Thinking about Anime/toon reviewing... - Whose in?

[Reverend]

If you can't guess by the title, I'm looking into starting up anime/toon reviewing for the board. I can't think of how many hours of my life may have been save should i had early warning about some series out there.

I'm not nessecarily looking for the newest or the best anime out there. Actually I think that starting out by having people review their favorite animes would be the best way.

If there is enough support on this, i.e. other people who are willing to write, perhaps a mod might be able to pin this to the top as a resource for people on the board.

[Reverend]

Might as well start it out too. In this case I'll begin with my hands down favorite anime series ever.

TRIGUN: Vol. 1, The $$60,000,000,000 Man

Interested yet? This was the first volume of TRIGUN that I saw, but at the time I did not know that it was a series; I just saw cool artwork and decided to get it. The first four episodes of the series were contained on this volume and honestly I was kinda let down. After seeing incredibly cool opening credits of this outlaw Vash the Stampede who has this gi-normous bounty on his head, we are introduced to a gluttonous, perverted cry-baby who does't seem to fit the bill for a wanted man. Pursuing this infamous Vash - who no one can ever remember truly seeing - are two insurance agents, Meryl and Millie, who have been ordered to watch Mr. Stampede in order to cut back on insurance expenses that their company has to handle involving Vash. Naturally when they meet the man who is Vash, they think that he isn't actually Vash at all. This is essentially status quo for these four episodes, which I usually skip over when explaining the series to begin with. The reason is that TRIGUN, like any good anime, started as a manga created by Yashiro Nightow, and the the manga begins at the anime's episode five.

That's right, these are simply filler episodes created to make sure that there were enough to make two neat seasons out of several volumes of quality manga. But I digress...

The first episode is a standard introduction episode, nothing to write home about. The second episode deals with Vash being hired as a bodyguard by a man looking for someone who will simply say that he is Vash the Stampede in order to scare away snoopers from his illegal water harvesting. Naturally, with Meryl, Millie, and an attractive blonde there too, hi-jinx ensue. What is interesting to note is that since this takes place on a very dry and desert-like planet - Earth after we screwed it up one too many times? - water is like oil today. So having someone try to steal water is a horrible crime.

The next episode has Vash seeking out a famous gun-smith to fix his bigfreakinI'm seriouslycompensatingforsomething revolver that is probably a .44 or larger. Yes, it is the coolest gun ever, but Vash has yet to fire a single shot with it that we have seen. This episode is fun because Vash spends a good half of it drunk, and is really funny as a drunken guy, but eventually comes out of it and sobers up the gunsmith too. Finally, ep. 4 has Vash wander into a hostage negotiation where the kidnappers have a pretty damn good reason for wanting to kill their hostage's father. Fun to watch because both Meryl and Millie, taken hostage too, get to show off their own prowess; Millie with her Gatling Gun - :-0 - and Meryl with the more than fifty Deringer pistols she hides in her large traveling cloak.

Overall, this volume is a bit of a disappointment. If it were up to me, I would personally go find the second volume, Lost Past, and start from there. You won't miss much, and you get to see Vash do his incredibly cool "I could choose to kill you all, but I won't fire but a single shot and still beat you somehow" thing that puts him in league with the likes of Spike Spegal in terms of cool factor.

[Doot]

I think it's a great idea. *pin*

[Reverend]

Thank you Doot!

*Reverend does uncoordinated Whiteboy dance*

[Sperrit]

This is a great idea! Now it's my turn!

Favorite Anime: The Visions of Escaflowne (I think i've posted that a couple of times)
This is like one of the first Animes I ever saw, and it got me hooked, but what a hook!
The Visions of Escaflowne is about a high school girl named Hitomi (sp?) who runs track and has this crush on the team captain, Amano. Her best friend knows this and so tells Hitomi to do a tarrot reading on their possible relationship. Apparently Hitomi is very good at tarrot and when she does this reading about her and Amano she sees that they will be seperated by long distances. She then hears that Amano is going to go to the good 'ol USA, so she decides to take drastic action. The night before Amano is to leave she tells him to meet her at the track to show her feelings for him by breaking her 100 meter track record (weird, I know, but this is where it gets good). While Hitomi is running her pendent starts to glow. Now, this ain't no normal pendent, which we see earlier when Hitomi shows Amano that it will swing from one side to another in exactly one second increments. So it's all glowing, and suddenly this giant pillar of light shoots down from the sky, right in front of Hitomi, and from that pillar comes a skinny guy with weird armor and a sword who promptly tells them all to get the heck out of the way cause there's a land dragon coming. That's when the land dragon gets there. What happens after that, I will not say, because I've already spoiled too much, but it's a GREAT series. It was very loosely based on this manga of the same name, but in my opinion the manga pretty much sucks. There's also a movie, which isn't connected to the series in any way shape or form, and once you get past the whole experience of "Wait, that's not how it was in the series!" then you'll love it. I give it a rating of cause, even though I gave a really bad intro it's a really good series. A must see!
And for those of you who love giant robots Escaflowne is probably the most bad mother of a giant robot I have ever seen. A MUST for any giant robot fan, and a must for everyone else, too!

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[Reverend]

ooh, kitsune ratings! I like that idea a lot. Thanks Sperrit!

So for Vol. 1 of Trigun thenm I give it:

[Sakura]

Oh...hmmm I think I will give a lovely reveiw on...

Kiki's Delivery Service:

Kiki's Delivery Service is the tale of a resourceful young witch named Kiki. Upon reaching her 13th birthday, Kiki must leave home to find her place in the world. Along with her cynical, outspoken black cat, Jiji, Kiki flies off to a new town where she becomes the resident witch, using her broom to create a delivery service for a local bakery. Facing the ups and downs of growing up, Kiki learns valuable lessons about friendship, trust, disappointment, and reward while discovering her own unique talents. Rescuing her friend Tombo from disaster, Kiki learns that everyone -- even a young witch -- has to search and work hard to find happiness and fulfillment.

But all in all, I think this a is a good bring-up, comfort anime when you are feelins down, scared, or lonely. It cheers you right up!

From my point of veiw I give it:

[Reverend]

TRIGUN Vol.2: Lost Past

Well, after a short hiatus, we are back on track, and just in time to begin the real 'meat 'n potatoes' of the TRIGUN anime series. After all the stupid zaniness of the first four episodes, we get to see TRIGUN from were Yoshiro Nightow began the series.

A man - Vash - is sitting in a restaurant in July City beginning to eat his French fries; children play with toy guns in the background. Suddenly, several armed men bust in and begin firing on the man eating his food! After congratulating each other, they see that he isn't shot, just covered in ketchup; pretty soon all five of them are bare-assed and walking out of town. Vash comments on how he is happy not to have had to actually hurt those men, but suddenly all the people in the restaurant take out guns and tell Vash that they don't want to hurt him, but they must collect the bounty on his head...

Cool opening, huh? This episode continues to unfold with a town that must fix their life-giving relics of "lost technology" that scatters the planet they are on (earth?). In this case, the piece of lost tech is something called a plant, which resembles a ginormous light bulb and is responsible for the terraforming of the land in its area of desert to grow food. Plants are quite finicky, prone to break downs, and require heavy maintenance to fix; hence the need for the money on Vash's head. Vash himself is running from the crazed citizens, all the while not shooting a single friggin bullet. Really, if you are going to give a guy a hand-cannon of a revolver, can't he at least use it? Vash eventually comes face-to-face-to-face with The Nebraska Family, mercenaries ordered to take Vash in, with no care for innocents; they're just in it for collecting money. Faced with such ruthless killers, will Vash actually draw his gun (Yes he does BTW)?

The next episode has Vash hooking up with Millie and Meryl, present to witness the events of the last episode, and sequester him under their guard to prevent further damages from occurring to the town. Vash is tapped to protect the chief mechanic of the Plant repair team who seems to have a strange man trying to kill her, or is it Vash? Turns out though, that Vash was responsible for completely annihilating the mechanic's city thirty years ago, and she still harbors a grudge.

Last episode of the tape has Vash leaving July city on a Sand Steamer - think riding in a Jawa sand crawler - and taking a job of protecting the steamer from Brillian Dymaites Neon and the Bad-Lad gang. Vash encounters a small boy who he looks after but may be a spy for BDN.

Overall, this is a rather good volume to pick up and use to introduce people into the actual series; the episodes contain levity, kick-ass action, contemplative moments, and most importantly...real emotion. When watching Vash have to finally fight to protect innocents, we catch a glimpse of a man who has been called the Devil's Son. We can see just how dangerous this moron can be when he is serious, and be thankful that he isn't more often.

Kitsune Rating:

[Reverend]

TRIGUN Vol. 3: Wolfwood

Welcome to the third volume of Trigun, and the one volume that always gets me giggling like Sakura-chan, when she is offered free pocky. In this case, it’s the introduction of my favorite character of the series, Nicholas D. Wolfwood; a preacher man who just happens to be too cool to describe, but I’m about to try anyway.

The first episode of the this volume continues where the previous one left off; with Vash attempting to save a runaway sand steamer from being driven off a cliff by the Bad Lads Gang leader Brilliant Dynamites Neon (BDN). As an episode, we are treated with first learning why Vash refuses to take a life, because he promised a woman a long time ago. In the process of attempting to save hostages John McLain style, Vash proves to be efficient with both modern technology, and seems to have access to ‘lost technology’ as well. Naturally, Vash saves the day, but not before he’s shot() and has to face BDN in a duel. Not a horrible episode, but there are certainly better ones out there (next volume people, NEXT volume).

The second episodes starts on a long bus ride where Vash, Meryl, and Millie are on their way to May City when in the desert a man with a large cross is spotted. Yup, it’s Wolfwood, whose bike broke down and was walking towards the city. Saved by Vash & co. we are presented with a preacher who is out to make as much money as possible to fund his orphanage, a man kind to children, but willing to con people to get what he needs. The plot of this episode revolves around a missing child, and Vash & Wolfwood finding a ancient factory still producing guard robots eager to fill any ‘intruder’ with holes. We learn that Wolfwood is a rather brave man, who can handle a gun as well as Vash, but can be a bit absentminded. Of course, the child is rescued; everyone makes it to May City, and Wolfwood heads out to cross paths with Vash in the future.

The final episode sees Vash bumping into Wolfwood (again) whose helping out an attractive single mother keep her restaurant afloat. Wolfwood cons Vash into a quick draw tournament, but not before Vash signs Wolfwood up too. However, when the local big shot decides to capitalize on Vash’s bounty by blackmailing Wolfwood, the proverbial s**t hits the fan; and it’s Vash vs. Wolfwood vs. several hundred wannabe bounty hunters.

Overall, this volume isn’t anything too special when you first see it, but after watching the series again this volume is rife with foreshadowing. Such as how Vash refers to when he actually has to shoot two people to wound them ‘sloppy’ or that you always catch the glimpse of someone tailing both Vash AND Wolfwood. Other interesting events include seeing Vash use pebbles to change trajectory of bullets to keep fatal shots from occurring, and how Wolfwoods rather large and heavy cross contains in it many small handguns (desperado style). Wolfwood too, is interesting because while being a priest he has no qualms over being drunk, smoking, and killing people. Other moments of interest include alluding that Vash has more than just one gun on his personage, and that he’s been injured worse than just being shot.

As for scoring, this volume gets a boost because of Wolfwood, but not too much to it otherwise. Hang on tight though folks, the goofiness of Trigun is about to leave the series and your in for a shock.

Kistune Rating:

[Sperrit]

Alright! Here's another one on the list of Sperrit Anime!

Kareshi Kanojyo No Jijyo! Or, as it's commonely known, Kare Kano, and translated, His and Her Circumstances.
This is an anime about one girls and one guys high school experiences and how they become irrevocably bound to one another. It contains scenes of great personal exploration and scenes of mass hysterical laughter inducing hyjinks! I LOVE the music of this anime and the characters are very relatable and endearing. It starts out in the first two episodes with just the girl and her perspective of everything that takes place, then we switch and see the guy's perspective (his and her circumstances, get it?) and as we go through the series the two of them gain friends and we see their views on everything. This is a very well writen series full of memorable characters and intense emotion. In my opinion, a must, though the ending to the first season really sucks. My advice is, if you're going to watch the first season then watch the third to last episode and then STOP. It's actually a very good stopping point, and once the second season comes out then you can get a hold of the last two episodes and watch them. Other than that I give the series 4 1/2 foxes!

rating: 1/2

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