Reviews
Seikoku no Dragonar (2014)
Colorful, nicely animated semi-sexy series with decent story
Well, I read the reviews of this and I have to come down on the side of the positive ones. The person offering the negative one doesn't seem to understand this is not "War & Peace," this is a CARTOON: anime created for the sake of tickling your fancy with fantastic fantasy and giving you a light and interesting story, which it surely does. Sure, the young teen girls have DD boobs and more with incredible hourglass figures, but that's part of the charming fantasy. The animation itself is very smooth, exceptionally colorful, more so than most animes, and the characters and backgrounds visually captivating to look at. The story is fine: hero guy, heroine girl with helpful associates and bad guys, and that's pretty much true of most stories. It's how they do all this that is important, and they do it well enough to provide interest and a generally good time watching it.
Wonder Woman (2017)
Decent story, fair character
The story is okay, and I suppose that's what counts, but since the movie is all about Wonder Woman, you need a fairly awesome female to play her, and, although Gal Gadot has a cutsy-pie face sure enough, realistically she comes up short in the body department - not even close to Lynda Carter's awesome curves and bod, and that is really the story here. She also lacks in the musculature department, also not close to Sofia Boutella (Jayla in Star Wars Beyond), who has a magnificently athletic and muscular body and yet is still feminine and sexy. A cute face is not enough to be Wonder Woman; that mythical Amazon is a lot more than that. I notice, too, that when you compare Gadot's bikini pics with her in her Wonder Woman outfit, they pulled in her waist and pumped up her boobs to give her a sexier appearance, which she doesn't actually have. Body-wise, she's actually quite ordinary; there are many better built models & actresses than her around. Always makes me wonder how they pick these people, and what criterion they use. They're supposed to be getting a muscular, athletic person for this part, and they just got some ordinary model with a cute face - which strains the credibility of the character and therefore the believability of the character and the story. A similar mistake was made with ScarJo for the Major in GITS: beautiful girl, decent actress, physically terrific, but wrong for the part of Motoko because she's not Asian! In fact, she's as far away from Asia as you could get. It's like using Jackie Chan or Jet Li to play Robin Hood - both great physical characters, athletic, good actors, wrong for the part for obvious reasons. They could have done a better job for Wonder Woman than this Israeli actress;; for instance, check out Israeli model Bar Refaeli - much better in every category, physically; at least as beautiful, maybe more so, and a much better body. Don't know if she can act, but you get my point as to what Wonder Woman should look like. How the character physically appears is everything in this story; and Gal Gadot just doesn't measure up, and it's a shame that they have to doctor her physical appearance in the Wonder Woman outfit to give her credibility.
Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Poor attempt to present a masterpiece story
Not only does the story not follow the original, but the attempt at presenting Motuku Kosanagi is even poorer. Forget that ScarJo in as far from anything Asian as you can get, or that she is beautiful and a decent actress; she is simply wrong for the part. That the producers/directors couldn't see this pretty much tells the whole story. Why is she wrong? I'll illustrate. Say you want to make Robin Hood. You need a good actor, popular, one that do great action and draw in crowds. You select Jackie Chan or Jet Li, both popular, excellent actors, action people, good looking, well able to do the job. Unless it is a comic film, no one would take it seriously. That's what they did with GITS & ScarJo. Beyond that, their other errors are even worse, since whatever they did to the presentation of ScarJo doesn't make her as interesting or visually sexy and powerful a figure as the animated versions of her previously; they actually made her less sexy! Which is hard to do with a beauty like her. You don't quite get that Major Kusanagi is a real person, a mind and a soul in a robotic shell, but still a person, which provides the essential duality of her character. It's like asking Shemp Moe and Larry to play the Three Musketeers - won't work as anything serious, which GITS is. Very! The story itself is a substantially different story than Masamune originally wrote, which I suppose would be okay if it were anything near as good, which it isn't. They lost, or totally ignored, the whole Asian-Japanese influence throughout the entire movie - it has a different feel entirely, and it is an essentially dumbed down version of the questions that the original story asks. They had a chance to present a popular Japanese story, revered around the world for almost 30 years, and then made something different which is only a shadow of the original. They'd have been much better off making another anime, in 3D cgi, and sticking closer to the story and Asian feel that was in the original.
Spectre (2015)
Lackluster story, characters, action: a poor excuse for a Bond movie.
There have obviously been some negative reviews of this, and there are good reasons. The story is I'm not sure what, just Bond going through his Bondian way full of uninspiring bad guys and trying to save fairly boring women. Using Monica Belluci was a great touch, but we didn't see enough of her gorgeous self, which is truly still gorgeous; they could have reversed the character roles between Monica and Léa Seydoux, who got the main female character role. Léa is a moderately attractive female with a curvy, busty figure that we never truly see much of, and despite her sultry femininity she is a fairly boring & uninspiring character - poor usage of a fairly sexy young woman, particularly in a Bond movie. Recall Ursula Andress in "Dr. No," in her bikini on the beach when Bond (Sean Connery) meets her; although not a powerful actress, she was something to desire and hold your interest. Léa Seydoux is never that, she's just kind of there, another female presence in the movie; she is certainly more sexy and enticing than the way they presented her. Which is pretty much the same thing you can say about the whole rest of the movie, not interesting or gripping enough anywhere, in its story or its action or its character relationships, or the bad guys' evilness, and the total lack of CHARM, that the classic Bond movies had while giving you an actual story to follow. Here, the action is mindless, there just to put some action in the movie, and not very believable action at that, and absolutely NO romance. The intimate scenes between Bond and girl are not very exciting or even interesting at all. It feels like the director said, in the midst of the "story": "okay, cut, now for the sexy scene, but, no sexiness at all." "Spectre" just fails to be interesting on every level. Thankful I didn't pay to see it in the theater; it would have been tough sitting through the whole interminable thing.
Kuromukuro (2016)
Excellently illustrated, well animated, with interesting story.
KUROMUKURO is a superbly illustrated animation, with beautiful colors, well-drawn characters who look fairly real, interesting backdrops, and then plenty of action between good guy & bad guy characters and their mechas. The storyline is interesting and gripping as far as stories go for this type of anime, not being terribly deep but also not being flighty or silly as many of these things are. The main characters are pretty well done, not only physically but psychologically, and you can actually have some empathy for them as the story moves along through its two seasons. The bad guys are aliens come to Earth and they are, well, bad! It becomes the job of the local science agencies and military to fight them off and find a way to defeat them permanently. The two main characters, cute little Yukina, and the handsome Samurai warrior brought back from 450 years ago, Ken, do a good job of fighting through a complex relationship and a host of difficulties. Altogether a well done story and anime and surely one of the better ones that is definitely worth watching.
Mahouka koukou no rettousei (2014)
Interesting story & action with creative sci-fi type magic.
The Irregular at Magic High School is an interesting display of very creative high tech magic, which is to say, magic which is brought into the science fiction realm and treated as if it had rules and formulae and can be modified by skilled technicians, which they call "magic engineers." A lot of the series time is spent delving into the mechanics of augmenting the magic, but then it is Magic High School, and the rest of the time is spent displaying the magic at work. The first part of the series dwells on integrating the irregular, Tatsuya, who is the major character, into the high school. He is a pretty cool character in every sense of the word: powerful, unflappable, dependable. He and his beautiful younger sister, Miyuki, who is also a powerful magician, have a very close relationship, which doesn't quite ever descend into inappropriateness, but the sister does always show her powerful feelings for her brother. Could it work into something more, possibly, but it never happens in the series, and we're left with two siblings who care deeply for each other. The second half of the series is spent with the good guy magicians fighting off bad guy other people, although we're never quite sure why the bad guy people are that committed to wiping out the magicians - probably just because they're magicians! The leads to lots of action, fighting, & battle scenes that are entertaining and fairly well done. It never gets heavy and one is left with an interesting show that moves along nicely with lots of action and creative sci-fi concepts, which is unusual for a story with magic in it. Definitely worth watching.
Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka (2015)
A light story with nothing major going on in any area.
"Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon" is a cute title, and that is pretty much what you can say about the entire series: it's cute.
Sure, you have some semi-sexy, scantily clad, buxom female characters running around, but that is it in terms of anything sexy happening in the series, and all you get in the way of anything which resembles fan service. I only mention that because there is not a lot to this series, not even much in the way of ecchi presentation; it makes you wonder why they put such creatures in the story since there is nothing that occurs which has anything to do with sexy female characters,
The story is of a place which is known as "the dungeon" and where you have "adventurers" tying to hook up with and work for "godesses"; it's only mildly interesting. To give the story action and drama, the adventurers must prove themselves by destroying the occasional monsters which come and go, gaining crystals which they use to get money and hopefully impress the females.
The action scenes for this are okay, as is the animation and graphics, but certainly nothing overwhelming. Once again, it's kind of cute and basically remains that way throughout; not a lot of humor or action or sexuality or drama, or story for that matter. You can watch it for very light entertainment, paying little attention, and that's the best you can do with this series, because there is not a lot of anything powerful in it.
Zero no tsukaima (2006)
Lighthearted, comic series with some interesting story lines & action.
The "Familiar of Zero" features several main characters, but the predominant two are Louise, a comely young female in a strange world where magic prevails, and Saito, a boy who is magically summoned there from Earth by Louise's rite to obtain herself a "familiar." Familiars are creatures teleported into this society from wherever by all the magical (noble) people of this society when they come of age, to help their masters with their magic and battles.
The only overriding story arc throughout all 4 series is the stormy, and ofttimes comical, relationship between Louise and Saito. She is a childish, immature, jealous, and short-tempered noble who has a difficult time handling her more laidback and relatively Earthly normal boy familiar, Saito. It does get a little old to have her rage against him constantly, even as she falls in love with him, but the creators maintain that as a comic element throughout. The other nobles have summoned strange creatures like flying dragons and oversized moles and other things that don't fall into any category at all; Louise summoned another human, for which she is ridiculed, for he is one not even from her world. She also has difficulty employing her magic, which is why she is called "Louise the Zero." The only thing she can reliably do is cause explosions, which are often inappropriate while she is trying to do something else, all of which doesn't help her reputation; but it is occasionally funny.
Louise and Saito, along with their other bevy of friends, encounter a series of problems for their kingdoms throughout the 4 series, and the magical people must employ all their magic to do the battles and resolve the issues. There are monsters and bad guys and a few poignant situations which the two main characters have to confront with all of their friends, but always it is Louise, who doesn't want to admit that she's fallen in love with her familiar, that rages at and explodes her love interest, Saito, when he even looks at some of the other busty women around them. Louise herself, although quite attractive, has a slimmer build, which constantly irritates her in the face of her more zaftig girlfriends and associates, particularly when Saito looks at them and/or they are sweet on him.
Beyond that, all the noble magicians must confront these difficult situations for their kings and queens to save them, the kingdom, and sometimes the planet, from destruction by maniacal evildoers. Essentially created as a comedy, the "Familiar ..." series has some tender moments and some creditable story arcs within it. Graphics, animation, and music are routine, with nothing special about them, but they are adequate, and don't get in the way of the stories. There are some shapely, scantily clad females provided for viewers, but nothing that comes up to what you might call "fan service"; it probably could have used some to provide a little more visual interest, since there were many opportunities for it, but the creators kept it more youthfully oriented and didn't do that. Altogether, "The Familiar of Zero" is a lighthearted series with some interesting story arcs, comedy, and battle scenes, which should provide ample entertainment for those who watch it.
Appurushîdo (2004)
Superb Graphics & Animation, decent story, great action
My summary pretty much says it, but visually, this movie is stunning, if not quite at the Disney-Pixar level, but is is definitely something you will want to follow, and hopefully will pave the way for all future Japanese animation. A little more expensive to make, but it is worth the effort. The story is not the most original - basically man vs machine, or cyborg, and what does it mean to be human (a theme Shirow Masamune tackled with GITS) - but it is still captivating and never bores you. They could have developed the characters a little more, especially Deunan and Hitomi, but then they would have had to cut some other stuff. Developing characters is tough for writers & directors in a movie, because you don't want to slow the pace down. It certainly can be done, but it takes talent and effort to do it and balance everything out. Perhaps that is nitpicking here in this offering. Most simply, it is something that is very well done and definitely worth your while to see.
Kôkaku kidôtai: Stand Alone Complex (2002)
Disjointed storyline, pseudo-"science" & way too much talk are killers.
I've been a sci-fi and fantasy fan, as well as author, for many years; thus I enjoy anime that has well-done sci-fi. Unfortunately, GITSAC doesn't do that, I'm sorry to have to tell all those people who think it does. GITS is fantasy. There is no real science in any of the GITS movies or series. This can be OK if you treat the storyline accordingly - as in fantasy and magic stories - but they treat everything here as if it's possible and everybody knows that it is. It isn't. You can't disappear into thin air no matter how badly you want to. The tachikomas wouldn't bounce around when they talk because it would use too much power and eventually bounce them to pieces. You can't broadcast thoughts any way at all, ever - thinking is entirely different from any broadcast system. There is no "ghost" in any living thing; mind and spirit are a function of trillions of cells and interconnecting electrochemical junctions, not some alternate existing thing. Computers work entirely differently than brains and you cannot make the two of them compatible; all you can do is get some minor functions in a bionic prosthetic part to respond to simple brain pattern electrical impulses. We can do that today with arms and legs, for instance; this is the most rudimentary connection of electromechanical devices to some of our simplest brain impulses; you cannot duplicate what the brain does with a computer. Even the best AI is far inferior to and simpler than what the human brain does. In fact, it's inferior to what a Border Collie's brain does! You cannot match the trillions of cells and connections in the brain with even a few hundred thousand electronic circuits in computers. GITS is NOT the future, it's FANTASY, ie, making a story with things that cannot happen. It's more like magic, since magic can't ever happen either, but we understand that and can make interesting fictional dramas with it. I've only pointed out a few things here that are not and never will be possible, but there are many more in the GITS series. It's a safe bet that regardless of how tough Motoko is in her "cyborized" body, she can't jump from a 50 story building, hit the ground and be fine! You couldn't drop a tank from a 50 story building and have it be functional after it hit the ground, and tanks are tougher than she is. The tachikoma can't jump all over the place as they do, their mass is too great and it would take tremendous power if it were even possible, which it's not - especially not with people inside. The sudden violent momentum change would smash the occupants to pieces. And there are many more impossibilities. The reason I bring it up is all of it destroys one's willing suspension of disbelief, and relegates it to Road Runner & Coyote "science" which just makes it another cartoon.
All that said, the story is too disjointed and confusing, trying to put too much in when less would be better: more action, less theory and talking. The graphics and animation are about average here, there are much better anime, visually, out there. As in the movies, the characters are still bland, without much humanity; I mean, the tachikomas are more interesting, personable, and human, and they are complete machines! So, although some of the stuff they do in GITSAC is interesting, it just doesn't come up to being great sci-fi or storytelling.
Kôkaku kidôtai (1995)
Average anime & action, way too complex a story, too much philosophical talk
I think my summary pretty much says it. I watched this because I like the better anime out there as a sci-fi and fantasy writer of many books myself. This story absolutely had the potential for a great movie, and some of the futuristic ideas are very cool, which is why I gave it the rating that I did. Unfortunately, most of the "science" presented is suspect, at best, as to whether it would ever be possible, and certainly not as it has been presented here; what we see here is fantasy, which is fine, if it's done well. This isn't. That aside, there is entirely too much talking in the movie where more action would have been appropriate. And way too much philosophy about what it is everyone is supposed to be doing. I don't care. Show me! It' a movie, not a philosophical treatise.
As to the quality of the film, the animation itself is average for this type of thing, while the graphics have some good scenes and some schlock scenes. More disturbing than that is that Motoko, the main character, is not consistently presented in all scenes. She is supposed to be this beautiful cyborg, and who knows for what reason, but sometimes she is, and sometimes she isn't. That consistency problem holds true for the other characters also. You won't see that in the better anime. Giving you 2 productions that get the graphics right, there are "Gargantia on the Vedurous Planet," which is spectacularly done in backgrounds and characters, and "Expelled from Paradise," which has the same high standard. "Ghost in the Shell" simply doesn't measure up, either in its first or second version. More problematical is never telling us what "the ghost" actually is! They talk about it a lot, but never specify what it actually is. We have to guess, from Koestler's "Ghost in the Machine, " (& Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke) from which this film draws its inspiration, that it is a sentient being's mind within its body, or shell, and from some machines' mysterious evolution to becoming more than they were programmed for, having emotion and motivation.
Unfortunately, the characters, regardless of how well they are written, are blandly portrayed in this movie, and they don't improve in the remake, "Ghost in the Shell 2," which is essentially a duplicate of the first one with a few insignificant variations. What Motoko's motivations are we never learn, right to the confusing ending, and it seems they robotize her far too much when she has an actual human brain. Okay, she's a Major, so she can be tough and cool and collected, but not insensitive and cold, which is how they present her. It would be a better story if she were warmer and just a little more humane. Why make her a beautiful woman if she's going to act like a piece of furniture that moves! The tachikoma robot tanks have more personality! As for the story, well, except for the government agency Section 9 fighting terrorists and other bad guys, there really isn't much more. The characters don't really develop, we don't go from point 'A' to point 'C' with a firm resolution, just many little vignettes, which would be okay, if they did the whole thing better. They didn't, and so although this could have been great, it becomes rather average as the writer mauls us with mostly nonsensical philosophical gobbledegook.
Sutoraiku uicchîzu (2008)
Fair story & action with too-young cutie warriors
Well, "Strike Witches" has a fairly good idea for drama and action, but you do have to get past its preeminent peculiarity, and that is that the warrior witches are all females who look, act, and sound like 10 year olds, but have D cup boobs - some a little less, some a little more - and do these grown-up things. If the creators had made them all 20 year olds, it would have been more believable - you know, like a real army - but having these too young kids, all of whom are scantily dressed and sometimes nude, is simply distractingly weird.
There are mysterious powerful creatures, called Neuroi, who come from who knows where that decide for who knows what reason to attack the people of Earth, and the only thing that can defeat them is the magical strike witch team. A good enough plot, if they took it more seriously and used more than sexy babies to fight them. After awhile, though, it does seem like the main purpose of the Neuroi is to be target practice for the witches. Of course, the enemy does occasionally blow up some stuff, which necessitates their destruction, and they are pretty hard to destroy. The main character is a young witch named Yoshika who commands much of the attention, but she is surrounded by several witch-mates who are constantly with her and are part of the action and drama. All of them get to show their stuff, not only on the battlefield, but also in the bedroom and the bathroom.
The girls are cute, if way too young (they're supposed to be early teens - which is still too young - but are really not that old looking or acting), and the action and battle scenes are decent if repetitive. The graphics and animation are fair for this kind of thing, and it is actually pleasant enough to watch these young witches go through their routines, although their transformation to witchlings with long ears and a bushy tail when using their magic is still a bit confusing, but that is also kind of cute, and in itself is not as distracting as their youth and boobs. The natural dress of nearly everybody female is bikini panties and naked legs with a kind of jacket on top - also a bit odd, but then one can only guess that the creators wanted this kind of weird look for their heroines for whatever reason. If you can get by the strangeness of the characters they created, you can probably lightly enjoy the story of fighting alien creatures for survival and find it somewhat fun to watch.
Hagure Yusha no Aestetica (2012)
Adventure, action, fun, & beautiful babes.
"Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero" is indeed a hero's story. The hero, Akatsuki, is a strong, handsome, cocky warrior who becomes much admired by both the other males and the women. He saves the beautiful Princess, Miu, in another dimension and kingdom, Alayzard, and brings her back through a dimensional gate to what should be this world, where he swears to protect her. The trouble is, there are elements in Alayzard that are still after Miu and want to bring her back to be executed. Akatsuki must fight a series of magical warrior people here in this world as well as some from the other world, all the while protecting the very well put together Miu, whose incredible figure and more incredible boobs are displayed for us often enough, while our hero occasionally has the chance to give those gorgeous boobs a squeeze and feel every now and then. There are some other beauties there who get in various states of undress for our visual appetite, and that all goes into the mix of this hero story, where Akatsuki has to deal with all of it.
Our hero has an indomitable spirit, which fuels his battle magic that he doesn't call magic, but rather "linked energy manipulation." I get why they make the distinction, but it's really magic, and his is powerful.
The graphics are very good, and the animation decent for this type of thing, and altogether this is a fun romp through a hero's life, with battles, dragons, naked babes, and swordsmanship. Definitely worth seeing.
Hard Times (1975)
Great period piece with good action & characters.
The preeminent characteristic of this movie is that it makes you feel as if you're actually there during these "hard times" of the early 20th century, which pretty much everybody had during those days; worse once the Depression hit. Charles Bronson's character of Chaney is a mysterious man whom we never get to learn too much about - where he comes from, why he wanders about the country, how he got to be as good a fighter as he is - but he definitely developed his persona and expertise from somewhere, and it's best leaving it at that, since how he got to this state is a whole other story, which they don't tell. The story they do tell is about this man who is, appropriately enough, a drifter, travelling by train from one town to the next, making his living with his fists in street fights for pay; and he's very good at it, obviously has been for quite awhile. Chaney lives his life simply, getting along without any complications or sophisticated necessities. He meets up with Speed, a small-time promoter, who can get him into some decent fights. Strother Martin, "Poe" in the story is a friend of Speed's and becomes the medical man (He has 2 years of med school). Chaney has some fights, wins some money, and then is prepared to drift somewhere else again. He is a very cool character and the fight scenes are pretty well done. Having Coburn & Martin as backup characters surely helps the drama in this very well done and expertly directed piece.
Freezing (2011)
Visually stunning, graphically beautiful, with a complex, gripping story
It is certainly true that the creators of the "Freezing" series wanted to create something that was serious and sexy, and they did exactly that mixing it with some sci-fi technology. That sci-fi only provides mechanisms for a plot and drama, but the series itself is actually about the people, the beautiful and sexy young women - called Pandoras - who are genetically modified to become powerful fighters and warriors to fight humanity's extra-dimensional enemies, the Nova. What the Nova exactly are and why they've come to fight humans on Earth is nebulous, but an unimportant concept. We only have to know that they are there, they kill people, and they have to be fought for humanity's survival. The gorgeous and scantily clad female warriors are aided by their ultra-loyal, young male counterparts to form a fighting team; the males are Limiters, who are able to counteract the Nova's freezing paralysis, or, alternatively, cast their own freezing field; this enables the young women to fight the Nova, who are still deadly with their freezing ability held in check.
Satellizer is one of the most powerful Pandora, and her partner, Kazuya, is a powerful Limiter, making them an effective team; it takes some difficulties for them to get there, but eventually they do. Much of the story is about Satellizer getting situated in the school with the other women. She is an astonishingly beautiful and sexy character who, despite that, becomes a sympathetic character that we want to see succeed in her life both as a Pandora and a person. Some of the high- powered females in the school give her a hard time, as you might imagine, with all that power and ego they possess which is necessary for them to put their lives on the line and fight some pretty scary and horrifying alien beasts. Satellizer has to grow up some more and come of age to be an effective Pandora fighter and develop into a normal, unaffected adult, which is difficult for her due to an abusive background, which we eventually get to see, and which has made her hateful of being touched by or intimate with anyone, giving her the moniker, "the untouchable queen."
The art is quite beautiful and the battle scenes graphic and moving as these young people risk their lives to fight off the alien enemy. But the strength of the series is the portrayal of the inter-relationships between the young females and males as they interact, go through real and dangerous training battles with each other, and try to find a way through all that to have some kind of normal life with friends and mates that they care about. As a sci-fi author myself, who enjoys good anime - which this is - one can see that the creators worked hard to display this struggle between the characters, which is routine and difficult enough for normal teens, but is even more difficult for these modified, powerful teenagers who must sacrifice a lot to go to war against those deadly alien creatures, where they could easily die and in fact many have. The series is well-done, visually stunning, emotionally gripping at some points, and an adventure that should keep you glued to the story until the end. The sexiness and nudity of the females, where you would think it doesn't belong, is instead an integral part of the characters' persona, providing a positive developmental evolution for them in that environment; it is a necessity for these young, battling females, who must maintain their personal pride not only as warriors but as feminine females, always remaining youthful, attractive, and powerful, while it does give viewers an eyeful of feminine beauty they will not soon forget.
Zootopia (2016)
Funny, moving, captivating & uplifting: another Disney tour de force!
Well, Disney has certainly gone to school on its own successful animated movies of the last ten years or so, and "Zootopia" is a product of that and brings another astounding success in the current renaissance line of films. When I first started watching it, I thought that Judy, the cute bunny major character, had to be an awesomely endearing personage to carry the movie to the kind of success Disney is used to. And she was! The creators carefully crafted her to be a positive, upbeat, inspirational personality who could make you feel good to watch her go through her routines, then they carefully counterbalanced her with the more cynical, wily, and worldly fox, Nick, on whom she ends up having a powerful influence. They must join together to find 14 kidnapped citizens. Nick "knows everybody" while Judy maintains her powerful positive mind-set, and it is that peculiar amalgam that works well with these two characters in pursuing their job.
The story outlines the injustice and silliness of racism in the many different animal characters who have various bigoted ideas about other animals, eg, predators vs prey, as was their historical background, now all equalized, supposedly, in Zootopia, where it is said "anyone can do anything" and live in a life of peace and harmony. But, as always, there are some few agents who don't agree with that system and want more for themselves, and it is that problem which Judy and Nick pursue, as both characters learn a great deal from their association.
Altogether, "Zootopia" is funny, moving, and captivating, with superb art and graphics, excellent animation, while possessing a plot which is not only entertaining, but uplifting.
Fate/stay night (2006)
Less Magic & more character development would've improved this.
Having watched "Unlimited Bladeworks," first, this is just a paradigm of that; they are both the same story, with some different outcomes. Not sure why.
Once again, as an author of many sci-fi & fantasy works, I am constrained to point out the severe problems for writers that create stories with magic in them. Put most simply, they tend to use too much of it and let it be unlimited; and nothing is unlimited. "Fate/Stay Night" has this problem. The overall storyline is a decent one, that of seven Masters and Servants pursuing the Holy Grail (as nebulous a thing as it is); that gives you an adventure where all kinds of things can happen. The reasons for PURSUING the Holy Grail, however, are pretty thin, and ofttimes ridiculous, but that's the story, and we can leave it at that.
There are many characters in this series and many things happen as they square off against one another. Magic itself can be an interesting device, but when the creators let it do anything at all, that is, let it be unlimited, then you've trashed your story, at least a little. And the more you use this infinite magic with no bounds or rules, the more of your tale you trash. Why - because there is no problem that is so difficult that a little more magic can't get rid of it, and villains become more menacing by giving them more magic than the heroes - and for no particular reason other than to further the good-guy-bad-guy story. It's too apparent, and dull. One finds him or herself asking why the author didn't use it in one place with one character when it has been used liberally with another: arbitrary by the author, rather than an intrinsic part of the characters. Magic is not infinite - nothing is - and we should know what the rules which govern it are, so we can know what the characters can and cannot do; then you'd have a real story, because there is no easy way out of a difficult situation just by creating more new magic that wasn't there before. The author can't just whip it up to solve a problem; he has to develop some clever story to keep the drama going. "Fate/Stay Night" suffers from this often; the creators rely on too much magic in too many places to create story and drama, rather than employing imagination. They give more magic to one character and take it away from another character, and there is no reason for it except to artificially create plot. Add to that, there is way too much talking by characters, which in the end doesn't matter, because the creators will only make more magic later to destroy whatever it is they said or planned. One more irritating thing: evil characters are way too pointlessly evil and enjoy psychotically torturing people way too much. Having one character like that you might buy, but many is simply tiring and ridiculous.
Visually, the battle scenes are good, but occasionally too long, developing more and more magic forces to carry the action and drama, when it is the characters and their motivations and skills which should be driving those things. The art & graphics are very good for this type of anime, colorful and interesting, so that you don't feel so much like you're watching a cartoon. The animation itself is typical for this type of thing, certainly not awesome, but decent enough to carry the story without problems. Overall, less magic, fewer psychotic villains, more character development would have made this a far better work.
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (2014)
Good graphics & animation, with a decent story & minor flaws.
Oddly enough, this is essentially a remake of "...Stay Night" with various outcome changes; not sure why they did that, but, here we are.
Once again, as I have criticized before, the trouble with stories that have magic in them is the amount of magic the authors use. The temptation is to use magic everywhere to solve every problem and develop every plot, no matter how ridiculous and impossible the magic is. When the creators go too far, they lose you, shatter your willing suspension of disbelief, and wreck the story and drama. In this, "...Unlimited Bladeworks," they have done that occasionally, especially with the character Caster, the witch, who uses magic liberally. Sometimes, it's just too much, and you have to ask yourself why doesn't she just destroy everybody, since she could certainly employ enough magic to do so - but then there would be no drama and no story, so the writers have to stop, and put limits on her. But that becomes apparent, and takes a little away from the believability of the story. A brilliant writer-philosopher I once knew said "life is about the struggle." Period. In every storyline that has ever been, the struggle of the characters, of one kind or another, is the key element. You take away the struggle of the characters, because you have magic doing everything, and you lose your story.
That little problem aside, there is a decent storyline here, with a little romance that everyone can see coming from the first episode, but there are enough youthful problems in developing it to make this story arc interesting. The graphics and artwork are excellent and pleasant to watch, the music satisfying, the battle scenes well-done and gripping, while the animation itself, that is, the technical moving of the characters, is good for this type of anime, better than many, while naturally nowhere near the Disney-Pixar level, which is 3D and another expensive thing altogether.
Although this is not truly light entertainment, it is not heavy and serious either, but something you can watch & enjoy without using major brain work. It's a fun ride and most people will find it gratifying.
Durarara!! (2010)
Confusing plots & characters, with flaws
This is a series where the creators attempted to do a lot, and they shouldn't have - they did too much. There are many things happening, many characters with many backgrounds that have many problems, and the series is just incapable of resolving them all. Making a story with this many diverse elements in it is a problem because in order to make sense out of everything - why are the people like that, why do they do what they do, where is this all gong - you have to tell much more story, develop the characters much more deeply, and let the viewers get attached to those characters and what is happening in the storyline. They didn't do that here, and gave us lots of characters, plots, motivations, & actions - basically a city of people interacting - so that what you get is a hodgepodge of elements occurring that are painted broadly and lightly, without the time it would take for the viewer to care about what's going on or to know the characters well enough to become emotionally involved with them.
The characters don't ever really get deeply involved with each other, but occasionally the authors ATTEMPT to have them do that, sort of promising that, but they never truly get there. In having so many stories revolving around each other, none of them is ever explore adequately, and we are always left hanging with "almosts." It's as if the creators are are afraid to have their characters bond with each other and show those powerful emotions that would be normal in situations like that.
The animation is fair, certainly not overwhelming, the artwork & coloration okay, & the music inappropriate, like something out of a "Peanuts" cartoon, all of this giving us this once-upon-a-time random cityscape of young characters.
So, in the whole, as an animated piece which generally & sparsely depicts some occurrences in this particular city, it has some interest; but, too much talk, too many side issues which take away from having a main story, & too little character development to get one emotionally involved. Watch it, but do so lightly.
Gansuringâ gâru: Iru teatorîno (2008)
They drifted away from the excellence of the original.
Somehow the creators managed to desert the excellence & haunting pathos of the first "Gunslinger Girl" and drifted off into incompetence. The wonderful female characters are MOSTLY there, and as adorable & moving as ever, as is the great scenery, which is why I gave it a 6, but the story they try to create is mostly unrealistic. In the first series they created what are essentially super girls, 3 times faster, 5 times stronger than normal human beings, but in "...Teatrino" they managed to come up with a bunch of mere humans that can compete equally with and even beat them, absolutely destroying the very premise the series was based on, all the while telling us how strong and fast the cyborg girls are; can't have it both ways: Dumb!
The "teatrino" is a male assassin, Pinochio ("Pino" to friends). IF what they wanted was a super villain that could vie with the cyborgs on equal footing, they should have made him one, as in a robot or another cyborg - easy! - but they didn't, he is only a mere human who is good at his job. It's like creating Superman, the indestructible being from Krypton, and then having a bunch of Earth humans beat him up! Doesn't work! It is so unbelievable in the context of the story, that it is disastrous. This flaw was a combination of laziness, thoughtlessness, and lack of imagination, just to try to find an easy way to come up with some dramatic action for the girls - LAME! As a sci-fi author myself, I know there are MANY ways they could have accomplished their action without destroying the fundamental foundation of the story. It's truly disappointing and could have been done much better and more believably with a little more effort and creativity. Still, it is worthwhile to follow the girls & the fratella around as they continue their lives; it's just not quite as interesting as the original.
Sidonia no Kishi (2014)
Decent story & animation, with troubling impossible science.
First, there are many good things about this series. At the top is the story, which is one of the more interesting ones you will find in anime. There are many clever devices and inventions which provide additional interest. Next, there are many battle scenes which offer up action and drama, along with the essential problem of Sidonia - a huge space ship on which live people that have survived Earth's destruction by the guana creatures hundreds of years ago - which is survival against space itself, their aloneness in the universe, and the attacking guana. On the down side are some really stupid and impossible things that are strewn about in an otherwise great adventure. Primarily, there are the guana; they are simply impossible creatures that just couldn't exist any way at all in any universe or reality, ever! They are, apparently, stupid things, essentially blobs of who knows what, unable to communicate, they can manage sophisticated propulsion and space travel by no scientific means whatsoever, as well as utilize complex weaponry to kill their enemy (Sidonia), which is their enemy for no known reason. They can also occasionally transform into something that looks human-like, especially after they've eaten a human! Making relatively tiny Sidonia their enemy in an enormous universe where they could go anywhere (since they travel easily in space by who knows what means), is just dumb! Additionally, there is nothing that the guana creatures - or the Sidonians for that matter - do that is actually possible, which is where the series deserts sci-fi and becomes pure fantasy. This is okay, if the series is going to be pure fantasy, but it treats the storyline as sci-fi, which it isn't. Asking where does all the fuel to power everything come from, offers no answer - it's just there: magic! Which is not supposed to be what this series is about; and yet they employ it liberally because there is no even REMOTELY scientific way any of these things could happen.
Moving on, the characters are mostly decently portrayed, although, yes, you could develop them a little more, but that is not a major complaint for me, since the drama is not driven by the psychology of the characters; rather, it is the action that does it. The animation is okay, although not startlingly good (like a Disney or Pixar offering), and could use more coloration, instead of the drab grayish-bluish hue they cast over everything. Yes, I know everything's in space, but still, you can have color in space, and they do have a few scenes where they employ it.
Like most of these Japanese anime, having characters which are paralyzingly shy about their feelings for one another, or seeing each other partially nude, gets old; it's silly and unrealistic. No reason for it.
Tanikaze, our main main protagonist, is a strong pilot and soldier who shows the same spirit and bravery that our fighter pilots show today. He is charming in his own way because he is not an average alpha type male, but always maintains his shy & humble demeanor throughout, regardless of what he accomplishes; understandably, the women are attracted to that, along with his heroics. There are a few women he is close to, and that provides further story development.
Overall, despite the impossible "science," propelling things around by employing magic power and unlimited fuel, the story is a good one, and does pull you into its matrix. There are fairly attractive characters, good animation, and plenty of battle scenes utilizing mecha for those folks who love that sort of thing. Too many mysteries work against the storyline - what the guana are, where are they from, why kill people they don't even know and have never interacted with - but they don't completely destroy it, and so despite some of the scientific irritations, it's a worthy story to follow and a pleasant anime to watch.
Kureimoa (2007)
Solid story, great animation, good action, & moving at points
As has been pointed out by others, this is a complex series with a hard- line story and some pretty moving episodes. There are a few logical mistakes in it, and why I didn't give it a 10, because it was on that path, but I can't say what they are without ruining it for someone. Leave to say that there are just some characters you just don't kill off for no reason other than shock value. Some may disagree, but, for instance, if you were watching the Lone Ranger and half way through an episode he gets killed, the series is reasonably ended. You can understand why the writers wouldn't do that. In like manner, there are others you don't want to eliminate for the same reason - like Tonto, for instance. Sometimes you need a character to carry on the plot and storyline, or a character is so integral to the story that removing them would be a very unwise choice. It's why the Coyote can keep coming back even after he is blown up, pulverized, squished, or otherwise physically discombobulated: you need him! Getting rid of him would be a shock, sure, but then what have you got? Not a wise move. Some of that is done here, not to mention not giving justice to some absolutely horrible, deadly, people. That's my complaint. Otherwise, they present a very good story with appropriate action that captivates and interests, and fight scenes with beautiful females that are pleasant to watch. Despite a few flaws, which to me, as an author, are aggravating, the overall series is a very good and moving one that most people would enjoy. The fact is the same story could have been made with real people and it would have been just as good.
Tengen toppa gurren lagann (2007)
Silly, inane, preposterous - made for pre-teen males
I'll tell you, I WANTED to like this, it's fairly popular, but it is so imbued with inane (translate: "stupid and preposterous") "science," uninteresting and under-developed characters, poor graphics and animation, and a thin, ramshackle story line, that I just couldn't. There are a lot of action and battle scenes with big robot thingies, which provides some simple interest - and why I gave it a "4" instead of a "1" or "2" - but those are so hyperactively done that you can just barely make out what's happening. After 27 episodes, I'm still not sure what the point of "spiral" and "anti-spiral" is, but whatever it is, it's fairly dumb; and whatever it is they purport to do with the universe and the time-space continuum is so flaky, fuzzy, and farcical that I just had to shake my head at the absurdity of it. Rather than trying to emulate science of ANY kind, which they never do, the series would have been better off making everything happen by magic, where you don't need anything to actually be possible, because none of what they do actually IS - any way at all, in any universe, anywhere, ever! Overall, it's silly, inane, and something made for pre-teen males rather than a general audience. If you like a lot of low res bang 'em up, shoot 'em up, rock 'em sock 'em robot stuff, you might find this interesting; otherwise - no.
Rozario to banpaia (2008)
Fun, entertaining, alluring, and humorous.
When I came across this series, Rosario + Vampire, I thought the premise to be unusual enough to watch; the concept of an ordinary mid- teen human kid accidentally going to a school of monsters was a cool one, and had a lot of potential.
Rosario did not disappoint. Though monsters, most of the students at Yokai Academy are pretty good looking in their human form, including Tsukune, the male protagonist, while the girls are unsurprisingly pretty sexy. You have to get used to the amount of fan service the creators provide, but, like watching girls in bikinis on a beach, after a while you get used to it and it's not that big a deal, just a very pleasant spectacle; however, the girls ARE very attractive, and the various mini story arcs constantly remind one of their powerful sex appeal. That, and the pretty decent animation, plus great music, makes it an entertaining thing to watch and listen to. The adorable Nana Mizuki has a great voice, and does a wonderful job with the songs-as well as the sedate Moka's voice - even if in Japanese; if you have a chance, look this charming little lady up!
There is no overwhelming story to take in, other than the adventures of a teenage human boy in a school of monster people, but the little ones they provide, and the resulting fights that the gorgeous Moka Akashiya has in her powerful vampire state, are very cool to see; but, of course, Moka always is, no matter what state she's in. The series is strewn throughout with comic moments, which one can see is what the creators decided to make this, rather than an anime with hard science, plots, and dramas, which is what it appears confuses those people who also read the manga. I didn't. Rosario doesn't try to become something terribly serious and dramatic, although it does have some interesting dramatic and semi-serious moments in it; but ultimately they give way to more humorous and amusing resolutions. Tsukune is a charming young boy with a naive but very good heart, and it's easy to see why the girls - otherwise in a school of high-octane monster males - love him. His human scent is not the reason, it's just there, and something more that interests them; but the love they have for him is because of his good, accepting nature and wishes of good will for everyone, which, in a school of monsters, makes for many comic moments.
Altogether, Rosario's characters are attractive and charming, male and female alike, the anime colorful and pleasant to watch, the villains (who are only villainous for a short time) interesting and then amusing, and the story lines light and entertaining; that is why it has its popularity. And of course, there are Moka, Kurumu, Mizore, & Yukari (not to ignore Rubi Tojo, the exotic adult witch, Ririko Kagome, the super sexy & busty math teacher, & the nearly as sexy & always funny homeroom teacher, Shizuka Nekonome) all of who are always attractive, captivating, slightly erotic, & very entertaining to watch. But it is always the dazzling Moka Akashiya that is the central focus of the series, who manages to stir up most of the action & drama, one way or the other, and is any man or boy's dream girl; and if you have to offer up a little blood every once in awhile, well, that's the price for having a stunning vampire girlfriend who adores you. It's a definite hoot, and worth watching a few times.
Rakuen Tsuiho: Expelled from Paradise (2014)
Visually spectacular with a gratifying story to boot.
This is really the first "10" I've given anything, moreover, its' the first anime I've seen, out of many, that deserves it. This feature is simply beautifully animated and produced. The two main characters, Angela and Dingo, are attractive and engaging, having personalities that have been carefully crafted to be quintessentially human. The fact that Angela is as beautiful and sexy as she is, with an astonishingly provocative body, is almost out of place here, since it is the only truly erotic thing that there is in the movie; but the way the creators handle that is just to leave her be, this evocative beauty working her way through an otherwise barren and post-apocalyptic world. I suppose they did that to keep reminding us of the "perfect" world she comes from, and that she is truly out of place here in the far more sublime and tawdry Earth environment. The "real world" and its current state is the reason that whoever created Deva, a digitized, computerized virtual reality in which 98 % of the world population now "lives" - or whatever verb you wish to use to characterize that existence.
There is a real story here, with some philosophical inputs as to what it means to be human. It seems that the Deva people believe a world without any hardship or struggle, and where you can have almost anything you want - providing you have earned enough memory - is the ultimate lifestyle. Dingo, of course, Angela's Earthbound guide, has different ideas about what it means to be free and human, which provides some thought-provoking interest. We are reminded by this comely, savvy Earth man that such ancient types as Hitler, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, and Attila the Hun were people who had similar motives to the administrators of Deva!
The story moves along quite briskly, with some satisfying action here and there, but mainly it is a contrast in the two lifestyles, the computerized one Angela comes from, and Dingo's Earth reality. The two of them eventually come up against Deva's totalitarian rules for existence, and Angela comes to wonder whether her Deva reality is the ideal existence she believed; ultimately the two of them have to battle Deva's forces to maintain any life at all, while the Deva big-shots would be happiest if the two Earthbound people, and every free-thinking person like them, were eliminated altogether to protect their "utopia."
Overall, this is a satisfying epic, with decent story, superb animation, which includes simply beautiful backgrounds and characters, and a mindful nod as to what the true value of being a human actually is. It is entertaining and satisfying to watch over and over again.