An Unnamed Anime Blog

If I Ever Even Consider Buying Something Like This, Kill Me

Gainax has announced a life sized, poseable Hikari doll from Konomini. I'm not sure what frightens me more. The idea that things like this exist, or that there are people out there who are probably anxious to own them. The dolls are made by Paper Moon, who offer a number of other dolls (including Sakura and Ryoko). Words cannot begin to describe how wrong I find this. What's next? Real Anime Doll?

Banner of the Stars, Vol. 1

Over a year ago I wrote a short short review of Crest of the Stars. It was one of those shows that really surprised me since I really didn't know much about it before watching it. And it really even took a few episodes for me to really get into the show. But once I finished watching the first disk I had to go out and buy the whole series. Banner of the Stars came out a while ago at this point, but I just hadn't had the time to see it and my DVD budget is quite small these days. Thanks to Greencine I just finished watching it and am now hungry for more.

The DVD takes place a few years after Crest of the Stars. Lafiel now commands a ship and Jinto is stationed on it at her request. There haven't been many conflicts since the time period of the last series, but things are starting to heat up again. Unlike the first series, this one dives right into the plot with little introduction. We get to see Spoor again, which rocks as she was one of my favorite side characters from the Crest of the Stars. I'm hoping her character shows up a few more times.

It's also nice seeing Lafiel and Jinto's relationship still evolving some, as well as seeing how differently he interacts with her than the rest of the crew. I can't wait to get the next volume of this and see what happens next. I give this disc a big thumbs up and highly recommend it, though I'd recommend seeing Crest of the Stars first to get to know the characters.

Site Update

This blog now requires TypeKey for comments, since I was starting to get a lot of nonsense comments that I had to clean out. Hopefully this will slow it down a little bit (and not annoy people too much).

Mainstream Manga

Manga definitely seems to be hitting the mainstream more and more. USAToday has two short articles on it today. The first is just about teens and manga, and the second is about the growing popularity of shoujo manga. Since it is in USAToday they're pretty short, but still a sign of the growing popularity of this format in the US.

Sakura Wars TV - I: Opening Night

I picked this release up recently because I'd seen the first episode on one of the DVDs from NewType and rightstuf.com had it on sale and I'd been curious about the show after reading some of the Fruits Basket manga (where the author mentions Sakura Wars a few times). There have been a few other Sakura Wars releases (OVAs and Movies), but I believe they are all based off of games for the PS/PS2 in Japan.

Sakura Wars TV centers around Sakura Shinguji, the newest member of the Imperial Flower Combat Troop. It is a team of women who pilot steam powered mecha and who all have strong spirit energy (which helps them fight monsters). When they aren't fighting and training, they perform in the theatre where their headquarters is. It is kind of a weird premise, and they still haven't quite explained WHY they do the performances (at least that I noticed, i might have missed it). This first disc mostly sets the stage for the series. We meet the members of the team. Sakura slowly works to get them to accept her. Bad monsters come and they have to fight them off (with Sakura not doing a great job of piloting her mecha). And we start to learn just a bit about who their unknown enemy is.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. While Sakura fits into that mold of slightly klutzy main character destined for greatness, she's not as whiney as that character typically is. I think this made me warm up to the show a little faster. I also want to watch more to find out about the rest of the team. I also love the whole steampunk feel of the show, I'm always a sucker for that look.

So, overall I'd recommend this disc, but I get the feeling it is one of those shows that wouldn't be for everyone. If you aren't sure, I'd definitely recommend renting it first to see if it is your cup of tea.

Aura Battler Dunbine, Vol. 1

I rented this the other day from Greencine.com, my new favorite online dvd rental place, and thought I'd toss up the review I posted there (plus a little bit).

First a few technical details. This is the first disk of a fairly long series. I believe it is expected to be around twelve discs. The show is from the early 80s (the date on the disc was 1983), and so it does feel a bit dated. But as far as the disc itself goes, it looks great.

Aura Battler Dunbine is one of those shows that illustrate why I like anime so much. Even a show with kind of weak animation by current standards tells a more kickass story than most american produced shows today.

I really enjoyed this first disc. It had that kind of classic anime 'drop you right into the story along with the main character and slowly show you what is going on' way of telling the story. Even by the end of the disc you get the feeling that we're still only seeing a bit of what this world has to offer. My biggest complaint is that some of the characters annoy the crap out of me (like this little fairy creature that is in it). So, If you don't mind older animation and like decent storytelling give this show a try.

Yay! Super Milk-Chan

ADV Films has opened up the Super Milk-Chan website. This show is one of the most crack-induced things I have ever seen. It's amazing. I can't wait for these DVDs.

Azumanga Review

The current Sci-Fi Wire over at SciFi.com has a nice review of Azumanga Daioh, one of my favorite shows of the past year. I hope Tasha, the reviewer, keeps watching it. I found the show really does keep dragging you in more and more. And for me it was a nice break from crazy over the top action oriented shows.