[Anime Reviews]

Autumn 2008 first impressions (gar edition): Casshern Sins, Michiko to Hatchin, One Outs

Posted by Martin  [Tags: First Impressions and Retrospectives, Huerrgh!, One Outs]

And so I finally get to the end of my Autumn 2008 to-watch list. I must admit that I’m following a lot more new shows than I was during the summer (as in, three times as more), which is a bit daunting to be honest. On the plus side I have two whole weeks off work to keep up with things and many of the currently airing series are only twelve or thirteen eps long anyway.

To balance out the feminine frilly skirts and black lace trimmings of my last preview post, the final batch have a badass gar slant. So here they are: Casshern Sins, Michiko to Hatchin and One Outs. And to my Stateside readers, this week of Epic Election Win has earned you guys an enormous shout of congratulations. Nice Vote indeed.

[10 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

Detroit Metal City 1-4 and why I want the new Diru album

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Detroit Metal City, Huerrgh!]

I can’t believe this is directed by the same guy who did Mushishi.

Sasa told me that I had to see Detroit Metal City. It’s yet another occasion where I ask myself “How exactly did this slip underneath my radar?” because this sort of thing could be made specifically for my twisted sense of humour; whether the joke will wear thin to leave nothing but shock value afterward remains to be seen, but for the first few episodes I was in stitches.

Imagine Beck remade in the style of Spïnal Tap while the studio staff are raped by Cradle of Filth. With a tambourine. Dressed as Kiss. This rock ‘n’ roll violation of the senses is served up by the pirennially underrated Studio 4°C, who never fail to create something out of the ordinary. Whether the source material, from Berserk publisher Young Animal, is extreme as this, I don’t know; the art style is I suspect mostly down to the studio, and it fits like a glove. A leather, studded glove with an Air Guitar glued to it.

[8 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

Black Lagoon 1-4: pirates and salarymen

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Black Lagoon, Huerrgh!]

Amidst all the furore surrounding Geneon’s uncertain future there were several new titles that I feared would never make it to UK shelves; one of those was Black Lagoon. It’s fair to say BL’s reputation preceded it: I’d heard a lot about this action-packed tale of kidnappings, gun-fights and double crosses on the high seas so it was a pleasant surprise to see the show in my review pile. Fortunately I wasn’t disappointed by what I saw either.

I’ll admit that there are plenty of bounty hunter-style shows around with similar setups involving a Joe Average thrown in amongst an assorted bunch of hard-up criminals who do cool things to eke out a living, but Black Lagoon somehow manages to make one hell of an impression. For one thing it has Studio Madhouse in charge of the production (a reason for me to love it right there); secondly it has Attitude. The capitalisation was wholly intentional, by the way. Black Lagoon has a whole boatload of Attitude and then some.

[6 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

Kaiji: first impressions

Posted by Martin  [Tags: First Impressions and Retrospectives, Huerrgh!, Kaiji]

Not much has wowed me this season. Granted, Gundam 00 started well, ef and Blue Drop intrigued me and even Clannad promises good things but there wasn’t the equivalent of, say, Gurren Lagann or Dennou Coil to make me feverishly check daily for torrents for the latest episode. It’s all going to take second place to DVDs and other activities (such as the essay deadline that I’ve only just discovered is NEXT SODDING WEDNESDAY, dammit), or so I thought. Enter Ultimate Survivor Kaiji.

Everyone’s favourite low-life

[4 Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

Berserk 1-5

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Berserk, Huerrgh!]

The idea of kicking off a series by showing a messed-up, badass antihero laying waste to his enemies in an all-out action fest isn’t a new one. It’s a bit misleading though when the episodes that follow offer so much more in getting into the troubled mind of the central character: Gungrave is a good example of this but an earlier show that took a similar route was Berserk.

[4 Comments]

[OAVs, Movies and Full Series]

Ninja Scroll

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Huerrgh!, Strictly Old-School]

Remember those straight-to-video gorefests that gave anime a bad name all those years ago? One name that is lumped with those titles is that of Ninja Scroll; while it is pretty far removed from the trashy ‘tits and tentacles’ hentai fare, it still has a reputation for being unashamedly violent. This reputation is not wholly undeserved but you know what? Sometimes, unashamed violence is a good thing.

[6 Comments]

[Editorials]

The huerrgh! factor: excessive manliness in anime

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Huerrgh!]

After the mecha-fest of the new Transformers live action movie and this short discussion the other day I started to wonder about the appeal of the copious quantities of testosterone that pervade certain anime series. Before you ask, ‘Huerrgh!’ is allegedly a slang term, also pronounced “Hooah!”, among manly military types, to denote an affirmative or general show of, um, manliness. “Jump the fence, marine!” “Yessir, jumping fence, Huerrgh!” According to a former housemate of mine who served in the T.A., anyway.

[12 Comments]

[OAVs, Movies and Full Series]

Riding Bean

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Huerrgh!, Strictly Old-School]

In what I hope will become a regular fixture here, I’m taking a trip into ‘retro radness’ territory to dig up an old classic for the Strictly Old School category. The only criteria are that 1). the show has to be more than a decade old and 2). it has to be awesome for its time. First up is the old Riding Bean OAV. Enjoy…

Before Kenichi Sonoda made his name with Gunsmith Cats, Yasuo Hasegawa directed the first episode of his story of a tough-as-nails Chicago courier named Bean Bandit. Sadly the series was never to be and all that saw the light of day was this, the single part OAV of Riding Bean.

[1 Comment]

[Anime Reviews]

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann 8

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Huerrgh!, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]

This is worth a double-post.

After episode #7 I didn’t think this show’s recovery in quality could continue. This one however was even better: it portrays a very unexpected and significant event in the story, and in great style too. If you haven’t watched this far yet, go see it before reading any further - SERIOUSLY. I really don’t want to ruin it for you.

Even without the shocking ending, it was a decidedly above-average offering that gives plenty of character interaction and action: the battle with the Beastmen picks up where the last one left off with entire armies of ganmen clashing. There’s drama, explosions, tension and, ultimately, tragedy.

[No Comments]

[Anime Reviews]

Moonlight Mile: First Impressions

Posted by Martin  [Tags: First Impressions and Retrospectives, Huerrgh!]

Here’s a show that seems to have slipped under the radar. Drawn in by a rocking end theme from the Pillows (okay, I admit that was my main reason) and the unusual premise, I made a start on Moonligh Mile: an unusual tale of discovering a new source of energy on the Moon. The opening ep doesn’t explain much but goes to great lengths to set things up and introduce the main characters.

[2 Comments]