pm

Because it probably sounded interesting because of something I read on TV Tropes or Wikipedia. Or because it sounded like it might have good fan service. :mrgreen: Or because someone actually suggested it to me. Then there are ones like Akira and Neon Genesis Evangelion that every self-respecting anime nerd is supposed to watch anyway so they can experience it for themselves simply because of the influence they had on everything that's followed.

I wouldn't call either Akira or Argento Soma bad either, they just weren't terribly interesting to me. That being said, I actually liked Argento Soma way better than the show it was ripping off, Neon Genesis Evangelion.

And of course you're going to go through a lot of crap before you get to something good, especially if you approach it alphabetically. ;)

Oh, and if you'd be interested in seeing a review of one of my favorites, I'm always willing to skip ahead if you let me know which ones.
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Re: CX anime reviews

Postby Distracted » Wed Mar 09, 2011 4:13 am

What did you think of The Count of Monte Cristo? I watched the first season on DVD and was not impressed. The music is terrific, but I just couldn't get past that awful wallpaper animation. All the patterns juxtaposed like that gave me headaches. It is an interesting variation on the story, though. It's sort of like a fanfic writer got hold of the original novel and decided to blend it with Japanese mythology and make it sci-fi. Weird. Really weird.
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