Other Reviews
This section will feature reviews and short descriptions of other anime series and movies. I will try not to give too much of spoilers for them. I will keep the most recent reviews on this page, but then I will move them. You can select the older reviews below, although the most recent reviews can be selected from there also. As I see more of each series I will add to the review without revealing too much plot. If it is a series and is complete then I will not bother giving volume numbers.
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Blue Seed Beyond Directed by: Jun Kamiya A scientist in San Francisco has found a way to create Neo-Aragami without the power of Susanoo. Two years have passed since Susanoo fell into a slumber and the members of the Terrestrial Administration Center are called together once again to take out this threat. A mysterious new woman named Valencia shows up and has the power of the Mitama just like Kusanagi. Momiji is afraid that she may take Kusanagi away from her. The DVD features the all three episodes of the OVA, a clean opening, an Omake Theater, and previews. Final Verdict: In all reality the story is finished in the first two episodes and the third is basically a fan service episode, with monkeys. All of the voice cast returns, except for the two main characters, Momiji and Kusanagi. In the dub version, new people voice both, which is rather annoying. The Omake Theater included isn't really that funny and just seems to be an end to the story. For some reason they didn't dub it also. The conclusion is nothing spectacular but puts a nice ending to the series and ends some questions as to what happens to the characters. |
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GTO Directed by: Noriyuke Abe GTO stands for Great Teacher Onizuka. Onizuka is a former gang leader and karate champion who now wants to teach, although his original motivation is because he wants to be surrounded by high school girls. His old gang friend Ryuji helps him along the way and when he lands a teaching job he meets a fellow teacher named Ms. Fuyutsuki, whom he likes. The students play various pranks on him but he usually gets the upper hand in the end. He faces his students, fellow co-workers, and many others while always managing to succeed against the odds. He wants to be the greatest teacher there is and often uses unorthodox methods. The DVD features contain the first four episodes. The first two are both an hour long and the second two are half-hour episodes. It also has the original Japanese opening, character designs, trailers, and Onizuka- gone wild; which is a few clips of when he does some strange things and has some strange looks. The second DVD contains five episodes, Japanese opening and closing, character designs, Onizuka- gone wild 2, trailers, and GTO eye catches; which seems to be stills for going and returning to commercials. The third DVD contains 5 episodes, another Onizuka gone wild, more GTO eye catches, trailers, textless opening, textless ending, and character designs. The fourth DVD contains another five episodes, more Onizuka gone wild, trailers, eye catches, character designs, and textless ending and opening for the new opening and ending segments. It also has an interview with the original manga creator Tohru Fujisawa. The fifth DVD has four episodes, the second part of the interview, previews, eye catches, a textless opening and closing, and outtakes. The sixth DVD has four episodes with the eye catches inserted throughout the episodes. It also has the third part of the interview, previews, textless ending and opening, outtakes, and an Initial D music video not relating to GTO. The seventh DVD has four episodes with the eye catches inserted throughout the episodes. It also has the fourth part of the interview, previews, textless ending and opening, outtakes, an Initial D music video, and a GTO music video. The eighth DVD has four episodes with the eye catches inserted throughout the episodes. It also has previews, textless ending and opening (with another new closing), outtakes, an Initial D music video, and a GTO music video. The ninth DVD has four episodes with inserted eye catches, previews, the Initial D and GTO music videos, outtakes, and the original first two openings and original third ending. The tenth and final DVD has four episodes, original Japanese closing of endings 1 and 2, an Initial D music video, the GTO: School's in Session music video, previews, and a small documentary about waiting for the creator, Fujisawa, to arrive at the San Diego Comic Con. All of the DVDs have notes on the inside cover explaining cultural references. Final Verdict: GTO is a funny series. It has an interesting plot, some fan service, and a character that's fun to watch in Onizuka. There is some PG-13 nudity in it. GTO has some serious points that are done rather well, despite Onizuka's messing around. It has a fair mix of comedy and drama. Onizuka also has some of the strangest and funniest facial expressions I've seen in anime. The cultural notes help explain some of the comments made in the subtitled version, but they are generally changed somewhat in the dubbed version leaving little explanation. The series is truly entertaining and mixes good drama into the story while never really losing it's key points and also keeping comedy into a plot that develops over the 43 episode series. |
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Those Who Hunt Elves II Volume 1 Directed by: Kazuyoshi Katayama Junpei, Airi, and Ritsuko are still trapped in a different world. Along with Celcia and their T-74 tank with a possessed cat spirit they are trying to find spell fragments again after the spell was split up into multiple pieces. With over 1000 fragments to find, they have their work cut out for them. The DVD contains the first six episodes, a clean opening and closing, Those Who Hunt Elves and Those Who Hunt Elves II trailers, and previews. Final Verdict: The sequel keeps up the same amount of comedy and wackiness as the original. In the first volume some of the plots for the individual episodes are even weirder than any from the first season. Although it is often predictable who has the spell fragments, the series is very entertaining and I'm looking forward to its conclusion. |
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Neo Ranga Volume 1 Directed by: Jun Kamiya Minami, Ushio, and Yuuhi are three sisters. Their brother, who is now dead, had become the king of a small island nation called Barou. On that island nation a giant being known as Neo Ranga awakened. It is servant to the three sisters who now are the official royalty. The sisters try to cope with it as the military tries to destroy it. Each sister has different motivations and ideas of what Neo Ranga can do. The DVD features eight fifteen-minute episodes, a clean opening and closing, production sketches, translator's notes, a Neo Ranga trailer, and previews. Final Verdict: At this point, Ushio seems to be the main focus out of the three sisters. There are a good amount of minor characters accompanying them that get some face time. Some so far are just static characters that are rather cliché at times. There isn't very much action at this point, although the trailer makes it seem like there will be more later on. The story is more focused on how each the sister's deal with the attention and power that comes with Neo Ranga. |
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