January 30, 2007
Black Cat - Volume 2
Bleach - Volume 2
Hikaru no Go - Volume 6
Naruto - Dub Volume 8
Trinity Blood - Volume 4
Utawarerumono - Volume 2
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters - Season 5 Edited Dub. Box Set
January 30, 2007
Mushishi - Volume 1
January 31, 2007
Air Gear - Volume 3
Cromartie High School - Volume 9
Nodame Cantabile - Volume 8
Ouran High School Host Club - Volume 8
Tsubasa, RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE - Volume 12
February 5, 2007
Dragon Knights - Volume 24
Name: Fushigi Yuugi, The Mysterious Play
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Episodes: 3 (OVA 1), 6 (OVA 2)
Released: October 25, 1996 - February 25, 1997 (OVA 1), May 25, 1997 - October 28, 1998 (OVA 2)
Based On: Fushigi Yuugi TV series
Director: Hajime Kamegaki
Produced By: Studio Pierrot, Bandai
US Distribution By: Pioneer/Geneon
Miaka Yuuki: Kae Araki
Tamahome/Taka: Hikaru Midorikawa
Tenkou: Juurouta Kosugi
Ren Shigyou: Akira Ishida
Tasuki: Nobutoshi Hayashi
Chichiri: Tomokazu Seki
Yui Hongo: Yumi Touma
Keisuke Yuuki: Shinichiro Miki
Tetsuya Kajiwara: Ken Narita
Taiitsukun: Hisako Kyouda
Miaka Yuuki: Ruby Marlowe
Tamahome: David Hayter
Tasuki: James Penrod
Chichiri: Sean Mitchell
Yui Hongo: Wendee Lee
Keisuke Yuuki: Derek Stephen Prince
Tetsuya Kajiwara: Bo Williams
Taiitsukun: Catherine Luciani
Animation: 7/10 (x 4 = 28 pts)
Story: 6/10 (x 4 = 24 pts)
Music: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: N/A
English Dubs: 7/10 (x 1 = 7 pts)
Gut Score: 6/10 (x 5 = 30 pts)
Total: 121/180 (67.2%)
The first two Fushigi Yūgi OVAs are so closely linked, so I’ll be reviewing them together. The first OVA is three episodes long and deals with Tamahome being sucked back into the book and immediately being put into an illusion by the now revived Tomo. Tomo, however, is now under the employ of Tenkou, a new villain who is out to conquer the world himself, and hopes to use the Universe of the Four Gods to do so.
The second OVA deals with Miaka and Taka - Tamahome’s new and separate identity outside of the Universe of the Four Gods - having to return to inside the book to search for Tamahome’s seven memory stones in order to restore Tamahome’s memories to Taka. However, Tenkou returns to stop them, and this time he is armed with a new power - the ability to gain strength from other people’s negative emotions, and hopes to use these to finally realize his quest to conquer the world.
Both of these OVAs seemed to have some serious problems, I thought. The first OVA was largely to just establish the character of Tenkou, but did little more and, I think, could have just as easily been the first episode in a single OVA series. The 2nd OVA, meanwhile, largely consists of a set of independent stories, focusing on one of the main characters, with Tenkou popping up and causing problems along the way. While it may be nice to learn more about some of the characters, I think we had more than enough time for character-centric episodes during the original TV series, and I think the OVA wastes it’s precious time by focusing on characters than moving the ultimate plot in the series. Of course, there is a point in the series doing what it did, but I think it could have been done more efficiently.
As far as technical aspects, I don’t think there was much either better or worse than in the TV series. The animation quality seemed to be about the same, and I think they pretty much used the same soundtrack. The dub work is about the same as well.
Overall, if you’re a big fan of the TV series, you may like the OVA since it continues the character’s stories. However, if you’re watching the OVAs independent of the TV series, or didn’t like the TV series, chances are you won’t like the first two OVAs either.
First Watched: October 2006
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: No
As some people may or may not know, I go through and redesign all of my webpages every now and then (I try to at least once a year). Also, I rarely actually take things off my webpages. As a result of 6+ years of collecting stuff on my website, I hit my 50mb limit sometime last year. Just like my body seems to do, once I starts becoming bigger, the rate it grows seems to accelerate even more and now I’ve plopped another 100mb of space for my domain on top of the 100 I already have. I didn’t think I’d use my extra 50mb as fast as I did (and I’m not even hosting my podcasts on this host) but there you have it.
What this may do is allow me to have more website sections in the future - if I have the time to make them that is.
Such is life with an ever expanding website.
Episode 9 of the podcast is up.
You can download it directly from the following address (12.2 MB):
Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast Episode #9
You can download the rss file for the podcast here:
http://www.joshsanimeblog.com/podcast/podcast.rss
Remember to update your RSS feed address if it wasn’t updated automatically!
Also, I have re-reviewed the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, but it’s score remained the same at 91.1%
Also, my podcast is up on itunes. If you search for anime under podcasts, you should find it as Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast.
Enjoy!
Name: Magic Knight Rayearth, Magic Knight Rayearth II
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Episodes: 49 (20 in season 1, 29 in season 2)
Released: October 17, 1994 - March 13, 1995 (season 1), April 10, 1995 - November 27, 1995 (season 2)
Based On: Magic Knight Rayearth manga by CLAMP
Director: Toshihiro Hirano
Produced By: Tokyo Movie Shinsha
US Distribution By: Anime Works
Hikaru Shidou: Hekiru Shiina
Fuu Hououji: Hiroko Kasahara
Umi Ryuuzaki: Konami Yoshida
Clef: Nozomu Sasaki
Zagato, Lantis: Juurouta Kosugi
Princess Emeraude, Eagle Vision: Megumi Ogata
Nova: Miki Itou
Ferio: Takumi Yamazaki
Alcione: Yuri Amano
Ascot: Minami Takayama
Caldina: Yuko Nagashima
Lafarga: Yukimasa Kishino
Debonair: Atsuko Takahata
Aska: Chinami Nishimura
Tarta: Aya Hisakawa
Tatra: Kikuko Inoue
Mokona: Yuri Shiratori
Inouva: Ryotaro Okiayu
Presea: Emi Shinohara
Rayearth: Hideyuki Tanaka
Windham: Akio Ohtsuka
Selece: Teppi Genda
Geo Metro: Kiyoyuki Yanada
Zazu Torque: Jun’ichi Kanemaru
Hikaru Shidou: Julie Maddalena
Fuu Hououji: Ruby Marlowe
Umi Ryuuzaki, Princess Emeraude: Wendee Lee
Clef: Steve Cannon
Zagato: Alexis Lang
Nova: Dorothy Melendrez
Lantis, Rayearth, Windham: Lex Lang
Eagle Vision: Jerry Gelb
Ferio: Terry Roberts
Alcione: Barbara Goodson
Ascot: Mona Marshall
Caldina: Selece Zan
Lafarga: John Smallberries
Debonair: Sonja S. Fox
Aska: Sandy Fox
Tarta, Tatra: Melissa Charles
Mokona: Kaeko Sakamoto
Inouva, Selece: Terrence Stone
Presea: Jane Alan
Geo Metro: David Orozco
Zazu Torque: Ian Hawk
Scores
Animation: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Story: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Music: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: 8/10 (x 2 = 16 pts)
English Dubs: 8/10 (x 1 = 8 pts)
Gut Score: 8/10 (x 5 = 40 pts)
Total: 164/200 (82%)
Magic Knight Rayearth is a story about 3 girls who are summoned to the magic land of Cephiro. In the first season, the three girls must learn to work together as they try to save the pillar of Cephiro - Princess Emeraude - and by extension Cephiro itself, as the land is maintained by the will and love of the Pillar. However, the Princess has been captured by the high priestess Zagato, and is unable to fully care for the land. As a result, darkness starts covering the land and monsters start appearing. In a final desperate attempt to save Cephiro, Emeraude summons the girls from another girl so that they may become Magic Knights and save Cephiro. The three must learn to work together and to learn how to use and increase the magic given to them by the Master Mage Clef in order to summon the three Manshin, which are required for them to become full Magic Knights.
The second season deals with the three girls in the aftermath of the first season. The girls returned to earth after the first season, but are suddenly summoned back and see that no new Pillar has been chosen to lead Cephiro. As a result, the land has nearly entirely disintegrated. On top of this, the magical barrier which protected Cephiro from foreign invasion has also disappeared, resulting in three invading forces - Autozam, Chizeta, and Fahren - the leaders of which all want to become the Pillar in order to fulfill their own personal wants or needs of their nation. In addition, a new sinister force - Debonair and her top agent Nova - has appeared which not only wants to completely destroy Cephiro, but all worlds as well. The three girls must use their power of the Magic Knights to protect Cephiro from these forces as well as to help Cephiro hold out until a new Pillar is chosen.
This series is really a tale of two seasons, The first season flows very well and keeps up it’s momentum through the entire season. The story and action are compelling and while there is a lot of action, and even many of the same enemies keep popping up, each battle is different enough to maintain one’s interest. The second season, however, seems somewhat ad hoc and felt like it became repetitive after a while. Once again, we often find the three girls faced with the same enemies, but the battles just don’t seem to have the same excitement and uniqueness as the battles in the first season did. It also seems more drawn out than the first season.
I think the animation for a 1994/95 series is pretty good and I liked the music and thought that AnimeWorks did a pretty reasonable dubbing job as well. In the end, I think a lot of people will enjoy the first season, but I think if one skips the second season, they won’t necessarily be missing all that much.
First Watched: August - December 2006
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Season 1 yes, Season 2 no
Academy Award Nominations were given out today. Paprika, I guess not surprisingly, was not included in the list of 3 movies for best animated feature film.
Films nominated in the Best Animated Feature Film of the Year award were Cars, Happy Feat, and Monster House.
Remember, just a couple weeks back it was announced that Arthur and the Invisibles was disqualified from the Best Animated Film category because it did not meet the requirement that 75% of the film be animating, dropping the total number of eligible films from 16 to 15, putting the category below the 5-nominee range into the 3-nominee range.
The song The Girl in Byakkoya - White Tiger Field from Paprika was also eligible for Best Original Song in a Movie category, but was not nominated either. Three songs from Dreamgirls as well as a song from An Inconvenient Truth and Cars were nominated.
January 23, 2007
Ergo Proxy - Volume 2
Heat Guy J - Box Set
Kyo Kara Maoh! - Season 2 Volume 2
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny - Volume 6
January 24, 2007
Berserk - Volume 15
Rin! - Volume 2
Thanks to my host for continually working on this problem for nearly two days until they finally resolved it. The ability to comment (as well as other future problems that would have been created had the problem not been caught) has now been corrected.
Just a little note - for those keeping count, my Fushigi Yugi review was my 30th anime review on this website (and the site has been up for almost 11 months - so 2.7 anime reviews a month. Not bad, but I’d like to do better). Moving right along I am! And I have 8 reviews already written up and ready to go whenever I get in the mood to post them.
Also, it was brought to my attention over the weekend that the comments aren’t working. I’m not sure what caused this since they had been working before, though I did accidentally delete my web folder once and had to re-upload everything again. Maybe having to re-create the folder reset something on the server *shrugs*
In any case, my host and I have been messaging back and forth trying to fix it. I’ll put up a post when the situation gets resolved. I have to say that this is one of the more baffling things I’ve seen, given that one post, and only one post, seems to have comments working.
They could work if I manually created all the folders that are created when someone comments, but I don’t feel like manually making folders through the file manager or ftp everything I make a post, soooo…
In the meantime, if anyone wants to comments (which up until now has been no one - though if the comments weren’t working, they wouldn’t be able to comment anyway), do it in the Message Board.
Hopefully it wont go as far as replacing the blogging software, and I don’t really think having comments working is enough to justify that effort, but I’d still like that option available.
