Long series I’m currently in the middle of include:

- Fullmetal Alchemist (52 episodes + movie)
- Fushigi Yuugi (52 tv episodes + 13 OVA episodes over 3 releases)
- Magic Knight Rayearth (49 episodes over two seasons)
- Kaleido Star (51 episodes + 3 OVA episodes)

Of course two and perhaps 3 (Fushigi Yuugi, Magic Knight Rayearth, and perhaps Fullmetal Alchemist) could be considered fantasy series. On top of this, I just finished Legend of Himiko which is also in the fantasy genre.

So, at first it was largely sci-fi anime (DNA2, Chobits, Last Exile, Angelic Layer – if you could call it sci-fi) then it was romance comedies (Ai Yori Aoshi, Fruits Basket, The World of Narue, His and Her Circumstances) and now I’ve moved into fantasy.

It’ll be interesting to see where it goes from here.

Anime DVDs

August 22, 2006
.hack//SIGN – Complete Collection
Dragon Ball Z Movie 13 – Wrath of the Dragon
Eureka 7 – Volume 3
Haré+Guu – Volume 5
Inu Yasha – Volume 45
Kodocha – Volume 7
Kodocha – Volume 8
Neon Genesis Evangelion – 10th Anniversary Set
Pokemon – 10th Anniversary Edition – Volume 3
Pokemon – 10th Anniversary Edition – Volume 4
Speed Grapher – Volume 2
Tokyo Underground – Box Set

August 29, 2006
Fighting Spirit – Volume 13
Green Green – Volume 2
MoonPhase – Volume 1
One Piece – Volume

Manga

August 28, 2006
Iron Wok Jan – Volume 20

August 29, 2006
Gacha Gacha – Volume 5
Negima! Magister Negi Magi – Volume 11
School Rumble – Volume 3

August 29, 2006
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days – Volume 2
Tenjho Tenge – Volume 9
The Devil Does Exist – Volume 7

Name: Legend of Himiko, Himiko-den
Genre:: Adventure, Fantasy
Episodes: 12
Released: January 7, 1999 – April 31, 1999
Based On: Himiko-Den Playstation game
Director: Ayumi Tomobuki
Produced By: Amuse Video
US Distribution By: U.S. Manga Corps

Major Japanese Cast

Himiko Himejima: Tsubasa Otomiya
Mashiko Kutani: Tomokazu Seki
Imari: Yuko Mizutani
Seika: Yumi Takada
Iga: Kouji Ishii
Shikara: Toshiyuki Morikawa
Fujina: Atsuko Tanaka
Shino: Akiko Hiramatsu
Koran: Kyoko Hikami
Tadami: Etsuko Kozakura
King: Kôzô Shioya
Heihachiro: Norio Wakamoto
Chosa: Yasunori Matsumoto
Tenmoku: Gara Takashima
KiraRica Fukami
Korai: Nobuyuki Hiyama
Kiyomizu: Chiyako Shibahara
Enki: Jin Horikawa
Kyou: Omi Minami

Major English Cast

Himiko Himejima: Veronica Taylor
Mashiko Kutani: James Wolfe
Imari: Vibe Jones
Seika: Jessica Calvello
Iga: Tristan Goddard
Shikara: Jack Taylor
Fujina: Sharon Becker
Shino: Angora Deb
Koran: Lisa Ortiz
Tadami: Tara Jayne
King: Matthew Harrington
Heihachiro: David Zema
Chosa: Dan Green
Tenmoku: Ami Shukla
Kira Dana Halsted
Korai: Patrick Harper
Enki: Billy Regan
Kyou: Michelle Medlin

Scores

Animation: 7/10 (x 4 = 28 pts)
Story: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Music: 6/10 (x 4 = 24 pts)
Coherency/Story Arc:10/10 (x 2 = 20 pts)
English Dubs: 7/10 (x 1 = 7 pts)
Gut Score: 8/10 (x 5 = 40 pts)

Total: 151/200 (75.5%)

Review

Legend of Himiko is about a pair of “regular” high school students, Himiko and Kutani. Himiko had been found at a site containing ancient ruins by Kutani when he was little. While exploring where Kutani had found Himiko after Himiko was told about her past, the two are transported back in time to ancient Japan. The two find themselves in the nation of Yamatai, which had been conquered by the nation of Kune several years beforehand.
There, they find six girls who are supposed to be candidates to become the first human queen of Yamatai. The queen was supposed to have been selected by a magical fire called the Bokka, but the selection and ceremony were interrupted by the invasion by Kune. The son of the King of Kune, Shikara, is governor-general of Yamatai, as is secretly using the old temple of the Bokka – which has since turned into the Fountain of Darkness – to create an army of the undead which he eventually plans to use to take over Kune itself and eventually the world.

Himiko eventually learns her true past and her connection to the Bokka as she, Kutani, and the queen candidates fight to retake Yamatai’s independence.

I’ll just state this right away: I liked this anime a lot more than the score I’m giving it indicates I did. The primary reason why the anime gets the score it does is because the anime isn’t really that great in a technical sense. The animation is average, if that, and the music ranged from good to really bad, depending on the song.

Having said that, I think this is a very interesting and unique story. In a way, it’s a shame this series was only 12 episodes since we didn’t get filled in on as much of the back story as I would have liked. If this had been a properly funded full season, I think it would have had the potential of being a pretty good fantasy anime.

The anime is a little jumpy just by it’s nature. If you have six queen candidates going around in four different groups, plus the main bad guys, plus whenever either Himiko or Kutani get seperated from the group, well, you’re gonna jump around. I don’t think it damaged the flow of the story all that much myself, however.

Overall I would say, if you don’t mind the average animation and at times bad music and are into adventure/fantasy anime, give this one a try.

First Watched: August 2006
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: Yes

I’ll still try to do the anime and manga releases on tuesday, but we’ll see how many actual reviews I’ll actually get up to.

Name: Video Girl Ai, Den’ei Shoujo
Genre:: Romance, Comedy, Science Fiction
Episodes: 6
Released: March 27, 1992 – August 28, 1992
Based On: Video Girl Ai manga by Masakazu Katsura
Director: Hiroshi Watanabe, Mizuho Nishikubo
Produced By: Production I.G, Shueisha
US Distribution By: Viz Media

Cast

Review

Video Girl Ai is about a boy, Yota, who has no luck with girls.  He has a crush on one of the most popular girls at school, Moemi, who, despite being friends with Yota, likes Yota’s friend Takashi.  In a depressed stupor, Yota finds himself in front of a strange video rental store named Gokuraku, where he rents a video of a girl named Ai.

However, Gokuraku’s videos are special, in that their videos are of girls who actually come out of the TV to “cheer up” guys who are down.  However, Yota ends up playing the video in his broken VCR, causing Ai to come flying out of the TV, not as the busty, sweet girl she’s portrayed to be in the video, but as a flat-chested tom boy.  However, Ai still decides to do her best to try to cheer Yota up, even though she only has a few days until her video runs out.

However, things get more complicated when Yota seems to start falling for Ai, even as he still opines for Moemi.

Video Girl Ai is a short (6 episode) yet pretty well made series that follows the story of roughly the first 3 volumes of the Video Girl Ai manga, which covers the opening arc of the story.  While Video Girl Ai could be classified as a comedy, the romance part is definitely more pronounced, with multiple comedic or otherwise light moments scattered throughout the episodes. The omake at the end of the first three episodes also provide comedic relief.

The animation and music is pretty good considering it was made in 1992, and the dub is decent as well. If you don’t mind an early 90s anime series, Video Girl Ai is a nice (and short) watch.

Scores

Animation: 4/5
Story: 4/5
Music: 4/5
English Dubs: 4/5

Overall: 4/5

First Watched: December 2005
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Yes