Pre-release review

Ok, to clear things up, this is by Funimation. NOT 4kids!!!

Basically, since Funimation have obtained the license to the show (yay!) they are redubbing EVERY episode 4kids screwed up. So this time around we'll have no edits to violence, swearing, Japanese kanji, names, and no bad"jokes" or"puns", no renamed people, no skipped arcs of the story, no annoying voices and no crappy 4kids edits.

If you really want to see how bad 4kids One Piece was, search the top ten worst 4kids one piece dub moments by a person named"Tsukento" on Youtube and compare them to the original japanese anime and what Funimation have done to improve One Piece over the 4kids dub.

This time we'll have everything an anime/manga otaku can hope for. The Journey is about to set sail, and this time, its better than before! THANK YOU FUNIMATION!

By the way, if you have the 4kids DVDs of one piece, BURN THEM and send them to 4kids in the US saying they can have they're crap back. There I said it!

It Came From Outter Space.......

Today I recived my copy of Destiny Deoxys (I m a UK importer so :P) so in true Pokemon fanboy stlye I will review it!

Very good. It seems the producers have really gone downtown to chinatown (In other words did a good job). The opening explaining Pokemon was far better then what previous movies has done with all those Pokemon and so on.

Animation. Top notch. The 3D effects worked well and I m not the kinda guy that thinks 3D works well in animes or cartoons (Thinks of Final Fantasy Unlimited. EEK!).

Deoxys. Finally learned how to say"Deoxys". Had no voice so 4Kids could nt screw up in that department! lol. The way Deoxys moves is amazing. The flying, the morphing etc. Very nice.

Plot. God. For a change I could nt predict what would happen next or how the story would develop so basiclly yeah. Good.

Chracters. Voices seemed fine with the new humans we met. Troy seemed a good character. The rest? Well lets just say been there done that.........

Dub. The voices didnt seem bad but was does Torkoal have a new voice? He hasnt been in the anime long ya know!!!!!!!

Munchlax. Well it is new so what the heck. I liked it. Liked seeing it evolve into Snorlax. A thing you don't see when new baby Pokes are revealed for the first time!

TR. Dissappointing. Not enough from them at all. Didnt invole themselfs in the main plot much either. Still the bit with the hamburger machine was funny.......

Extras. HUGELY DISSAPPOINTING. No Pika short? WHY? The 6th one was so good and yet we don't get one for the first time? I now feel your pain those who brought Pokemon 4 Ever in the UK. ¬_¬

I mean WHO THE HELL WANTS A BLOODY QUIZ?!?!?!? The darn thing made my DVD Player crash at a certain question. Something has to be done..........

Oh yes. The director thing. Did they really have to Dub it? Most Pokemon viewers CAN READ!!!!!!!

All in all. Great movie. Not sure about it being the best so I ll have to think about that. The extras ruin it but I ll forget about that for the time being. I give the film 5 stars. The extras get 2.......

Roll on Movie 8! ^_^ Just don't screw up the DVD for that 4Kids or you ll pay.........

Really enjoyable anime series

I wasn't too sure about this one at first. At times it comes across as being aimed at a younger audience and I tend to prefer the more grown up stuff like Paranoia Agent, Jin Roh and GITS.
However, I'm glad I gave Heat Guy J a chance. For one thing it's one of the best looking Anime I've seen for a while; highly colourful mix of top notch CG and hand drawing. Also, the series has a really strong theme about family bonds and personal relationships running through it that struck a chord with me. The development of the plot with the Celestials was really well paced too. On top of all that I thought the soundtrack was really good as well.
My only problem with this series is the ubiquitous spouting of the"a man should always blah blah blah...." bit umpteen times every episode. The annoying catch phrase thing seems to be quite a common fault with Anime in general though. Even my personal faves the GITS films and series have a few too many"Motokooooooo" moments in them for my liking.

What light through yonder window breaks?

At only half an hour long, this short film manages to be more poignant and emotional than many films three times this length.

The film explores a (very, and increasingly) long distance relationship between two childhood sweethearts. Communicating only through text message whilst the girl (Mikako) begins a career in the military fighting an alien race called the Tarsians, the length it takes for her messages to reach her boyfriend Noboru increases exponentially as the distance between them becomes greater.

Before long the messages are taking over 8 years to reach their target, and our Romeo and Juliet are trying to deal with moving on with their lives but simply can't. Their attention lays focussed with their mobile phones, never knowing when another message might arrive - that after years it could throw them into emotional disarray. The angst at waiting for the next message, never knowing if there will ever be any more is painful to watch. You can't help but feel for the pair. Mikako longs for simple moments - to eat ice-cream with Noboru in the bus shelter whilst it rains, and Noboru tortures himself with desperate anticipation of another message.

In a nutshell: Sci-Fi has never been so lovelorn. I mentioned Romeo and Juliet just a moment ago, and if Shakespeare were with us today then this is the sort of stuff he'd be producing. Brilliantly unbearable and beautiful. Although this is a short film, you feel totally immersed. And though the sci-fi may seem distanced from real life, the scenes back home are realistic. After this film finished I still thought about the pair and hoped that they would be reunited. A masterpiece.

A disappointing lack of any additional features, but that doesn't take away from a fantastic piece of work.

Loved the history but not the modern day stuff

I thought up til episode 13 or 14 it was bril. I couldn't stop watching. I loved the characters and the rich history. If you buy the box set there is even a special lecture on the actual history the story was based on.

In the modern day it becomes a bit dull and muted, its not so intense and it feels like a typical teen tv series. There isn't that same edge but its still enjoyable.

Dance with us Gir...Dance with us into oblivion...

I'm sure you've heard of Invader Zim, otherwise you'd not even consider to browse this item. In short, it's the best cartoon since ren and stimpy. But with some sense of child-like, creative innocence (ish...Zim trying to disguise his alien guts by stealing the school children's organs and replacing them with foreign objects, like radiators, can be considered a bit much for daytime nickelodeon) and progressive narrative (be it a loose one). Gir is also one of the greatest creations the human mind has ever conceived.

But what is unsure is what this 'fan pack' actually is...

It is in fact every single invader zim episode in one package. For a budget price, and all the extras from the volumes are included.

That makes this a compulsory buy to anyone wishing to purchase any of the volumes on offer here on amazon. The house set looks pretty cool, but still rather expensive.

Be aware of the region, and of the delivery times (dvdlegacy took less than three weeks) and bathe in the glorious belly of Jhonen Vasquez's animated genius. And while your at it giggle at bad art collections, homicidal maniacs,tormented squees,mentally instable illustrators and that poor poor bunny...

Watch Or Die?

This action adventure anime series is one of the best Ive seen. It is set in a Library with the main character Ms. Yomiko Readman aka Agent Paper. someone is trying to procure several lost Beethoven manuscripts and has managed to get the help of a few , very good historians. Readman and her fellow super powered friends must find the books in a desperate race to save the world!

The DBZ movies have never looked so good

After the immense success funimation has had with releasing the remastered Dragon Ball Z series, the same treatment for the movies was inevitable.
This 2 disc collection contains the first two movies: 'Dead Zone' and 'The world's strongest'. It comes in a nice steelbook packaging, like the previous Trunks and Bardock double feature.

I happen to own an older DVD release of these first two movies, (In the first srike box set) and I must say there is an incredible difference in quality. The movies in this set look absoluteley beautiful as the picture has been cleaned up immensly. When I saw these films prior to being remastered, I didn't enjoy them as much. This is because I'd watched seasons 1 to 4 of the remastered DBZ series and the difference in quality really put me off. However after watching this release I must say that I enjoyed both films thoroughly.
Both films are pretty simple when it comes to the plot, but if you are looking for straight up DBZ action then you will not be disappointed. Though each feature lasts for about 50 minutes, plenty of the action and comedy that we love from the series has been included.

I think that the first movie, Dead Zone is set somewhere before the Saiyan saga. It is a simple story that begins with the evil Garlic Jr (from the season 4 filler arc) Kidnapping Gohan along with the Dragon Ball he wears on his hat. He wants the Dragon Balls to become immortal, so what ensues is an a big fight in Garlic's layer when Goku, Krillin and Piccolo go to rescue Gohan. There is some great humour in this movie, especially with Gohan, while under his captives, eats an apple not knowing that it is infused with alcohol (or something like that), therefore leading to hilarious results. In true DBZ fashion, the action is brilliant, however it is nothing compared to the next movie.

The World's strongest is set just after the fight with Vegeta in season 1. It is about a scientist called DR Wheelo (who just so happens to be a brain in a Jar) searching for the world's best fighter in order to fuse his spirit with in order to have the perfect body and mind. He consequently sets his sights on Master Roshi, however when he hears that Goku is even stronger, he then becomes the new target. This leads to a huge battle of epic proportions between the forces of good and evil. The action is a lot more intense and is absoluteley top notch in this movie and at the same time, it looks beautiful.

Unfortunately, special features in this DVD set are scarce. The first disc containing a commentary and some trailers and the second one only containing trailers. However it is cool to see a trailer for both season 6 of the series and the next double feature containing the movies 'Tree of Might' and 'Lord Slug'.

If you are colecting the Remastered DBZ season boxsets you should definetly check this collection out. and if you are looking for DBZ in it's full entirety as it was meant to be seen then this is definetly for you, however, if you are not bothered by quality then there is no real point in buying this. These movies are enjoyable stand alone stories, with brilliant action and comedy, but expect no real caracterisation to occur here. Newcomers to the series can easily enjoy these as you do not need to know anything about the DBZ universe to appreciate them. The DBZ movies look set to only get better, so now I can't wait for the next double feature release.

A Bargain at the price

This was the first anime I ever saw, back on VHS. It should be seen together with Acts III & IV for full impact, although the first two acts are hilarious on their own; the last two will make you think about what constitutes a person....

Just don't have your mouth full when Buaku deploys his secret anti-tank weapons against the Tank Police unless you want to spray the TV....

Oh yes this ones a good 'un.

Volume Three

The third volume of the brilliant Avatar series containing a further four episodes and although these are a bit too moralistic for my tastes they are still greatly entertaining. The volume kicks off with episode nine where Katara gets into trouble while trying to improve her water bending skills. This was the first episode of Avatar that I ever watched and although there are many better episodes in the series it is still greatly entertaining.

Episode ten sees Aang and friends running into a group of bandits fighting against the Fire Nation. This is a great if somewhat predictable episode with some excellent fight sequences.

Episode eleven guest stars the voice of Rene Auberjonois (Odo from Star Trek Deep Space Nine) and sees the Avatar forced to escort two rival tribes through a dangerous gorge. This is probably the weakest episode on this volume but is still a fun watch.

Episode twelve is the best one on this volume and is probably the best episode the series has so far produced. When a powerful storm hits it reminds Aang of some painful memories. This episode is mainly an exposition of the back-story of Aang and Prince Zuko and features the guest voices of Mark Hamill and James Hong. Avatar continues to produce great episodes and I cannot wait for the next volume to be released.

Reasonable, but not an anime classic

*** slight spoilers ***

I bought this attractively boxed anime set at the now heavily discounted price, expecting the usual action, pathos, imaginative storylines and great soundtrack. Well I guess I got some of those.

The story is basically a teenage love story - set against an apocalyptic end-of-the-world scenario. The first few episodes are painfully slow and quite irritating in parts - the teenage angst thing is layered on with a sledgehammer unsubtle touch and, believe me, you will get sick of counting the times a weepy"I'm s-sorry" is uttered!. A few surprises and striking images along the way do just about hold the viewer's interest though and hint at more profound things to come. As the series progresses, the pace does quicken, with some interesting twists and even major characters getting killed off. A spectacular, if somewhat enigmatic conclusion is worth staying the course for (but feelgood material it ain't!). The bonus disk OVA does add some interesting insights into Chise's military experiences and stands up pretty well as a movie in its own right. In fact, without the often irritating Shuji, I probably enjoyed the OVA more than the main series!

As mentioned by another reviewer, I too found the way the faces were drawn rather annoying and this does detract a bit from ones enjoyment. On the plus side, the anime features a splendid rocking soundtrack - gotta love that lonely soaring guitar sound!

Perhaps comparisons are a little unfair but, it has to be said, if you're into arcane weapons research and its effect on normal folk, then Elfen Leid did it FAR more stylishly than this; if you want poignancy coupled with mystery, then Haibane Renmei is the anime for you; if you want an entertaining love story, then Kanon (or even Nodame Cantabile) demonstrate anime as a great art form.

I'll probably revisit 'She' in a few months time, maybe skipping some of the early-middle episodes.

At this price, you certainly won't feel ripped off. Just don't expect a classic.

Ergo Proxy's confusing conclusion

This sixth volume of the fascinating Ergo Proxy anime contains the final three episodes of the series and many questions raised throughout the series are answered, although not all of them are. The episodes see Re-l, Vincent and Pino return to the dome city of Romdo to find the former utopia in chaos with Cogito infected AutoReivs running rampant and a plot to see the city itself destroyed advances towards its conclusion.

Ergo Proxy has never ceased to be anything other than fascinating and although it isn't as action oriented as I originally thought it would be, I nonetheless found it highly entertaining throughout. The show has shown good animation, had a good English dub throughout its run and the plot itself is highly compulsive and always keeps you watching. Although I wouldn't say that Ergo Proxy is one of the greatest anime series it is nevertheless a great show and well worth watching.

english voices

Chobits rocks , well ive seen all the japanese versions and its an amazing amie with everything you could want. its got the whole forbidden romance vibe , a hell of alot of mystery all over the place, its really funny in places and its got great characters and storyline.

Only thing i would say is as this looks to be the english version the voices are just crao compared to the japanese counterparts. Yes i mean when you watch japanese your only reading the subtitles, but you hear the voices too and they fit soo much better. For starters Sumomo is much higher pitched in the japanese version which fits her much better and Hideki's voice is also much more exagerated when he's in one of his states of crazyness ... maybe its just the japanese can do these things better. oh and also Chi's 'chiiiii's sound more Chi like in japanese if that possible :P

but yeah i mean whatever version you buy chobits still rocks and is one of the best anime's ive ever watched

Well... interesting concept...

OK. To start with the good stuff...
The plotline is very original. How many anime/mangas have you seen/read that are about doctors? None. Good. There's a reason for that...
Second. The animation. Top notch, it's excellant animation definatley! Beautiful to look at and there's even a mixture of original artwork in there too!
The dubbing, also excellant, I adore a lot of the voice actors here.

So, why only 2 stars? OK, well the plotline may be original but it's plain boring! And parts of it are also downright bizarre/confusing. To fully understand it all you have to pay attention and that is no small task when watching something so dull. And don't let the metaphor"A surgeon with the hands of God" throw you, that's all it is. A metaphor.
The music is alright but is doesn't fit. It just doesn't. It has the right feel about it but it starts to play at the most bizarre point in the movie. Which spoils it.
The character design... isn't too interesting. I'll commend the designers for trying to keep it real, but in anime it can be nice to have something a bit strange. OK, Blackjack's hair fits the bill but that's all. And other character just looks downright weird (notice the resemblance between Pinoco and that Astro-boy puzzle she's always doing?).
OK. So we got good animation. We got great voice acting. We got originality. We got blood. If that's your perfect formula, then I would have to point you towards something else, most likely Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust. Steer clear of this. Unless you're a doctor and want to see other doctors in action...

AD police..ANGRY MAN IT MAKES ME!!

Basically it could have been a great anime series full of ultra
violence, each 25 min episode(despite it being 100mins long whats up with that?) should be full of slight nudity and kickass characters, but it ISNT!!,the
first of the episodes is good it starts off the whole series with a bang,slick sexy and seemingly worth watching the characters are ok and the action is great...but after that it all goes wrong..

the second and third episodes seem to be rushed, the characters
are drawn differently, the animation taking on a more simplistic look, and one of the characters even changes
completely, from having a robotic beast of an arm to having
what seems to be just a very good replacement identical to a human one, and even the feel
of the series changes!! the characters take a more comical feel
towards each other and loose any chance of us getting in anyway attached to them.

basically it could have been so much more, but its worth buying just to watch the first 25 min episode, and then imagine what could have been,
but at this price i really wouldnt bother.

Volume Two

The second volume of Ergo Proxy includes another four episodes of this intriguing anime and this time much of the action takes place outside the domed city of Romdo. The volume begins with episode five which sees Re-l leave the safety of Romdo to retrieve Vincent but the plans of the Security Bureau complicate matters. In episode six Vincent makes the decision to return the sickly Re-l to Romdo while the other members of the commune make a bid for freedom. Episode seven introduces Re-l to some back-story for the Proxy and Romdo itself while Vincent travels to the place of his birth. The final episode on this volume, episode eight, is my favourite. While travelling to his birthplace Vincent stumbles into a war zone and when some soldiers are brutally murdered he come under suspicion. Ergo Proxy is turning into a fascinating show but it is slightly slow in places but it is still definitely worth watching.

Story, score and characters held my attention

There's something appealing about being able to transform into an android. Too bad there's not a way to do it without harsh consequences. What madness to experiment on such a large scale. The use of advanced bio-tech made this topical even if I don't expect this kind of bio-tech to be appearing any time soon :-)

I didn't feel like an old man having to considering whether this film would only be enjoyable by young people [It's rated PG-13]. It was enjoyable for me. This Paul Oakenfold score was a big enhancement. Voices were excellent.

Was it predictable? Perhaps to some extent, certainly I had faith Vexille would succeed, but it moved along well and there were some significant surprises. I'd enjoy watching"Vexille" again, there was enough going on to make at least a second viewing worthwhile. And nowadays, seeing humanity win one is reassuring.

The Most Emotive Animation I've Seen

"Grave of the Fireflies" is a masterpiece of cinema. You rarely get real actors to portray a story with such emotion letalone an animation.

The story involves two children who become homeless and left to fend for themselves when Japan gets bombed heavily in World War II. Based on the writers on experiences, we follow the them as their plight becomes more and more desperate until it reaches its climax.

Rarely does animation get given such an adult treatment in its content and its a joy to watch. While the animation is not going to match Ghibli's later films, nothing has yet surpassed the feelings the end of the film left me with.

A true masterpiece and a film all war mongers should watch before they set off to war.