RWBY Vol.2

(I know it’s far late but I still dedicate this review to the memory of RWBY Series Creator, Monty Oum, who passed away February 1, 2015)

The new semester has begun for Team RWBY and everything is about to change.  The teams dynamic is stronger than ever but it’s also about to be tested like never before.  While things may seem peaceful and exciting at Beacon, the looming unseen threat in the darkness is getting stronger.  And what’s worse, the enemy may be right under everyones noses at the school.  Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang will face stronger foes but also strengthen their sisterhood.  For if they cant stand alongside their fellow Huntsman and Huntresses in a united front, Beacon will fall.  All this plus mecha, monsters and the cutest little mascot you’ve ever seen in your life.

The first volume of RWBY may not have been perfect by any means but it was always a lovable show.  The Anime inspired artstyle, characters, action and storytelling were all nearly universally well received by fans.  So you can bet anticipation for Vol.2 was high.  And for the most part, the next chapter managed to surpass the first one in almost every way…even if some problems hadn’t been quite fixed yet.

First off, I gotta say I was so stunned by the fact that every single person in Beacon was animated.  In the first season, anyone who was a main or secondary cast member was a grey scaled occupant.  This year, everyone has color and personality right down to the smallest detail.  I knew from that first notice alone that this was going to be good.  And then we got right down to the best return of the core favorites, Team RWBY and Team JNPR we could have ever asked for…AN EPIC FOODFIGHT.  Ruby’s bold declaration pretty much summed up my hopes for the season as a whole, “Justice will be swift, justice will be painful.  It will be…DELICIOUS!!!!” 

Well it was delicious.  RWBY Vol.2 ended up being a tour de force of everything that had come before.  The action that creator Monty Oum was famous for was kicking all kinds of ass.  He even stepped it up having Ruby and her friends take on not just bigger monsters but giant mecha as well.  The highway chase gave Team RWBY a chance to show how far they’ve come since we last saw them with perfect displays of teamwork and specially designed moves from full team to pairs.  The other fights to follow were good, if I bit too many.  But we did get a nice cap off to this element with a no holds barred smack down fight between Ruby and her classmates and an invading army of Grim.  This is action imagination on display at it’s finest and another reason why Monty Oum will be forever missed…more on that in a moment.

The characters were all given some great moments to shine, not just in the action category.  Our core four heroines were better than ever. The lessons from Season One had been learned and characters like Ruby and Weiss never fell back into old rivalries.  And everyone only got stronger from there.  A very tender scene for Blake and Yang involved strong shows of friendship and a surprising dark backstory for both Yang and Ruby.  Team JNPR got some good and sad times when it came to Jaune and Pyrrah.  The couple everyone wants to work out continues to grow closer but yet still be so far apart when it comes to potential romance, Jaune still attempting to hook up with Weiss rather than see the girl who clearly cares more for him.  Son, introduced at the end of Season One, got some time to shine with his cool old friend Neptune, both characters providing much of the comic relief this time around.  We also got the introduction of the inevitable RWBY mascot, the ever adorable Zwei, Ruby and Yang’s little grey corgi who is instantly loved by anyone…and can double as an intentional projectile…AWESOME!!!!

However, Vol.2 did have many of it’s Vol.1 problems still present.  As cool as the action was, maybe there was too much of it and not enough focus on bringing more of the plot of the villains to light.  We’re two seasons in and we still have no inkling as to who or what is the main force of evil, I doubt very much it’s Torchwick.  We saw several of his allies infiltrate Beacon this year but they didn’t do much besides snicker in the background, reveling in being right alongside Ruby and her friends without them realizing they’re the bad guys.  We got more and more annoying hits to the growing darkness but im wondering how far into this series lifespan we will actually see it and get some answers as to what the heck is going on with the White Fang, the Grim, Torchwick, everything.  Also, still no sign of that tournament they hyped up at the end of last season and I was waiting all season to see. 

Sadly, as many of you know, Series Creator Monty Oum passed away back in February, so RWBY Vol.2 is not just the last part of RWBY he’d ever work on but the last work of his life.  It has been confirmed by Rooster Teeth that RWBY will continue with Vol.3 later this year.  That being said, even if it does lack a proper conclusion, RWBY Vol.2 was the final masterpiece from a man who loved to do what he did: animate, imagine, dream and realize.  And though I think it has it’s faults, like Vol.1, I still enjoy it and cherish it’s energy and imagination and incredibly loveable characters.  RWBY is the final love letter/immortalization of one mans love of anime and his desire to create a story based around that medium.  We lost someone special this year, but with RWBY, Monty’s legacy will live forever…and I cant wait to see how it continues with his blessing.

8/10

September arrives next week and right before I get into the long awaited second season of Black Lagoon, we’ll be taking a look at another recent hit inspired by the creators love of Anime.  French Techno group sensation Daft Punk and legendary Anime creator Leiji Matsumoto joins forces to bring us: Interstella 5555-Secret of the Five Star System.  See ya next week everyone.

AMV Friday #3-Evangelion: Reloaded AND Evangelion: Reloaded REDUX

Video: Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth & Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion

Audio: The Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions Teaser

 

(The following video is a fan based production.  All titles are property of their respective owners, please support the official release.)

 

Reloaded

Reloaded REDUX

 

This was one of the first AMV projects I did while back in college.  Back then I didn’t have access to the best quality footage so it was about working with what little I could scrounge from the net to make a video.  Couldve been worse I suppose.  But then I graduated and got better software and wanted another shot at this.  I went back through both movies and added new bits while tweeking others but for the most part the Redux is almost a full on shot for shot remake.  So this week you’re getting a then and later double feature.  There’s like a…wow, three year gap between both versions.  How could you not look at these two movies and think Matrix Sequel Double Feature?  Ok maybe that was just me at the time but I hope it makes sense as you watch this.  I doubt Gendo needs Laurence Fishburne’s cool voice to voice his thoughts on destiny and the end of the world and what’s worth dying for…that last bit doesn’t apply to Gendo as everyone should die for well just his own I don’t give a f*** needs.  Still, if the Evangelion double feature movies were given this kind of trailer treatment…id be more excited than I already was.

 

Maybe another classic one next week if I continue to raid my old files on my harddrive.  See ya Monday for a new review.

 

Gundam Anime Rant-Madoka Magica the Movie 3: Rebellion

The title Madoka Magica brings up many an emotion when mentioned to Anime fans.  Most who have heard of it will either start balling in tears or cheering or immediately go into their favorite ship, while those who haven’t seen it will at least say they have heard of it.  So I think it was right before or right after Katsucon 2015 that I finally decided to sit down and watch this show all the way through, it’s only 12 episodes so a solid nights watch.  It lived up to the hype for me and overwhelmed me a bit from watching it all in one sitting but how could I not stop watching? 

Well before I go further, some premise:
Madoka Kaname is a pretty ordinary high school girl with a loving family: including a mom who might as well be her sister based on her character design (serioulsly she mustve had Madoka at the age of 5) and the most adorable baby brother EVER…and a dad, yeah not much to him really.  But her pretty happy life is turned upside down with the appearance of a transfer student name Homura Akemi and a mysterious creature named Kyubey.  Kyubey offers Madoka the chance to become a Magical Girl, to do battle against monsters known as Witches and defend humanity.  Homura, offers a counter, DON’T.  As several of Madoka’s friends take on the role of Magical Girls, she soon finds herself the ultimate key in a long time struggle and her decision could change the world forever.

I should also say from this point going forward that in a couple of paragraphs I’ll be getting to my reason for this entry: Madoka Magica The Movie Part 3: Rebellion.  And I will not be holding back on details on either that movie or the series finale, so be forewarned…

 

SPOILER ALERT AHEAD!!!!

 

As I said, Madoka Magica lived up to the hype.  It was a fascinating twist on the magical girl genre that dared to push the envelope and it did.  The animation was nigh groundbreaking, the action intense, the character development and story arcs…heartbreaking.  Yes there were plenty of moments where the fates of the core five Magical Girls moved me to the point of tears.  The chief of these tear jerkers goes to Homura, who gets one of the best developed and yet most tragic backstories of any character ive seen in an Anime and ive seen plenty.  Basically, Homura has the power of time manipulation and has traveled back through the past hundreds of times.  She’s lived the same few weeks over and over again to prevent the same outcome, the death of her best friend Madoka.  Each time she fails, each time she becomes colder and more withdrawn when she meets her would be allies, each time she must watch Madoka die horribly, as well as the others.  Mami’s shock in one of the timelines is so great that she begins to off the team one by one before Homura manages to kill her herself. 

 

Intense doesn’t do it justice.  The story of Homura Akemi is a whole semesters worth of study all on it’s own.

So what’s the catch you might ask?  Why all the drama over being a Sailor Moon type?  Because what that SOB Kyubey fails to tell Madoka and the others who make the contract with him is that Magical Girls will, no matter what, end up turning into Witches, the curse of their wish.  It’s inescapable and Kyubey could care less about it cause it doesn’t know how to care and thinks human emotions are trivial.  It’s cant understand the grief of Homura who has lost Madoka hundreds of times or Madoka who has to watch Mami, Sayaka and Kyoko all die in their own horrific ways…especially considering that unlike Sailor Moon, these girls actually look 14 and not 18 so it’s tough to watch them go through so much hurt.

Which leads to one of the best finales ever.  Madoka takes up her inevitable fate to become a Magical Girl.  But this time, she wishes for the eradication of Witches from existence: past, present and future, taking all of the curses into herself and then dying to contain them all.  Homura and the others are spared but only Homura is aware of Madoka’s existence, leading to a heart wrenching farewell.  Witches may be gone but another force, the Wraiths, come to take their place.  Homura mourns Madoka but swears to keep on fighting, to protect the world Madoka made in her honor, alongside Mami and Kyoko.

It’s about as perfect as finales get, the ultimate show of love and friendship.  It’s not what Homura wanted but it is enough to know Madoka didn’t die horribly but helped reshape a world where Magical Girls don’t have to suffer at the end of their run.  Cue the tears and grab the tissues.

And then came the movies….

The first two films released: Beginnings and Eternal, are a two part refresher of the series and actually, if you’re short on time it’s not a bad way to view the story.  Granted it had been a while since I watched the series  but I know it got all the important plot elements in and left little out.  It was the complete 12 episodes package in two 2hour features.  Not bad at all.

But then we get to Part 3: Rebellion, the point of this little entry. I know I said this would be a rant but the praise above may make you think differently…brace yourself.

In Rebellion, Homura is fighting Nightmares alongside Madoka, Sayaka, Mami and Kyoko plus familiars Kyubey and Bebe…wait what?  That definitely wasn’t how we left things at the end of the series.  I thought they were fighting Wraiths?  Why are Sayaka and more importantly Madoka there?  Why does Kyubey sound all cutesy and what the hell is Bebe and why does she look…familiar?  By the time Homura begins to piece together that this world isn’t real, I had sort of figured out what the catch was and I might as well have been correct in my suspicions…

I had a feeling that Homura would have retreated into her own world, the absence of Madoka eventually weighing on her too much.  It also makes sense she would turn into a Witch because of it.  OK I can accept that outcome even if it is unnecessary, like the rest of the movie but we’ll get to that.  I can even accept that Kyubey is playing dumb and being a sore loser at not getting its way at the end of the TV Series.  I can even kind of smile seeing Madoka, Mami, Sayaka and Kyoko back together trying to save Homura…

But then we get the mother of all twist endings that does little more than to piss off the fanbase…or at least me.  After believing Homura is safe, Madoka comes to her one last time…only for Homura to suddenly take a different tune, separating Madoka from her Goddess powers and rewriting the universe so that Madoka can exist again.  Homura becomes a new being that transcends Witch or Magical Girl and becomes a Demon.  She no longer honors, respects and loves Madoka’s self sacrifice but instead selfishly refuses it, her love becoming something far worse.  The film ends with the series restarting, Madoka the new transfer student and Homura a darker, more sinister student who’s relishing in having Madoka back.  But Madoka for a brief moment senses this isn’t right and Homura accepts before Madoka forgets again that they will end up becoming enemies one day.

WHAT
THE
F****!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What happened to the (more or less) happy ending that the series gave us?  Was that too happy for the series creators?  Or did the studio just want an excuse to leave the door open for more Madoka stories we DO NOT NEED!!!  DO…NOT…NEED which is exactly what Rebellion was in the end.  The series ending was perfect.  Rebellion was one last bit of fan service to ride the hype train of the series.  Did it do anything right?  Nothing needed even if I did like seeing the girls as a team and the potential outcome of Homura becoming a witch.  I would have been fine with that…until Homura becomes a bad guy.  Was there anything in the series indicating she might snap that badly?  She had toughed out hundreds of time loops and never lost it enough to become a Witch or even a Demon.  And in the end, even if she couldn’t be with her, Homura at least lived on with the knowledge that Madoka did not become a witch and had a better outcome for herself than any of the numerous timelines she experienced.  Hell even Mami and Kyoko had a possible future now.  This was fine, just fine. 

BUT NOOOOOOO…

Now Homura needs to become a selfish bitch and have Madoka no matter the cost.  It was an infuriating twist that I think made my brain shatter for a second.  Was this really happening?  Did Madoka Magica just go all End of Evangelion on me?  Was this really the “true” ending that the series fan had been waiting for since this movie was announced?  To be honest im not sure what the mass fan reaction was even though I know people were hyped as hell for this movie to be released.  Heck I was excited when the Madoka movies popped up on Netflix so I could eventually marathon them all…note to self don’t do that again, too many emotions in the first two movies aka THE REAL STORY alone to stomach and sleep after watching.  I was even warned by my sister, who wasn’t a big fan of the series herself, to expect something worse to come from Rebellion. 

I was unprepared for what I saw, was anyone? 

Puella Magi Madoka Magica is such a well done and nigh flawless series that it def has a spot on my top 10 Anime of all time list and will always be there…im just going to try and ignore the fact that Rebellion happened.  Cause this is what happens when you take greatness and infuse it with a bit of dark juju that it makes you lose a tiny bit of faith in humanity.

The ending of Rebellion made me mad…that’s not what I ever expected from Madoka Magica.  No wonder I needed to go watch something filled with laughter afterwards. 

 

Which at the time was this, enjoy,

 

T5W#2-Top 5 Weapons in Anime

These are the ultimate tools of destruction.  In the right hands…and sometimes even the wrong ones, these can mean the difference between victory and a total massacare…or both.  And for anyone curious, I am excluding weapons featured on any kind of Mecha Suits or Giant Robots as they themselves will be an eventual list…so any requests for Wing Zero’s Buster Rifle are denied…for now…even if it can blow up a colony in one blow.

#5-The Punisher (Trigun)

El Marachi has his guitar case full of guns.  Nicholas D. Wolfwood from Trigun has a large metallic case that not only holds guns but is also a chain gun on one end with a rocket launcher on the other.  How the unorthodox priest wields this heavy contraption is a mystery but the amount of damage he can do single handidly should not be ignored.  It’s probably better to repent when setting eyes on this little piece of destruction rather than be on the end of it’s wrath.

#4-The Castor (Outlaw Star)

Gene Starwind may be a wiz with a gun but when it comes to opponents bullets cant affect, it’s time for this almost insta win weapon.  The Castor Gun uses magic stored in cartidges that look like shell casings, the effects of which range from standard sizes explosions to literally imploding a person.  Some of those higher power shells come with a cost, draining ones life force in exchange for the damage done.  Scary trade off but the effects speak for themselves. 

#3-The Dominator (Psycho-Pass)

If the Dominator sounds like an overpowered title, that’s actually pretty fitting for this overpowered piece of carnage that can only be fired by a selected individual.  The gun has a special reader that determines ones Psycho Pass and advises on what mode to best deal with the target in question: relatively low-stun em, pretty high-blast em with enough power to obiliterate the upper half of their body.  The deadlier the perp, the deadlier the punishment.  Who’d want to even think about committing a crime with tools of justice like this floating around.

 

#2-The Sakabatou (Rurouni Kenshin)

The ultimate weapon of the pacifist, the specialized sword of Kenshin Himura is both a danger in disguise but also one of the most peaceful weapons in existence.  With the sharp edge of the sword on the back end of the blade, the Sakabatou can be used in combat and keep the chances of killing an opponent to nearly nil.  But don’t let that fact fool you, this weapon can still mess up your day badly and even end your career as a swordsman if Kenshin so chooses.

 

#1-The Jackal (Hellsing/Hellsing Ultimate)

39cm long, 16kg in weight, 6 round magazine of blessed cross silver bullets, The Jackal is the gun Alucard’s main weapon of choice throughout most of Hellsing.  Often paired up with it’s .454. Cassul brother for maximum damage, the Jackal can however stand on it’s own just fine, capable of wipping out not just the most powerful of opponents but legions of undead with its seemingly minimal ammo capacity.  And let’s be honest, it’s a really cool looking gun, worthy of the title Bad Ass.

Any particular favorites out there?  Let me know and see you next week with another T5W.

Escaflowne: The Movie-A Girl in Gaea

Hitomi Kanzaki is a girl who deems her life irrelevant.  In her wish to disappear from life, she is transported to the Planet Gaea, where the Earth hangs in the sky and is referred to as the Mystic Moon.  Here, Hitomi finds a land racked by war and suffering as Lord Folken and the Black Dragon Clan sweep life away in their quest for dominance.  Joining up with the Abaharaki resistance force, Hitomi and a lost prince named Van discover the truth behind Hitomi’s sudden arrival.  The fate of the world: the path of peace or destruction, rests on the wishes of Hitomi’s heart and the ancient suit of armor, the Escaflowne.

Well, this certainly wasn’t your dads or siblings Escaflowne.  Was it even really Escaflowne at all?  Where are the mechs?  Where was the feeling of adventure?  Why was Dilandau actually one gender throughout the film…ok that bit I was ok with. 

Suffice to say, this is pretty much a movie that lures fans in with it’s name and then subjects them to the exact solar opposite of the series it was based on.  Much of the joy and wonder of the TV Series has been sucked away in favor of a darker, edgier take on the characters and story.  It’s a very out there “What If Escaflowne went this way instead of the other?”  The end result is more mixed than the TV Series, at least for me anyway.

The main problem besides the lack of any big action or mecha are the characters themselves.  Hitomi, once an average high school girl with friends, dreams and a crush, is now a so-so high school girl with one friend and a penchant for fading away from life…mostly through suicide.  Van, once a prince who thought he wanted to be a warrior but instead wanted peace, love and understanding, is now a bloodthirsty fighter who massacres a Black Dragon Airship (granted in spectacular fashion) during the films opening.  Somehow these two meet are we are expected the love story that populated the TV Series to take flight here.  Problem is, there isn’t any real time given to watching them bond when they just sort of say “Yeah we have problems let’s kind of hook up in a manner of speaking.”  This comes as a result of a very rushed storyline, a poor attempt to cut down 26 episodes into a just over 90 minute feature.  Scenes jump from one to another, characters appear and vanish for minutes at a time, action occurs at various points; but it’s all more at the whim of the script more than the natural progression of the story.  And don’t try to make sense of Folken’s plot to take over/destroy the world.  Just say, “OF COURSE!!” and move on.  I hate to say it but even Dornkirk (totally absent from the film btw) had a bit more of a clear agenda and that’s saying something if you remember my maddening confusion of the TV Series plot.

The darkness doesn’t really help either.  I’m all for edgy, Batman Begins/Casino Royale espque gritty reboots but at least those films still had a sense of wonder and fun to them.  Escaflowne is moody and bloody for the sake of the two words.  There’s no reason for the movie to be that way than to simply be bigger for a movie scale feature.  You cringe and scratch your head over what’s going on more than getting excited for what comes next.  I cringed especially when Van finally got into Escaflowne and activated it through a…very painful process that made me gasp.  None of it makes sense at all.    And truth be told: the characters are such a far relation to their original sources and the lack of Escaflowne ever present, this could have been any other fantasy/mecha feature and it just so happened to have the Escaflowne name attached to get people to watch it. 

So what did I like about the movie?  More than you’d think.  I think it’s still one of the best looking Anime motion pictures I have ever seen.  The quality befits a movie and never once did I feel like I was watching the series (poor story and execution aside).  Even though the action is brutal and few and far between, I did enjoy it.  The centerpiece fight between Van’s Escaflowne and Dilandau’s Second Dragon Armor is probably the best Escaflowne fight hands down, moving violently and smoothly like a dance.  And it has to be said, Yoko Kanno outdid herself on this one.  The soundtrack updates several TV Series themes (Dance of Curse sounds better than ever) and brings a haunting sense of scale and majesty to this project.  How good is it?  Well the DVD release has a soundtrack only audio track (NUFF SAID!!!).  And having just watched the movie with the series still sort of fresh in my mind, I was at least happy that Dilandau retained his villainous mad man menace that made him one of the best parts of the series.  His complexity might be gone and (thankfully) he stays one gender, but at least he’s consistent unlike so much else with this movie.

At the end of the day, Escaflowne: The Movie, is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me.  I know it’s shortcomings and know why it confuses or outright angers fans of the series.  But I think if I ignore like…60% of the films elements (story, characters, setting, ending) and focus on the other 40% (animation, soundtrack, action), I can make the best of it.  But from a general standpoint, if you’ve seen the series and enjoyed it a lot, it might be best to stay away from this unless you want to see your beloved story sullied by a Twilight level bad make over…im not even sure if that’s an exaggeration really.  If you’ve never seen Escaflowne before, best go look at the series as this is not a good starting point.  This was an example of a dark update of a classic that just didn’t work…unless you count making Folken look like David Bowie from Labyrinth, now that is a success.

 

6/10

 

 

Speaking of which, a little extra treat for everyone that might make the film a bit more…watchable.

Well that concludes that little month of movie follow ups to series of the past.  We’ll be bouncing around a bit for the next couple of weeks before we get into the long awaited second season of Black Lagoon.  But first, another long awaited review that I’ll probably dedicate to someone taken from us too soon.  Next week we look at the final piece of animation greatness from Monty Oum (the series will continue just not with him) with RWBY Vol.2.

AMV Friday #2-Akira: Fury Road

Video: Akira

Audio: Mad Max: Fury Road Trailer 1

(The following video is a fan based production.  All titles are property of their respective owners, please support the official release.)

Was planning on showing another one of my oldies but I was so happy with how this one turned out I had to share it for the next AMV Friday.  So I had been in a bit of an AMV slump for…well longer than I want to admit.  But that doesn’t mean that inspiration wasn’t floating around.  Not only is Mad Max: Fury Road still my #1 movie of the year but the trailers have been some of the best put together in a long time.  I wanted to do something with them but had no candidates.  That is until I stumbled across Akira again thanks to a podcast I listen to.  Then the images started to click together: The road warriors, the chaos, the world of “fire and blood” that Kaneda and Tetsuo inhabit.  Didn’t want to show off any real bloody scenes cause I wanted to make a general green band trailer but still think I got the important bits down.  Had a lot of fun on this one and cant help but giggle “Oh what a day, WHAT A LOVELY DAY” as I spliced it together.

The New Schedule

(Just a random pic for pics sake...don't touch Heero's cake or else he may just borrow Wufei's knife there)

 

So with the “Classic Reviews” wrapped up, ive been doing a lot of thinking about how to keep adding more to this blog on a regular basis.  Could I do something everyday? Probably not.  Given how some things in my personal life are right now, I admit it’s not possible.  And then I thought about my big summer project, Gundam 00.  I had an absolute blast not only revisiting the series again as per my yearly tradition, but also writing reviews at a faster pace per set of episodes.

So why not apply that enjoyment to some new ventures?  I already started it with this week but I’m making it official right now: The Anime Corner has a new schedule.

Monday-Reviews

Don’t think I need to go into this too deep.  The reason I started this blog will still be the core feature.  A few entries back (see here http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2015/08/anime-corner-fall-2015-update.html ) I outlined where I’m going with reviews for the rest of 2015 (barring any unforeseen crisis’s).  I’m also thinking forward into 2016.  I’ve definitely been piling on the scifi and mecha since I started and ive got more in my collection than that, so it might be time to pull that out.  I guess I went a bit too into detail than that.  The Reviews continue, nuff said.

Wednesday-Top 5 Wednesday or T5W

The second of two new features to grace this blog.  I was thinking Top 10 for a little bit but then I already tried this with my Otakon piece a month ago (see here http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2015/07/special-post-countdown-to-otakon-2015.html).  Something short, sweet and a bit more diverse.  So who knows what we might see next week.  Top 5 TV series, Top 5 Favorite Characters, Top 5 Sweetest Rides in Anime?  Yeah…guess ive got some more planning to do.

Friday-AMV Friday

Started this last Friday and I’d like to keep it going since I figured out how to post videos here.  I’ve been in love with video editing since high school and the only thing I love more than reviewing Anime is meshing it with trailers, music, anything really.  So I’m delving back into the plethora of videos ive done, adding a bit of commentary, and leaving them for the world to see.

So that’s pretty much it, nothing more to this one.  Got a brand new, freshly completed AMV im going to post on Friday that I hope everyone will enjoy.  And if anyone has any suggestions for Top 5’s or even some editorial commentaries I could maybe post on Tuesday or Thursday, post in the comments below.

 

Take Care everyone.

T5W-Top 5 Gundam Entries

Welcome to Top 5 Wednesday’s (or T5W for short)

As the title might suggest, every Wednesday (as often as I can) I’ll be delivering Top 5 lists for anything from series to characters to weapons to mecha to movies to whatever else I can think of ranking (I kind of already did this with Otakon as a prototype/backdoor pilot).  And to kick it off, figured id start it off with another shout out to my Blog’s Namesake. 

 So here we go, my picks for the Top 5 Best Gundam Features. These are the shows and films I will always associate with the name and recommend to anyone who wants to get into it.  Note that these have all been released stateside and I haven’t seen much if at all of any of the unreleased shows (so Gundam ZZ, Gundam X, Gundam AGE and Gundam Build Fighters amongst others won’t be on this list)

 

 5. Mobile Suit Gundam

The legend starts here.  The war between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon, the trials and tribulations of Amuro Ray, the secret plotting of Char Aznable, the unforgettable journey of the young crew of the White Base and, of course, that legendary suit of robotic awesomeness that would spawn hundreds of new models and upgraded forms.  The series was best known for being the first Giant Robot show to feature humans fighting humans and the story excels at showing both sides of the conflict and the heroes and villains both can produce.  If you can handle the old school animation then this is definitely a show any Anime fan should see at least once all the way through.

 

4. Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team

Gundams in the Jungle.  It’s not just the name of the second episode, it’s what describes the series as a whole.  This is one of the few if not only Gundam series where the bulk of the action is Earth based and that leads to some of the most intense action of any Gundam show.  The mechs look like their pilots, worn and torn and ragged but still in the fight, on both sides.  But the big showcase of how good this show is when it comes to grand scale mecha action is the first part of The Shuttering Mountain, when elite Zeon pilot Norris Packard takes on the 08th MS Team single handidly and shows them that his suit is the least of their worries.  It’s the man piloting the suit who should scare them the most.  It all comes down to an almost out of options Shiro Amada using is Gundam’s broken arm as a weapon to stick it to the honorable warrior.  Few battles in the franchise have matched its ferocious combat and sheer enjoyment…and no spaceships in sight lol.

 

 3. Mobile Suit Gundam 00

Gundam 00 showed up at the right time for me.  Mobile Suit Gundam Seed did an admirable job updating the original story in a new universe if only it was just ok.  But it’s follow up, Seed Destiny, was abysmal, terrible, horrible, ridiculous…it was Gundam’s darkest hour.  Thankfully Gundam 00 came along to do its best to erase that atrocity from my mind (it will never be fully cleansed).  00 has some of the best characters, mechs and grand scale battles in Gundam in quite a while, following a terrorist organization, Celestial Being, and its Gundam Meisters mission to rid the world of war.  Every country pointing a gun at something is an enemy and when one fighting side thinks it’s ok when the Gundams show up and wipe out their enemies, they are horribly mistaken…they get taken down just as fast.  Throw in a cast filled with dark beyond dark pasts and you’ve an engaging tale of souls looking for redemption in a chaotic world who you want to find that perfect ending.  Plus it has the Gundam 00 Raiser, one of my main Gundams of choice in Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3, that thing is a monster.

 

 

 

2. Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

When I first heard about Gundam Wing through a brief 15 second promo for a mysterious new show then called Gundam W on Toonami, my interest was peeked.  Then the show debuted with it’s regular title, Gundam Wing, in March 2000 and my world changed forever.  Wing was my first exposure to deep storytelling and more mature Anime than Dragon Ball Z (violent as it was), Pokemon and Digimon.  It rocked my world and I still love it dearly today.  This was the show that changed everything for me.  The Gundams, the characters, the twist and turns full story and while the animation hasn’t aged as well as it should it’s all those other elements that keep making this show a joy to watch every once in a while.  Plus it has Duo Maxwell, best Gundam pilot of all time with everyone’s favorite Gundam Deathsythe, how can you not love that guy?

 

1. Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack

For all my love of Wing, when it comes to going for broke epic action Gundam has never been finer than Char’s Counterattack.  Released in 1988, this was meant to, for some, close out the saga started in 1979.  Amuro Ray and Char Aznable are back at the forefront to settle a score going on for almost 15 years.  Armed with the ultimate Gundam (until the Unicorn), Amuro leads the Earth Federation into the final battle with Char and Zeon.  Asteroids collide, Mobile Suits throw down and the story hits all the right cords.  Who do you root for in this fight?  Who knows what’s best for humanity?  More importantly who is going to make it to the finish line and win the game?  If you’ve followed the story of Amuro and Char from the original Mobile Suit Gundam then this is an amazing payoff.  If you haven’t then this is the one Gundam feature to start with.  Because what this film did for the franchise has shown in other incarnations many years later.  What was meant to be the potential end of an epic story was just the end of an era and man has it been amazing ever since.

Fly Gundam! 35 Years and Going Strong!!!

 

New Top 5 List coming next Wednesday.  What shall it be?  That's a good question, you'll know it next week when I do lol.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex-Solid State Society

Two years have passed since the Individual Eleven incident.  Section 9 is now commanded by Togusa in the wake of Major Motoko Kusinagi departing the team.  The now expanded Section 9 finds itself on the trail of a mysterious hacker known as the Puppeteer.  With little to go on, simply a trail of dead bodies and a road paved with lost yet unconnected children, Togusa, Batou and their teammates find themselves in a race against time to prevent more murders.  And it only becomes a matter of time before their investigation brings them face to face with Motoko once again.

At long last, after two seasons of reviews we come to the (for now anyway) final chapter of the Stand Alone Complex saga.  So how does this TV Movie stack up to the levels of greatness of the TV series?

Well to start off I did like the two year leap in time.  The difference in this new Section 9 was a great move to make.  The Major is gone, Togusa is now team leader and Batou is off sulking when not getting into trouble.  It’s cool to see how the team manages without Motoko and with Togusa at the helm it seems like they’re doing surprisingly ok.  It’s true testament to how far Togusa has come since season one.  He’s no longer the rookie of the team trying to keep up, now he’s the lead and a gifted one at that.  It does make you wonder if Motoko pictured this from the start, making Togusa, an almost all natural human, leader of a cyberized division that specializes in cyber warfare.  That being said, you know Motoko, who is working through her own unexplained issues, would probably pop up at some point cause let’s face it, she cant stay away from her old team forever and at the end of the day, her talents are, like always, essential to getting the job done.  We don’t get to see too much of the new Section 9 and even some of their character problems for the series still pop up from time to time, a sign that some things will never change.  I did have to laugh for a second when Togusa basically hands off the rookies to Pazu and Borma during the opening scene…im sure you can guess why if you know full well my thoughts on those two characters.  The only other character from the past who is given any kind of extra material is Azuma, a rookie from 2^nd Gig, who has become Togusa’s field partner but even he gets sidelined pretty quickly once the focus returns to the original seven man team.

The story of Solid State Society can be pretty confusing at times, even for writer Kenji Kamiyama standards.  Heck even though 2^nd Gig got mouthy with it’s ideology and themes, the goals of Kuze and Gohda were all pretty clearly explained by the end of their plot lines.  SSS tends to juggle too much with elements from all over the place being thrown on the table to piece together a puzzle that only the writer could see in full and leaves everyone else to catch up without being clear but also not giving enough to go on.  There is some good commentary about the role of the elderly in society in the world of tomorrow but personally I was constantly scratching my head as to how all of the pieces fit together for this case. 

I do, however, feel that Solid State Society is strongest with its core characters.  Most of the cast is in a far different place than where we left them at the end of 2^nd Gig.  Even Aramaki is beginning to think long and hard about where he’d like Section 9 to be in the future.  It’s kind of scary to hear the Chief talk about a day when he wont be around to oversee Section 9 but it’s an inevitability he accepts…like the boss he is.  And though some relationships are strained between team members, some like Batou and Togusa are never broken.  Possibly the best scene in the movie is when Batou nearly loses Togusa right before his eyes.  The look on Batou’s face, the way he falls to his knees with hands behind his head in disbelief, plus Yoko Kanno’s perfectly tense and toned accompanying score, tell you everything you need feel with great success.

While the production quality of the feature never really rises above the animation from the series, we still get a bit of age added to the character designs, especially Togusa and Aramaki, but beyond that the animation is nothing we haven’t seen before.  And when the story becomes a bit too mind numbingly confusing, we still get some great Ghost in the Shell action with guns, tanks and even Saito gets a scene stealing sniper dual towards the middle of the film.  And while several of her tunes make a return, Yoko Kanno still churns out some awesome brand new tracks, including the piece I mentioned above for a pivotal Batou and Togusa scene and the opening “Player” which easily joins “Inner Universe” and “Rise” as some of the best Anime intros ever.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex-Solid State Society, never really rises above the grand masterpiece drama of SAC 2^nd Gig.  The time jump is fine and the evolution of some of the core characters is top notch.  But its story feels a bit too crunched together for a just under two hour feature.  It probably could have been explored better in a more expanded third season, even an shorter one of like 12 episodes if need be.  And it ends the saga on a note of sort of finality but also maybe a hint of possible continuation.  As I said, for now this is the last chapter of the saga with all the focus now on the reboot/prequel series Ghost in the Shell: Arise.  So as a possible finale, I think 2^nd Gig was a better note to add on.  But if you want a little more time with the Section 9 crew and a mystery with an interesting twist ending, it’s still Stand Alone Complex and it’s still enjoyable.

Will this be the last time we see this iteration of Motoko Kusinagi and Section 9?  Who know but as Motoko is fond of saying when a big case ends, “The net truly is vast and infinite.”  In other words, who knows.

7/10

One more film to go in this little set of films based on shows ive covered in the past.  And we’re going to end it with a Christopher Nolan esque take on an otherwise sunnier (sort of) Anime.  Well lets just say this isn’t your Daddy’s Escaflowne. See ya next week.

AMV Friday #1-Kenshin Bond

So as I have been hinting at the end of reviews this week, im going to be trying a couple of different things with the Anime Corner that don’t just involve reviews (though those will still be a priority).  And I figured since it’s Friday, it’s as good a day as any to try this little feature out.  In addition to reviewing Anime, I have a deep love for creating AMV’s.  Ever since high school when I first learned how to cut and edit film on a computer and then heading into college where it became a great relaxer, ive enjoyed splicing Anime with a live action Hollywood trailer.  There’s just something cool about Edward Elric sounding like Colin Farrell from Miami Vice or Spike Spiegel quoting Bruce Wayne and a sound effect matching an explosion in an Anime perfectly that just makes me smile.  I’ve done quite a few but hardly ever post them so just to test this out, I’ll be making Friday a designated AMV DAY (or AMV Friday).  I’m going back into the vaults to determine orders and track down videos for posting.  Any thoughts or questions on the process of making these vids, feel free to let me know.  I will be including some commentary on each so I may clear some things up right off the bat.  This is just a test for now but I hope it’s a successful one and would love to show more of my editing work off on this page.  So without further ado…

 

Kenshin Bond

Video: Rurouni Kenshin-Trust and Betrayal

Audio: Casino Royale Teaser Trailer

(The following video is a fan based production.  All titles are property of their respective owners, please support the official release.)

This was my first trailer after my return to editing as a hobby following a lengthy hiatus after graduation from college.  It is also the first where I would regularly start keeping track of my editing projects after their completion.  I always felt there were plenty of comparisons between the rise of Mr. Bond and the Hitokiri Batosai a.k.a Kenshin Himura.  From their first kills to their tragic encounters with love, all are highlighted in this trailer.  The second half of the trailer is a bit of a jumble in terms of action and sound synching.  But really, I just wanted to mix Kenshin’s earlier exploits with Judi Dench’s speech to Bond at the beginning of the trailer, which is one of the best in the Bond series.  In that respect, I think this trailer was pretty good at doing that speech justice.

 

Brand new review next week and maybe more new features to replace the Classic Reviews.  Take care everyone.

FLCL (Special One Year Anniversary Review)

(Originally Written March 31, 2015)

Hello and welcome to the special one year anniversary of the ANIME CORNER.

I never expected this to become the dominant feature on my page as I originally opted to do it as a way to get the writing juices flowing for short story writing.  It’s even harder to believe ive been at it for a year.  Lots of entries, lots of thoughts, lots of shows and movies.  So I thought long about what Anime I should review for this occasion.  I was thinking Akira, because of it’s benchmark status in the Anime realm.  But then I thought, what is an Anime that really matters to me?  Yeah Akira is up there but there’s one other that I hold in high regard, an Anime that has not been topped even by heavy contenders like Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist and Kill La Kill.  So I decided to go for it, watch all six episodes and review it as a whole, the Anime that ranks with Gundam Wing as changing the way I saw Anime forever…I give you FLCL.

 

Naota lives in a town where nothing amazing ever happens.  He thinks school is lame, has a father who behaves like a child, and his brother is off playing baseball in America…while his girlfriend looks to Naota for…comfort.  It may be dull but it’s about to get loud and not so boring.  When a girl on a Vespa bike slams into Naota, then hits him on the head with her electric guitar, Naota’s life changes forever.  Now that same girl, Haruko, is living with him as a live in housemaid and she’s brought a defective robot with her to do dishes.  Plus Naota’s head has become a portal across the cosmos for creatures, cyborgs and aliens of all kinds to just pop on in.  Bullets fly, guitars clash and everything that can go BOOM does.  It’s just another coming of age adolescence story…kind of.

 

I first caught FLCL on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block in 2003 and I didn’t know what to quite make of it.  By the time I got to understanding it a bit better…the series was over at just six short episodes.  But through an immediate rewatch, I was blown away.  This is a series that stands as a love letter to fans of Anime, taking dozens of genres and art styles, throwing them into a blender and then holding your head into that blender (after still so no death involved) and letting you drink it all in.

 

Studio Ginax (Neon Genesis Evangelion), Production I.G. (Ghost in the Shell) and Starchild Productions all lend their creative talents to this project.  So the animation is all over the map even though it’s main portion is pretty consistent.  But there are diversions into water colors, CG, an excellent Manga portion and even South Park style, yes you read that right.  But unlike most shows that dabble in crossing 2D and 3D art (Escaflowne, which im reviewing now is a prime example), the sporadic animation styles fit the looney tunes feel of FLCL.  Like the moods of the characters, the animation can change on the fly and run with it for a little bit of a stretch and not feel unnatural. 

 

And to complete the atmosphere we’ve got the best Anime soundtrack since Cowboy Bebop from J-Rock band The Pillows.  Easily able to change it up from zany to action packed to deep and thought provoking, the scenes feel like they revolve around the guitar and drum laiden tunes.  It’s the perfect soundtrack for a beautiful sunny drive around town, just look at the end credits (featuring Haruko’s vespa going on a joyride through town) with the song, “Ride the Shooting Star” playing in the background. and easily worth a pick up if you can find it somewhere. 

 

The characters are an interesting bunch.  Haruko Haruhara, mentioned briefly above, is the heart of this erratic series.  She’s a pretty girl with hidden agenda after hidden agenda who would rather speak with her guitar slamming into the heads of anyone rather than dole out sensible information.  But whether she’s being bad ass or just plain insane, you can’t help but love her and the mayhem she brings.  Even her really random quips are worth a smile and a chuckle.  She’s the perfect counterpoint to Naota, who starts off pretty dull but grows to like the world he’s been exposed to even if he doesn’t want to admit it.  He’s changing and growing, rapidly since there is no walk mode when hanging around Haruko just “shut up and hang on for dear life” mode.  It would have been great to jump a bit ahead at the end of the series to see how Naota has progressed since the events of the finale.  Mamimi is another enigma who at the end of the day is trying to hide being lonely by doing the wrong things in life…like successfully hitting on her boyfriends little brother.  But it’s good to see she seems ready to move on after Naota finally pushes her away, realizing she’s using him as a substitiute for her brother…a scene which has one of the best trailer shots ever when Contee lands right behind Naota ready for battle.  Speaking of Contee, not much to say about the mute but not as useless as you would think when it comes to combat robot.  Still, eating Naota to power up and then…s***ing him out is both disgusting but also get bonus points for uniqueness…I guess?  The one character I think steals every scene he’s in is Commander Amarao.  The false eyebrowed secret agent head is hilarious even when he is trying to be serious and dole out exposition.  Plus…”those eyebrows” get me everytime.  Its pretty certain that he was the Naota of Haruko’s mission before she met Naota and definitely a possibility of how Naota could end up down the line but we’ll never know.

 

The story is incredibly all over the place even though there is a main plot running through: Haruko searching for the power of someone she apparently fell in love with and needs Naota’s head to get it.  But that plot isn’t even really introduced until midway through the series.  Everything else is Naota adjusting to his sudden upheaval with Haruko literally crashing into his life.  I will say that could be a turn off for most people who want a more focused story to watch.  But while it doesn’t have some strong intelligent points at times, FLCL is a turn your brain off and let the images fly at you kind of Anime.  And that doesn’t even make it a wasted experience.  Heck you could make a viewing out of it trying to catch all the references and nods to Anime, films, music and even sports like Gundam, Lupin III, The Matrix, El Mariachi,  Jimi Hendrix and John Woo just to name a few.  The story is there and can be enjoyed but even if it isn’t clear, it’s still an experience to be had.

 

Just watching this series again after some time brings back memories of the days when I was still getting used to Anime beyond the muscle bound smack downs of Dragon Ball Z, when Gundam Wing showed me story matters to the images around it.  FLCL showed me what Anime was really capable of, how far it could stretch and how ridiculous it can get and still be able to blow me away time and time again.  If Gundam Wing opened the door to deeper Anime, FLCL kicked the door down and took me through at lightspeed telling me, the journey is just getting started.  The animation, music, characters, references and imagination have stayed with me for a long time.  It’s not for everyone but for once im not going to dock it points for that.  This is my favorite Anime of all time, yet to be touched, doubt it can be.  I hope anyone who is a fan or is looking to get into Anime can find a show like that, something special to their hearts.  It’ll make you smile like a Pillows song playing as you drive down the highway on a nice spring day.

 

Thank you everyone for one year and hope you can stick around for more….and keep riding that shooting star https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTtOUlhL0WQ

 

10/10

 

Take care everyone and see you next week for more Anime Corner.  Thanks for stopping by.

(And with that ends the Classic Reviews.  Look out for some new weekly material starting tomorrow with a test run on a new Friday feature.  New reviews still continue every Monday.  Til then, see ya everyone :) )