30 Second Anime Review

Y · Mon, 03-07-2005, 04:15 PM

The purpose of this thread is to get exposure for a series, or write a flaming diatribe against one with a short, summarized review of it. I figure this could be a good repository of forum opinions on anime series, since I don't want to dig through 800 pages of spoiler filled series threads to see if it's worth watching.

1) No spoilers. Anything you find out within the first twenty minutes isn't a spoiler.
2) Don't write too much or too little. A paragraph is fine. Don't write two sentences, don't write a page, and you'll be fine.
3) I suppose doing popular series' is inevitable but try not to do reviews of Naruto or Bleach or stuff that people have obviously heard 10,000 opinions on unless you have something fresh to say. However, I do recommend reviewing critically acclaimed pieces that still don't get enough love here (since that's what I'll be doing, of course).

Here's mine.

Series:

The Melody Of Oblivion: The War of the 20th Century is over, and we lost. Now the Melos Warriors strive to defeat a hierarchy of Monsters who control the world. Wonderfully put together, this has some of the most unique artistic values of anything within the last five years. The extremely bright and bizarre character designs clash with the horrifying (subtly) background work and the extremely dark tone that runs through the whole series. It's emotional and extremely well written, and has a dose of the action for all of you who can't watch a series unless something explodes. It also features some of the best and most varied music in an anime, ranging from classical pieces to electronica. Absolutely fantastic on all fronts.

Film:

Voices Of A Distant Star: I'm not going to tell you anything about the plot of this movie because it's better if you go into it knowing nothing. Makoto Shinkai directed, storyboarded, and animated the ENTIRE short film (around thirty minutes) himself over the course of eight months in his spare time. He is a damned genius. The film itself is an incredibly beautiful piece of art and a moving drama with an intelligent sci-fi flair, and Shinkai is the best up-and-coming creator in the industry.

Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis: He's the master of Japanese animation and its founder, and this movie does a stunning tribute to his work. It hearkens back to old-school Disneyesque designs, but please don't let that put you off and just watch the movie. Absolutely beautiful visuals and a great score, and one of the greatest ending sequences in an anime. It's simple without being childish, and smart without being heavy-handed. Great stuff.

**Crows_Kill** · Tue, 03-08-2005, 01:00 PM

Akira- Anime classic- watching this can be the equivelant of a pixie stick- damn tasty and enoyable, but once the sweetness weres off, you want more flavor. Best animation and music in anime- ever. Story can be confusing and you dont really like any of the characters, but if you can get past the flaws, enjoy the show and try your best to wrap your head around the metaphysical stuff later.

Ghost In The Shell 1/2- same as above. Oshii (the director) reallt really really wants to be Otomo. Great stuff, but not for the attention span impared.

Patlabor movies- 1/2/3- Oshii again, but his best work IMHO. Not the mecha fests you might ne expecting, especially parts 2/3- more sci fi detective stories, but with some mechs thrown in. Not for the ADD crowd, but damn good stories here.

Ninja Scroll- Who has not seen this? Ok, you 3 who raised your hands, go to blockbuster ot hollywood video and rent this, now. Ok- back? Next.

Evangelion- Gainax's ego fest and mech mind fuck expiriment. Save yourself some time- go watch the last 2 episodes first- it ok, aside from some minor story spoilers that you really wont understand unless you watch the whole series anyway, if you cant understand or enjoy the last 2, don;t watch the rest. The first parts of the series are awesome,with some great giant bio-mecha fights, but you will get your hopes up for an actual ending that makes sense THAT YOU WILL NOT GET. Unless you are a psych major or have read any one of a dozen eva faqs on the net, you will be dissapointed.

Most Gundam series- Lots of prety mechs, lots of political/social grandstanding that you really dont care about, plot twists that anoy and alienate, and characters you wish would crawl into the barrel of their own hyper-mega launcher to be blasted in to atoms. Aside from that, some great shows here. I love gundam- just not a fan of all the series.

Bets of- IMHO:

Gundam- the original one year war- either the series or the readers digest version movies. Where it all started (unless you count the original sci fi novel seried the anime was based on). Believe it or not, it was seen as being very realistic for its time. Compared to voltron and getter robo, it was the saving private ryan of mecha shows. Aside from a main hero you wish would grow his own pair and/or eat the barrel of his beam rifle, has some great characters- char is one of the best anime villians ever, and has been cloned so many times in later gundam shows its getting to be embarasing.

Gundam 0080 War in the pocket- semi-pretensious parable on the evils of war- live we need to be tild this. Has great animation and some great fights. Worth it just for the mecha, but the sroty is ok too- one of the series I wish they had returned to in order to see where the characters ended up after this story ends.

Gundam 0083 Stardust Memory- Re-hashing and retelling of the one year war w.its own twists, but with 1/3 less anoying charcters. The theme music here srtarted my j-pop collection. Some of the best mecha designs in the gundam universes.

Gundam Z/ZZ- Ok, but both were made strictly to cash in on the gundam cash cow of the 80's. Z has great mecha designs, but the story and characters are anoying as all hell. Only reason to watch it is Char- "hiding" in a secret identity. Right. ZZ sucked, only existed to sell toys and models, most of the mecha designs are attrocious, seems like they souldnt decide between extremely blocky or extremely organic, and the plot read like dbz with bean cannons. My beam gun is bigger than your beam gun, but hah! I had a hidden super armor upgrade that cost $10 billion stuffed in my back pocket! Huzzah!

Chars counter attack- In my opinion, skip z/zz and go straight to this. Feels just like the original series, which it is, but it tried to sum up the whole universal century plot line- it fails, but it tries. Uber-leet mecha though. The Sazabi is my anime-mecha misteress.

G Gundam- Dont bother- sucks.

Gundam wing- G-Gundam +rehashing of one year war +politics that would make henry kissinger cry. Nice mecha, auper annoying characters (exceot for the death scyth guy,they would all be better off actually using that self destruct with them staying inside once and for all). Only reason to watch is for the breif glimpses of the talgeese 1/3, otherwise you can pass on it withouy losing any sleep.

v gundam, gundam x- pretty much like gundam wing, slightly different stories and mecha, each has nice designs, but over all its like deciding between a vanilla chocolate or twist ice crean cone- its all too sweet and bad for you.

08th ms team- pretty good, better than most- on par with 0083, if not better. same anti war sentiment as 0080, but doesnt beat you over the head with it. great designs and memorable mecha. very goos action too. skip the last episode unless you have a soft side, or really like being depresses.

gundam seed/destiny- updated re-hashing of the one year war, w/gundam wing like flavor of the week gundam varieties. Actually, one of the best gundam series- has actual logical story progression and does not rely on oure technobable for most of its sci-fi- some one actually hired a real writer for onse. good job.

Turn A Gundam- what if miazaki and gainax got togetherm had a labotomy, got stoned, and produced a gundam show, but with an american doing most of the mecha designs, the story on prozac, and set in the 1800's. Thats turn a gundam. Enjoyable if you have an open mind, but not for the die hard gundam emcha junkie.

Sorry for the gundam fest, just typing what came to mind.

**basey44** · Thu, 03-10-2005, 08:38 AM

hey crows in ur response to evangelion, i would suggest people who watched the series either replace the last 2 episodes with the movie End of Evangelion, which is also a major mind fuck but its got some awesome action packed sequences, or watch EoE in addition to the original ending, they are alternate endings so really the more evangelion you see the better
if you cant tell evangelion is my fav anime and is the only one i actually own (well partially own, im halfway through buying the platinum edition)

hope i didnt spoil or nothing [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

also the original tv ending was thrown together rather cheaply as the show had no money left to make a proper ending, which is why they later made a movie. to end it properly, or a least to stop the death threats they were getting for making an ending people didnt like [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

**Souryusen** · Thu, 03-10-2005, 08:05 PM

Iria: Zeiram the Animation: This series is good fun. It's about a bounty hunter apprentice named Iria who goes on a mission to save some colonists on a ship with her BH brother. The mission goes terribly wrong when it turns out the colony ship was just a front to transport a genetically engineered terror named Zeiram. Iria spends all 6 eps of this delightful romp battling Zeiram with all manner of interesting weapons and neat tactics. It's got action, gadgets, neat vehicles, interesting locations, tits, big guns and a fella by the name of "Bob." Definitely check it out.

**Crows_Kill** · Thu, 03-10-2005, 10:13 PM

Hey Y, ever considerd suicide? I'll send you instructions if you need them.

Post constructavly or get a life.
I know I spell like a dyslexic polish retard raised by wolves. I learned to cope with it- so can you.

On to more:

Ranma 1/2: All series- great maniacle fun- cross gender/species morphing kungfu fighters. Its like every fetish rolled in to one and sugar coated. enjoy.

Full metal alchemist- migth have dropped of the radar of some as the series is finised and the movie is not out yet- great stuff, intelligent and entertaining.

rahxephon- evangelion set to classical music. No penguins though.

lodoss wars (ova series) D&D anime. Swords, sorcery and elves with big, er, ears. Kicked off the fantasy anime explosion of the 90's and now. Dont expect a great story, there isnt one, or non-cookie cutter characters. There are some good plot twists, but average story over all. Great action though, once you get past the whole shwing/shwing/scream sword fights.

And some obscure favorites if you can find them:

Armor Hunter Mellowlink- Votoms spin off about an infantry grunt framed for the death of his squad who hunts down and kills the 12 members of the court martial court that convicted him. Beserk like main character before beserk was created- one of the few humans ive seen who could realisticly (at least somewhat) take on a mecha inhand to hand combat and win. Hard to find, but worhtthe 12 epsisodes if you can get it. Mine was a fan sub I got from a friend in japan in the early 90's

Legend of the galactic heroes- great space opera with huge space battles. Not exaclty 100% realistic, but pays attention to more physics thn 99.9% of the anime's out there. The politics and philosophy of the story cna get tiresome, but at least the story make a little sense. Not for teh ADD crowd either.

Riding Bean- Gunsmith cats beta version. Original story of the bulet proof undercover detective and hisrun in with raly vincent. ols school all the way, and is a one shot ova. but is very entertaining none the less.

Legend of the mystical ninja- aka: the legend of kamui movie- movie version of the seminal ninja manga. Watch this. You cna see the originsd of shows liek ninja scroll, naruto, and even kenshin in this movie. Long movie, like 3 1/2 hours and it adds some very unlikely cameo appreances.

Thats it for now.

**Board of Command** · Fri, 03-11-2005, 12:09 AM

Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien: This is about a tragic love triangle between a guy and his two female friends, who happen to be best friends. The main guy gets in a happy-happy relationship with one of them, until something tragic happens and all of their lives are changed forever. The meat of this series is about how each of them deals with that tragedy. Sounds pretty corny, right? This isn't really a spoiler. I'll admit that the first 2 episodes are gay as hell, like those silly teenage romance animes, but at the end of episode 2 is where the real story begins. The first 2 episodes only serve as the prologue to introduce the main characters. Be prepared for a drastic change in atmosphere and character at the end of episode 2, so don't give up after the first episode due to its extreme crappiness. This is definitely the most realistic series I've ever watched with the exception of episodes 1+2. The characters have realistic jobs, realistic personalities, the setting is every bit realistic, and most of all, the characters live in realistic apartment complexes instead of those wooden houses with sliding doors. The biggest strength of this series is its characters because their realistic actions really pull you into the world of KGNE.

***A MUST SEE***

**Board of Command** · Sat, 03-12-2005, 02:45 AM

<u>Gungrave</u>
Not sure how popular this series really is, but I found it amazing. Basically a wonderful story about two best friends and how one of them gets corrupted by ambition/need for power. Although the two friends are totally the opposite of each other (one never talks, other talks nonstop, etc...), they were both orphans and became friends at their orphanage when they were about 7 years old. They live in a city that's virtually run by the local mafia. The two friends Brandon and Harry form a small gang of 5 after they grow up. The true starting point of the story is when Brandon and Harry meet one of the top members of the mafia after a fight with an opposing gang.

The story starts near the end of the timeline, and the structure is very similar to Tenjou Tenge if you've seen that. You get a glimpse of the outcome of Brandon and Harry, then it goes into a flashback for a big half of the series. Unlike Tenjou Tenge, it only has that one flashback, so after the flashback it smoothly continues from the beginning. I found this structure very effective for this series since the point of the story is about how and why it turned out the way it did, which needed a long flashback to explain. Nearing the end it gets a little...freaky (you'll see what I mean if you watch it), but I guess that's just to further demonstrate the corruption of the characters. The action scenes are pretty good, but I still think it was the story and strong characters that makes this a great show for me.

**Hakeem_21** · Sat, 03-12-2005, 07:47 AM

Gungrave was so good but it became shit in the last 8-10 eps.

Do you want to actually do what the thread asks? This is your 3rd reply, that has not done what the topic asked. Post a review. I have deleted all other useless posts, cause I feel this thread has potential. I will continue to monitor this thread, until told otherwise by an admin. Post something useful, that goes for everyone.

GotWoot Moderator.

**Crows_Kill** · Sat, 03-12-2005, 01:49 PM

Short and sweet today:

Ebichu- the housekeeping hamster- adult, very ecchi, but funny as all hell. 18+ only...not at &a fest as the art sucks.

Yukikaze- semi yaoi alternate universe sci-fi flick- great aircraft action, buetiful cg, plot confusing and random. Worth it just for the action though.

Macross Zero- what if miazaki made a mecha flick? This would probably be it. Gorgeous animation and phenominal action scenes- especialy for mecha and macross otakus. Plot above avergae for anime, but still very anime clichied.

**Board of Command** · Thu, 03-17-2005, 01:53 AM

Voices of a Distant Star: No review can ever express what this 25 minute OVA brings to the table, so I'll just give a brief summary of the plot. The plot is about a middle school guy and girl keeping a <u>DISTANT</u> relationship alive through cellphone text messaging. Why text messaging? Because the girl gets selected for a space expedition team, and the only way to contact the guy is through text messaging. Sounds pretty unrealistic since we all know that cellphones can't reach that far. Screw reality!!! Lots of people would claim Saikano to be the saddest anime ever. Well, this, to me, felt like all of the emotions of Saikano packed into 1 episode, and it revolves around the same "WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE HER?!?!" feeling. For 3 months I've been searching for an anime that I'd like more than Elfen Lied, until I stumbled across this little gem yesterday. Screw Kenshin Reminiscence, Gungrave, KGNE, and Elfen Lied, this is my #1 all the way.

and PS: this entire anime was done my one man on his computer with a bit of assistance from his fiancee (at the time), but it's hard to believe since the artwork is so fucking amazing. I'm shocked that this isn't as popular as it should be. Imo definitely better than Kenshin Reminiscence, which holds # 1 in most review sites.

**Crows_Kill** · Thu, 03-17-2005, 10:26 PM

Noir- chicks with guns, and the occasional knife. Great action, good if confusing story.

Vandread- for those who like a little fan service with their mecha. Not much plot, but more jiggles and cg mecha action for your buck.

Gunbuster (original) great seminal anime classis- must watch for all anime fans. gainax at its best.

PS:

Yes, y, Im, still posting in your thread. You might not like my reviews, but I like your idea for the mini reviews for the quick glance. I'll post as long as I think I have something to say. Cope.

Y · Thu, 03-17-2005, 11:15 PM

Fuck off.

I sent Crows_Kill a PM telling him to fucking STOP posting things that violate the rules of the thread. I did this to keep from shitting up my OWN THREAD by having to tell shitty posters such as Crows_kill not to post dumbass two line reviews. He keeps doing so. So here's the public request!

Dear Crows_Kill: Put some GOD DAMNED EFFORT INTO YOUR POSTS.

Fuck.

**Board of Command** · Thu, 03-17-2005, 11:25 PM

Elfen Lied: Nudity and gore backing up an *amazing* story and music. Nuff said.

Y · Fri, 03-18-2005, 12:10 AM

You did that just to piss me off didn't you.

**Board of Command** · Fri, 03-18-2005, 12:29 AM

No, not really. That's all I can say for Elfen Lied.

Y · Fri, 03-18-2005, 12:31 AM

Rule 2. Please, if you don't want to follow them make a different post.

**Bishounen** · Fri, 03-18-2005, 02:46 AM

Alright. This is a decent thread... let's see if I can help out.

Ranma 1/2: A classic tale... boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl get married and live happily ever after.... not. In this particular story, the boy would be Ranma Saotome, the only son of martial artist Genma Saotome, and heir to the Saotome School of No-Holds-Barred Grappling (or anything-goes-school-of-martial-arts... whatever). Ranma has been promised to Akane Tendo, third daughter of martial artist Soun Tendo, who runs the Tendo training hall. The two fathers, who trained together under a single master, dream of their children marrying and carrying on a family tradition of the Martial Arts styles they've brought them up in. However, as the story unfolds, you will find that certain characters have in one way or another taken a dip in one of many cursed springs, which cause them to assume the form of whatever had drowned in each spring last, when doused with cold water. Hot water reverses the curse, but only until the next cold shower. What follows is a story loaded with basic slapstick humor as you watch people try and hide their various curses from others for whatever reason may plague them, with a couple of heartfelt moments in between. The series had several seasons, and at least until the later ones, for good reason. If you haven't seen it, give it a shot.

Golden Boy: Study, study, study, study, study! No anime series, or miniseries, as the case may be, has ever made me laugh as hard as this one. The all-too-short six episode series of Golden Boy follows the adventures of Kintaro Oe, a young man who travels throughout Japan on his bicycle, seeking new eployment experiences to add to his knowledge. Whether it's working as a cleaning boy in a high-tech computer software firm, opposing slick business sharks while working in a humble noodle shop, or even becoming a jack-of-all-trades in an animation studio, somehow, his interests always get tangled up in the interest of at least one woman who he either works for or with, and typically he isn't one for separating business and pleasure. The comedy is base, and usually perverse, but I would recommend this one to most anime fans at least once.

Dragon Pink: Meh. I think a few console gamers got a bit TOO bored and wrote this one out. This small series is an attempt to tell the stories of four heroes in a RPG style video game. There's Santa, the leader: A basic warrior type who makes most of the decisions for the party. He's a pervert and a glutton, but has fair skills with a sword. Then there's Bobo: A barbarian warrior whose personality is largely unseen, but he's the muscle behind the party. Next is Pierce, a female wizard who, while somewhat low in level, still commands her share of power from her spells. When her power runs low, she requires protein to restore it, which of course allows for some of the more gratuitous scenes. And finally, there's Pink: A voluptous female neko-jin who is owned by Santa. Pink is continuously put in perilous situations due to Santa's avarice/gluttony/incompetence/insert random vice as necessary, and most of the party's adventures circle mainly around rescuing Pink from whatever circumstance she ends up in as a result. The humor, what there is of it, is a bit forced, IMHO, and definitely doesn't help what there is of a plot much. I'd recommend this one only if you're into getting off while watching hentai flicks. And even then, it's a stretch.

**Crows_Kill** · Sat, 03-19-2005, 02:38 AM

For the sake of brevity. for once, I wont debate the purpose or meaning of the op's posts- I do not think anything I posted would be considered a spoiler, unless you allready knew what i was talking about, in which case It IS NOT A SPOILER.

And in case you missed it y, I was complimenting you on your choice of an interesting topic and supporting it by posting in the thread and keeping it alive. If people liking your ideas offends you, I'm sorry. Yes I did get your pm and chose mostly to ignore it.

On to more-

Phantom Quest Corp- very short ova series about ghost hunting dectives, worth it for the last last ep w/kick ass rotoscoped kung fu fighting animation. kind a cross between master of moaquiton and yyh.

Anything with "gal force" in the title- same human vs:bio-borg and/or male vs female stroy re-told in various flavors. Nothing new here, but is one of the staples from te artnic studios from the 80's and 90's.

Outlanders- classic manabe manga turned in to a so-so anime conversion in the mid 80's worth it or the manga fans just to see their favorite characters animated, but it butchers the manga like 99% of of oher conversions. Its earth vs the alien invaders, with a few interesting plot twists and reversals thrown in to mix it up.

Y · Sat, 03-19-2005, 09:34 AM

Did I say you posted spoilers? You posted two line reviews, and reviewed lots of popular series while presenting nothing new about it. Those are the rules you broke, dipshit. You aren't "keeping this post alive" when you haven't posted anything that fits the outline I put up in any of your posts.

If the complaining and borderline flaming keeps up between a certain few in this thread, it will be locked.

GotWoot Moderator.

**KitKat** · Sat, 03-19-2005, 01:21 PM

Perhaps I shall contribute to this thread. Although I have never reviewed an anime before, and I've only been watching anime for less than a year, so don't take my opinions too seriously [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

Ok, I started a thread for this movie a while ago, but it got lost into the abyss because no one had seen it. Therefore, here is my review:
Tokyo Godfathers: Although this is set at Christmas time, it's not your stereotypical Christmas movie. It's about three people living on the streets of Tokyo who discover an abandoned baby. Through a strange series of events, each of the main characters is brought face-to-face with their past in some way and must confront some of the things they'd thought they'd left behind when they went to live on the street. There are some strange twists which keep the story from being predictable. Overall, this movie is just a lot of fun. It has its serious moments, but they serve as a nice balance for a lot of the hilarity. There is also violence and action for those of you who can't watch movies without it. Also, the artwork is very nice. So, go watch this movie. KitKat gives it two thumbs up.

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