Monthly Archives: April 2007

Anime Review - Love Hina Again: 47.2%

Monday, April 30, 2007 – 2:50 pm

The Essentials

Love HinaName: Love Hina Again
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Episodes: 3
Released: January 26, 2002 - March 27, 2002
Based On: Love Hina manga by Ken Akamatsu
Director: Yoshiaki Iwasaki
Produced By: XEBEC
US Distribution By: Bandai Entertainment

Major Japanese Cast

Naru Narusegawa: Yui Horie
Keitarou Urashima: Yuji Ueda
Kanako Urashima: Natsuko Kuwatani
Mitsune Konno: Junko Noda
Shinobu Maehara: Masayo Kurata
Kaolla Su: Reiko Takagi
Motoko Aoyama: Yuu Asakawa
Haruka Urashima: Megumi Hayashibara
Mutsumi Otohime: Satsuki Yukino
Sarah McDougal: Yumiko Kobayashi

Major English Cast

Naru Narusegawa: Dorothy Melendrez
Keitarou Urashima: David Umansky
Kanako Urashima: Tina Dixon
Mitsune Konno: Barbara Goodson
Shinobu Maehara: Ellen Arden
Kaolla Su: Wendee Lee
Motoko Aoyama: Mona Marshall
Haruka Urashima: Jane Alan
Mutsumi Otohime: Jean Howard
Sarah McDougal: Julie Maddalena

Scores

Animation: 6/10 (x 4 = 24 pts)
Story: 4/10 (x 4 = 16 pts)
Music: 6/10 (x 4 = 24 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: N/A
English Dubs: 6/10 (x 1 = 6 pts)
Gut Score: 3/10 (x 5 = 15 pts)

Total: 85/180 (47.2%)

Review

This is how you get Love Hina Again: Take Love Hina, completely erase the progress made by Naru and Keitarou in their relationship at the end of the series and in the specials and take the ridiculousness found in Love Hina and double it. If Love Hina was one of the biggest waste of resources ever in anime history, Love Hina Again probably contends for most brainless anime series ever created, ever.

The series starts when Keitarou breaks his leg on the first day of classes at Tokyo U. and, for some reason, has made him unable to attend classes. As a result, he decides to go after his life’s dream and go on an archaeological trip with Mr. Seta (how is going on an archaeological trip any easier with a broken leg?). Upon returning from his trip at the end of the first episode, nothing more is said about Keitarou’s supposed life dreams until the very end of the third episode when Mr. Seta saves him and Naru from the rampaging tenants of the Hinata Apartments.

While he’s gone, Keitarou’s step-sister, Kanako, arrives and announces that she is the new manager of Hinata Apartments. Kanako’s ultimate goal is to drive Naru away and having Keitarou for herself. How Kanako knows about Naru and Keitarou’s relationship, I’m not sure since Keitarou himself says that he hasn’t written Kanako. The rest of the series seems to be about Kanako not being able to make up her mind between trying to run Naru off and taking Keitarou for herself or trying to get Naru to profess her love to Keitarou which the creators of Love Hina Again apparently forgot she had already done previously in the franchise.

Throw in a magical closed down hotel which enforces romantic promises made within it’s premises (how did Naru and Keitarou break the spell the hotel put on Keitarou and Kanaka anyway?) and a flying and talking cat (so now we have flying turtles AND cats) and you get a story even more ridiculous than the series it is based on.

There is no appreciable improvement in the dub, music, or animation from the Love Hina series. If you were a fan of the original Love Hina, you may like Love Hina Again. However, if you are looking for Love Hina to redeem itself in this final OVA installment, you’ll be sorely disappointed.

First Watched: December 2005
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: No

By Josh | Posted in Anime Reviews | Tagged | Comments (0)

Where have I seen this before?

Sunday, April 29, 2007 – 9:03 pm

From the Associated Press via MSNBC: Mind-reading toys could revolutionize play

A convincing twin of Darth Vader stalks the beige cubicles of a Silicon Valley office, complete with ominous black mask, cape and light saber.

But this is no chintzy Halloween costume. It’s a prototype, years in the making, of a toy that incorporates brain wave-reading technology.

Behind the mask is a sensor that touches the user’s forehead and reads the brain’s electrical signals, then sends them to a wireless receiver inside the saber, which lights up when the user is concentrating. The player maintains focus by channeling thoughts on any fixed mental image, or thinking specifically about keeping the light sword on. When the mind wanders, the wand goes dark.

Where have I seen this before? Oh yes! From Angelic Layer. In fact, this technology works almost exactly has it is displayed in the anime series. There may be other anime or other shows that have similar things, but thats what I think of first.

NeuroSky chief Technology Officer KooHyoung Lee, left, staffer Cynthia Lee, center, and software engineer Horance Ko, right, don the company’s brain wave-reading headsets.

Hatako angelic layer

By Josh | Posted in General Blather | Tagged | Comments (0)

Input wanted: New anime fan site

Sunday, April 29, 2007 – 7:06 pm

I’ve been playing around with creating an Angelic Layer fan site for a while, and it keeps going on and off my radar, and right now it’s back on. I have a basic website up (no links or anything) but I wanted to get opinions on it.

Here is a link to it: http://www.calculusman.com/angelic/

Consider this post a place to put your comments about the design or whatever else about the website.

By Josh | Posted in General Blather | Tagged | Comments (0)

Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast Episode #22

Saturday, April 28, 2007 – 9:43 pm

Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast Episode #22 is now online! In this podcast, I re-review the anime series Koi Kaze.

You can now listen to my podcasts directly from this blog via this flash player:

Or you can still download it from here or from iTunes. (18.4 MB)

You can also download or add my podcast-only RSS feed to your favorite reader:
http://www.joshsanimeblog.com/podcast/podcast.rss

Enjoy!

By Josh | Posted in Podcasts | Tagged | Comments (0)

Nagasarete Airantou - Episode 03

Thursday, April 26, 2007 – 11:09 pm

This episode of Nagasarete Airantou is all about doing work around the island. Now, you wouldn’t expect working on the island would necessarily be extraordinary. Hard, especially for someone not used to it perhaps, but not something that you would expect to be very unusual. Ikuto finds out the hard way that this isn’t necessarily the case.

Nagasarete Airantou Episode 3 - Whats a cellphone?
What’s a cellphone?
Nagasarete Airantou Episode 3 - Time to do some work Nagasarete Airantou Episode 3 - I’ll Help
Time to do some work! I’ll Help!

Read More »

By Josh | Posted in Nagasarete Airantou | Comments (0)

Anime Review - Castle in the Sky: 82.2%

Wednesday, April 25, 2007 – 12:45 pm

The Essentials

Castle in the SkyName: Castle in the Sky, Laputa
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy
Episodes: N/A
Released: August 2, 1986
Based On: N/A
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Produced By: Studio Ghibli
US Distribution By: Walt Disney

Major Japanese Cast

Sheeta: Keiko Yokozawa
Pazu: Mayumi Tanaka
Dola: Kotoe Hatsui
Colonel Muska: Nou Terada
General: Ichirô Nagai

Major English Cast

Sheeta: Anna Paquin
Pazu: James Van Der Beek
Dola: Cloris Leachman
Colonel Muska: Mark Hamill
General: Jim Cummings

Scores

Animation: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Story: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Music: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: N/A
English Dubs: 9/10 (x 1 = 9 pts)
Gut Score: 7/10 (x 5 = 35 pts)

Total: 148/180 (82.2%)

Review

Castle in the Sky is a movie about Sheeta, a girl who keeps a mysterious jewel around her neck - a jewel which it appears that both the military and a gang of pirates are after in order to reveal its secrets. The jewel reveals itself to have special powers after Sheeta falls off an airship but is saved when the jewel causes her to float down safely.

Pazu, a helper in a mine, catches the floating Sheeta and takes her to his house until she wakes up. Upon waking up and exploring the house, Sheeta sees a picture of the legendary floating island of Laputa. Pazu says that his father saw it, but was ridiculed as a liar by those who no longer believe that Laputa is real. Pazu says that he wants to prove that Laputa exists.

However, it’s not long until both the military and the pirates find Sheeta again and she and Pazu must run for it. What follows is an adventure filled story exposing the secret past of Sheeta, Laputa, and the men who wants Sheeta’s jewel.

There is some action and suspense, which gets heightened when the major twist in the story is revealed during the movie’s climax. Until the characters actually get to Laputa, the movie has a rather single minded plot: everyone is after Sheeta’s jewel. The military wants it because they want the power that Laputa possesses. The pirates want it because they believe (and rightfully so) that Laputa is full of treasure (a point that the military doesn’t miss either). Also, a mysterious man who is helping the military wants it for himself for his own person reasons as well.

While this film doesn’t have quite as strong of an environmentalist message as other Ghibli films, it still gives time to appreciate nature and one machine’s endless pursuit to keep the garden of Laputa upkept - a robot now immortalized as a model statue standing outside the Ghibli Museum.

Castle in the Sky is, overall, a pretty good family film. I didn’t think it was quite as exciting as other Ghibli films, but I still enjoyed it. The animation is pretty good considering it’s 1986 release and the music is excellent. The English dubs, as usual with Disney releases of Ghibli works, is very good as well. I think a lot of different people would enjoy this movie, young and old alike.

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

By Josh | Posted in Anime Reviews | Tagged | Comments (0)

Anime DVD and Manga releases for April 24 - April 30

Tuesday, April 24, 2007 – 3:45 pm

Anime

Loveless Box SetApril 24, 2007
Inu Yasha - Volume 53
Loveless - Box Set
Naruto - Volume 11 (dub)
Nerima Daikon Brothers - Volume 3
One Piece - Volume 8 (dub)
Saiyuki Gunlock - Volume 7
Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars - Thinpak Box
The Prince of Tennis - Box Set 1
Trinity Blood - Volume 6

Manga

GALS! Manga Volume 10April 24, 2007
To Terra - Volume 2

April 25, 2007
Gunsmith Cats Burst - Volume 1
Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ - Volume 2
Murder Princess - Volume 1
Rin! - Volume 3
Vampire Hunter D - Volume 7

April 28, 2007
Iron Wok Jan - Volume 24
Key Princess Story: Eternal Alice Rondo - Volume 3

April 30, 2007
After School Nightmare - Volume 3
Blood Alone - Volume 3
Canon - Volume 1
Cipher - Volume 7
Cromartie High School - Volume 10
Densha Otoko - Volume 3
Eureka 7 - Volume 5
GALS! - Volume 10
Night of the Beasts - Volume 3
Path of the Assassin - Volume 6
Penguin Revolution - Volume 3
The Recipe for Gertrude - Volume 4
TRAIN+TRAIN - Volume 2

By Josh | Posted in Anime & Manga Releases | Comments (0)

Nagasarete Airantou - Episode 02

Monday, April 23, 2007 – 1:57 am

Episode 2 begins with Suzu explaining to Ikuto exactly why the island has no male inhabitants. When males still lived on the island, every year they would all go out to sea and participate in a large fish catching tournament. Then, twelve years ago, a tsunami that only comes around every 100 years came and washed the ships away, along with all the island’s men.

Nagasarete Airantou Episode 2 - The males go on a Fishing Tournament
Yeah! We caught some BIG fish!
Nagasarete Airantou Episode 2 - Ayane Visits Nagasarete Airantou Episode 2 - Why Suzu Needs Clothes
Ayane wants a sleepover with Ikuto too. This is why Ikuto told Suzu to put on her clothes.

Read More »

By Josh | Posted in Nagasarete Airantou | Comments (0)

Ok, this is the plan

Sunday, April 22, 2007 – 11:43 pm

The Nagasarete Airantou Episode 2 writeup is going up soon after I write them (I’ll start working on it right after this is posted).  That will be my post for Monday.  As for my review, that usually goes up on Monday, I guess I’ll post that on Wednesday and just skip the “What I Want to Watch” segment next week, but I haven’t decided that yet.

I still plan on getting the Episode 3 writeup online this upcoming Thursday.

Oh, and if wordpress is correct, the Episode 2 writeup will be my 2ooth post on this blog.

By Josh | Posted in General Blather | Comments (0)

Studio BONES

Sunday, April 22, 2007 – 2:17 am

BONES is well known to have many quality anime productions come out of it’s offices, many of them I’ve seen, and many of them I plan on seeing. This is just kind of a “I wanted to find out about this” post, but here is a list of anime series they’ve produced (not just did animation production, but the actual production as well), and the scores I gave them If I’ve reviewed them:

Escaflowne: The Movie (June 2000)
Clockwork Fighters Hiwou’s War (October 2000 - May 2001)
Angelic Layer (April - September 2001) - 91%
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (September 2001) - 85.6%
RahXephon (January - September 2002)
Wolf’s Rain (January - July 2003)
RahXeopon: The Movie (April 2003)
Scrapped Princess (April - October 2003) - Watched but haven’t reviewed
Fullmetal Alchemist (October 2003 - October 2004) - 90.5%
Mars Daybreak (April - September 2004)
Kurau: Phantom Memory (June - December 2004)
Fafner (July - December 2004)
Ouran High School Host Club (April - September 2006)
Ayakashi Ayashi (October 2006 - March 2007)
The Skullman (April 2007 - )

So I’ve watched 4, and reviewed 3 with an average score of 89%, with at least one more on my imminent watch list. BONES has almost become to anime like CLAMP has become to manga - I almost get attracted to a series based solely on who creates it and not necessarily what I’ve read about it. So far, that’s worked out reasonably well.

By Josh | Posted in Various | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)