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patrick-176
Reviews
Night Head Genesis (2006)
Excellent music score, interesting premise - but ultimately poor execution and annoying
If I had to describe it, it's like X-Files but set in the world of anime. The idea is definitely there but certain elements are so repeated they become very annoying, almost to the point of grinding teeth.
A lot of the dialog consists of:
"KISAMA!!!" or "Why you!!" - At least 10 times per episode
"Naoya!!!!!!" - I think every episode has at least 20 occurrences of Nayoto calling Naoya
"Nii-cahn!!!!" - "Brother!!!!" Naoya calling his older bro
"Taskete!" or "Help me!!!" - About 15 times per episode
...and of course: MAN HUG
In addition, Naoya has the same wimpy reactions to just about everything. Despite many comments that he does start to mature later in the series, I don't really see it. You can bet that every occurrence will result in him using one of the lines as mentioned above, it's almost robotic. Naoto seems to be constantly constipated and taking offense at nearly anyone says, the first episode is a very overdone episode of this. There's no background story to explain away how someone could just take casual comments seriously and result in a bar fight. The entire show's premise lose credibility right then and there. It would have been better to later explain that because of the brother's supernatural abilities that the bar customers were somehow negatively amplified by their presence, but obviously it would mean everywhere they went, people would go nuts (this actually happens more than once later on the series, but not all the time, which is very inconsistent).
I have a feeling that the writers for this were simply sub-par, trying to fill in gaps in dialog because there really isn't anything more to the story. There's an critical event, the brothers are somehow part of it, and that's the story. The rest is merely window dressing, leaving the dialog severely lacking. Throw in some monologues of the usual philosophical anime genre, it pretty much sums up this series.
I would avoid this series, as I wished I had when I finished watching it. If you really insist on watching it, having a finger over the fast forward button can save your sanity. You won't be missing much.
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
A wonderful masterpiece
This movie is one of the best that I have ever seen. Instead of seeing the familiar U.S. Navy we see what we once called the enemy. And in that simple point of view alone it actually takes a couple minutes to get into perspective. Not only is it a welcome change, but it presents us with a very detailed view into the other side of the Cold War. And it only took three decades after the conclusion of the Cold War to bring this story to the silver screen.
Thank you, Mr. Ford, for sharing a hidden piece of history with us and also making a film worthy of masterpiece.