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Monthly Archives: February 2007
The Essentials
Name: Kaleido Star; Kaleido Star: New Wings (season 2)
Genre: Comedy, Action
Episodes: 52 total – Season 1: 26 episodes; Season 2: 25 episodes; OVA: 1 episode
Released: TV: April 3, 2003 – March 27, 2004; OVA: September 24, 2004
Based On: N/A
Director: Junichi Sato (season 1), Yoshimasa Hiraike (season 2)
Produced By: HoriPro, MediaNet, TV Tokyo
US Distribution By: ADV Films
Major Japanese Cast
Sora Naegino: Ryou Hirohashi
Layla Hamilton: Sayaka Ohara
Fool: Takehito Koyasu
Ken Robbins: Hiro Shimono
Mia Guillem: Chinami Nishimura
Anna Heart: Akeno Watanabe
Kalos Eido: Keiji Fujiwara
Yuri Killian: Susumu Chiba
Rosetta Passel: Kaori Mizuhashi
May Wong: Mai Nakahara
Leon Oswald: Takahiro Sakurai
Sarah Dupont: Aya Hisakawa
Marion: Fumiko Orikasa
Jonathan the Seal: Etsuko Kozakura
Policeman: Unshou Ishizuka
Cathy Taymor: Kotono Mitsuishi
Major English Cast
Sora Naegino: Cynthia Martinez
Layla Hamilton: Sandra Krasa
Fool: Jay Hickman
Ken Robbins: John Swasey
Mia Guillem: Nancy Novotny
Anna Heart: Kira Vincent-Davis
Kalos Eido: Rick Burford
Yuri Killian: Illich Guardiola
Rosetta Passel: Serena Varghese
May Wong: Hilary Haag
Leon Oswald: Mike MacRae
Sarah Dupont: Luci Christian
Marion: Kim-Ly Nguyen
Jonathan the Seal: Tiffany Grant
Policeman: James Faulkner
Cathy Taymor: Shannon Emerick
Scores
Animation: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Story: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Music: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Coherency/Story Arc: 8/10 (x 2 = 16 pts)
English Dubs: 7/10 (x 1 = 7 pts)
Gut Score: 8/10 (x 5 = 40 pts)
Total: 167/200 (83.5%)
Review
Kaleido Star, and it’s second season called New Wings, is a show about a girl named Sora Naegino who has come to the United States to try to become part of the world renewed performing circus troupe at Kaleido Stage. Things don’t start out well when someone tries stealing her suitcase, causing her to be late to the audition. As a result, the current star of Kaleido Stage, Layla Hamilton, tells her to go home. However, after accidentally causing an small injury to a performer, keeping them out of that day’s performance, the manager of Kaleido Stage, Kalos, tells Sora to take her place. And so begins Sora’s trip towards Kaleido Stardom.
The first season is largely based on the improvement of Sora as a performer and Layla’s slowly growing acceptance of her on the stage until Sora becomes a star. The second season is set largely around what happens to Sora now that she is at the top and now has other performers trying to climb the ladder to chase her. Also, despite being the top star of Kaleido Stage, she hasn’t yet yet become a true Kaleido Star, at least according to the stage’s resident spirit Fool.
At first glance, a series about a girl performing at a circus wouldn’t seem all that interesting. I’m not exactly one who finds performing on trapezes and other such contraptions (some of which I never even knew existed) overly exciting. However, the story kept me watching, and after not too long, I, who cares nothing about trapeze performances, started cheering Sora on to successfully perform that trapeze trick she’s been practicing, or whatever performance she was getting ready for.
At 51 TV episodes plus an OVA, Kaleido Star may run a little long, but it does very well at finding a story line and consistently progressing that storyline from one episode to the next. Also, the two seasons have distinct story arcs, so someone can watch either season without necessarily wondering how they got there or feeling like the ending is incomplete (though obviously watching the first season is a good idea before watching the 2nd).
I consider animation to be pretty good in this series, and the music is very good as well. The English dubs aren’t spectacular, but they’re good enough to be able to listen to without flinching. Overall, I’d rate this a pretty good series.
First Watched: July 2006 – January 2007
Do I Own: Season 1
Do I Recommend: Yes
Anime DVDs
February 13, 2007
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo – Volume 1
Elemental Gelade – Volume 5
Sonic X – Dub Volume 12
Zatch Bell – Dub Volume 8
Manga
February 13, 2007
Ai Yori Aoshi – Volume 15
Angel Sanctuary – Volume 18
Basara – Volume 22
Blame! – Volume 7
Broken Angels – Volume 4
Flame of Recca – Volume 22
GetBackers – Volume 17
Kingdom Hearts – Volume 2
Loveless – Volume 4
O-Parts Hunter – Volume 2
Samurai Deeper Kyo – Volume 21
Sensual Phrase – Volume 18
Sorcerer Hunters – Volume 8
Tenchi Muyo – Volume 10
Tramps Like Us – Volume 11
Welcome to the N.H.K. – Volume 2
February 14, 2007
Gunsmith Cats Omnibus – Volume 1
Oh My Goddess! – Volume 5
The Essentials
Name: Fullmetal Alchemist – The Movie: Conquerer of Shamballa, Gekijouban Hagane no Renkinjutsushi – Shanbara wo Yuku Mono
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy
Episodes: N/A
Released: July 23, 2005
Based On: sequal of Fullmetal Alchemist anime
Director: Seiji Mizushima
Produced By: Aniplex, Shochiku Film
US Distribution By: FUNimation
Major Japanese Cast
Edward Elric: Romi Paku
Alphonse Elric: Rie Kugimiya
Noah: Miyuu Sawai
Fritz Lang: Hidekatsu Shibata
Dietlinde Eckart: Kazuko Katou
Alphonse Heiderich: Shun Oguri
Roy Mustang: Toru Ohkawa
Alex Louis Armstrong: Kenji Utsumi
Winry Rockbell: Megumi Toyoguchi
Riza Hawkeye: Michiko Neya
Rudolf Hess: Rikiya Koyama
Envy/Dragon: Mayumi Yamaguchi
Wrath: Nana Mizuki
Officer Hughes: Keiji Fujiwara
Karl Haushoffer: Masane Tsukayama
Major English Cast
Edward Elric: Vic Mignogna
Alphonse Elric: Aaron Dismuke
Noah: Leah Clark
Fritz Lang: Ed Blaylock
Dietlinde Eckart: Kelly Manison
Alphonse Heiderich: Jason Liebrecht
Roy Mustang: Travis Willingham
Alex Louis Armstrong: Christopher R. Sabat
Winry Rockbell: Caitlin Glass
Riza Hawkeye, Rose Tomas: Colleen Clinkenbeard
Rudolf Hess: Jason Douglas
Envy/Dragon: Wendy Powell
Wrath: Luci Christian
Officer Hughes: Sonny Strait
Karl Haushoffer: John Swasey
Scores
Animation: 10/10 (x 4 = 40 pts)
Story: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Music: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: N/A
English Dubs: 8/10 (x 1 = 8 pts)
Gut Score: 9/10 (x 5 = 45 pts)
Total: 165/190 (91.7%)
Review
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie picks up where the TV series left off. Ed is in our world living with it’s version of Alphonse researching rocket technology. Meanwhile, the Alphonse in Amestris continues on his quest to find a way to bring Ed back to their world. Along the way, Alphonse arrives in Lior where Alex Louis Armstrong is helping to rebuild the city. However, suddenly a whole bunch of suit of armor pop out of a suddenly-created hole in the ground and start attacking, but Armstrong and Alphonse are able to beat them back.
Back on Earth, we find that the Nazi’s, in preparation to take over Germany via the ultimately failed Beer Hall Putsch, along with the Thule society are attempting to reach Amestris, which they believe to be the ancient fabled land of Shamballa, in order to take it’s power for themselves. (And indeed, the Nazis were in fact interested in discovering Shamballa – having sent several teams to Tibet to find it in the 1930s).
Meanwhile Edwards gets tangled up both with a gypsy named Noah, as well as an aspiring director called Fritz Lang which ultimately gets him entangled with the Nazi’s plot. Edward then must find a way to save Amestris from the eminent Nazi invasion.
The movie is primarily about Edward trying to figure out what the Thule Society is up to while Alphonse attempts to find away to bring Ed back. Unfortunately, both Edward and Alphonse unwittingly enable the leader of the Thule Society – the movie’s title character, The wannabe-Conquerer of Shamballa Dietlinde Eckart – to open the gate. Once open, it is up to Edward, Alphonse, and all of the state alchemists to defeat the intruders.
I thought this movie was pretty good, though given that most of it is set on earth, it is a different type of story than what progressed through the TV series. Sometimes I hate it when people mix a fictional story in the middle of historical events, but I think it worked well in this case, both because it took place during a little known event in pre-Nazi Germany known as the Beer Hall Putsch, and the fact that, besides the events of the story, the history of that event was, as far as I can tell, accurate.
I liked how they had a flashback to a story about Ed and Alphonse at the start to get people reoriented to the Fullmetal Alchemist universe, though admittedly, if you hadn’t watched the series, you probably wouldn’t understand much of what was going on anyway. Like the TV series, the movie has excellent animation quality and good music.
There isn’t much I could find wrong with this movie, though I do think that some of the leftover questions from the TV series weren’t sufficiently answered, and it almost begs for a sequal, even though there probably won’t be one. If you liked the Fullmetal Alchemist series, you’ll probably enjoy the movie. If you haven’t seen the TV series, watch that first, then come back to this.
First Watched: December 2006
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: Yes
Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast Episode #12
Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast Episode #12 is now online!
You can download it directly from the following address (14.1 MB):
Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast Episode #12
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 movie Ah! My Goddess: The Movie, increasing it’s rating to 87.2%
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!
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