Category: Anime review

Drawn Together

drawn together

There are some things that once seen, cannot be unseen: this is one of the few times it’s a compliment. Many don’t remember Drawn Together, but those that watched it remember it DAMN well. Not everyday you see a Veggie-Tale go postal, a superhero and a pig wash a homeless guys balls, or the most feared creature in our live action universe: live action squirrel with incredibly huge balls! That kind of crazy shit.

Drawn Together is a animated reality show about animated characters living in a house. Captain Hero, Foxy Luv, Toot, Spanky Ham, Xander, Waldor Sockbat, and Ling-ling are representations of characters we all grew up with which leads to some insanely outrageous moments during it’s three seasons. And I warn you now, if you aren’t into raunchy comedy, skip this like swimming in a pool of plague bodies. Over a decade after it aired, it holds up well but I do recommend watching it unedited. I highly recommend this show for it’s great premise, funny characters, and unforgettable moments. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

High School of the Dead

high school of the dead

I’m sure someone somewhere is rolling there eyes just at the title of this anime alone, because zombies are well…dead. Millions of these undead bastards have plagued our media for the past near 2 decades. There are gems but many suck and many just need to stop (I’m talking to you Walking Dead).

Basic premise of this anime: a random group of kids and the busty school nurse at a prestigious high school must band together to survive the zombie apocalypse. That is pretty much it. We never learn what caused the zombies, which I’m fine with, and we don’t even really know if the zombies were defeated at the end and the human race won, not just our heroes. I liked that too. Like many zombie films, there is a deeper meaning behind them and what I took away was the zombie apocalypse as a metaphor for the real world outside high school bleeding into the drama filled lives of these varied teens.

While not exceptional, it was a nice breath of fresh madness in a sub-genre played to death. It has fun characters you grow to care about and you do see them grow as the show continues. There is plenty of awesome kills and the animation is damn good. What stole my heart is the huge WTF factor at play, like a kid using his ex girlfriends boobs to stabilize his AK 47 during a firefight or the random moments you that make you laugh out WTF. I’m sure Savior had a blast reading my confused texts that night. My only real complaint is that I do wish there was more and that it does take a little bit to find it’s groove. I recommend this as a fun, crazy ass anime for horror fans and zombie fans. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

X-men: Evolution

xmen evolution

A very underappreciated show from my childhood that blends teen drama with superheroes, X-Men: Evolution was a short lived show that changed my life and helped me see things. Not only do we get to see our favorites like Wolvy, Cyclops, Storm, and Beast, but we get many other favorites throughout like Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Spyke, and a huge host of others as well as villians like Magneto, Mystique, Sabretooth, and Apocalypse at the very end. While the show doesn’t reach as far out into the lore like it’s 90’s counterpart did, it dwells on the lives and depth of its characters just as much. There are more characters that are more flushed out than others and because of the early 2000’s timing, it can’t come as close to the dark subject matter as the 90’s cartoon could get away with. I did find myself attached to it’s characters though.and there is some cool action throughout. In the end, it is worth checking out. Best wishes an may the gaming gods bring you glory.

X-Men the animated series

xmen animated

Only in comparison to Batman’s animated series, there was X-Men’s and Spider-man’s. The 90’s X-men series recounted some of the mutants most coolest adventures whether fighting the Murlocks or The Brotherhood of Mutants or the planet shattering Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix sagas. We get to join our favorites like Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Gambit, Beast, Jean Grey, and Professor X and many others throughout the series. It is a pretty dark show and there is a lot of social commentary for the older folks like myself. A small problem I have with the layout is there is A LOT of cliffhangers and you find yourself getting slightly annoyed by the sometimes lengthy arcs; it’s not really a show you you can often sit down, watch a episode or two, and be satisfied. I feel more comic book fans will enjoy the series more than the casual viewer but for the hardcore X Men fans, this is for you. On a final note, the opening theme is addictive as hell. May the gaming gods bring you glory and best wishes.

Batman: Sub Zero

batman subzero

Subzero is a movie based around the animated series. Victor Fries loved his wife Nora with all his heart and was devastated when she became inflicted with a terminal illness; until he could find a cure, he froze her in suspended animation. After a tragic turn of events, Victor was mutated by his own cryogenic science and became Mr Freeze. With time ticking, he has a final option to save Nora but there seems to be only one match for her: Barbara Gordon. Kidnapping Barbara, Batgirl, it’s up to Batman and Robin to rescue her before Freeze may end up killing Barbara. I always loved Mr Freeze so I was glad he got an appropriate movie (we all know about the other Mr Freeze film). If you loved the animated series, you’ll love this movie. It does feel like a long episode but still has great performances and some sweet action. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Batman: the animated series

batman animated

“I am vengeance. I am the night. I AM BATMAN!”- Kevin Conroy, portraying Batman and delivering the greatest I am speech of all time. Any 90’s nerd knows the classic opening noir with Danny Elfman’s perfect score and feels a chill when we catch that iconic image of Batman before the show begins. With four seasons, and four animated movies, Batman was edgy and dark as hell for a kid’s show. With dark, complex adult plots and extremely well acted characters the show didn’t pull punches. Whether it was the tragic two part Two-Face origin episode, or the creepy ass Mad Hatter episode to flushing out the epic story of Ras Al Ghul, we got to see the darker side of Batman’s lore come out. Not to say the show was all doom and gloom. Robin added some levity without being annoying or dragging the show down as much as Joker and Harley frequently brought on laughs without taking away from there menace. Kevin Conroy delivers a masterful voice performance as Bruce Wayne and Batman while Mark Hamill is iconic as Joker but there is too many great performances to name. I will say the suddenly artistic reset in season 4 may jar many fans, especially Joker’s appearance which is the worst of that seasons redesigns but the stories and voices remain just as good. In the end, I highly recommend the show to pretty much anyone. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Fullmetal Alchemist

fma

The ultimate rule to alchemy is equivalent exchange, you never get anything without a price for it. There are very few times in life I see something that totally shakes my life up and changes my outlook on a genre or a art form. Fullmetal Alchemist did this for me.

Edward and Alphonse Elrich are young brothers who have seen tragedy: their father is out to war and their mother tragically dies. In an attempt to revive her with alchemy, the brothers fail and are left nearly dead. Edward without his arm and leg, and Alphonse without a body, instead his soul encased in a suit of  armor. Edward, becoming a State Alchemist after being recruited by the Flame Alchemist Roy Mustang, vows to gain the knowledge and skill to set things right, setting forth on  an a epic journey with his brother to set everything wrong, fix the wrongs of the world around them, and face the embodiments of there sins and the people in there past…

Fullmetal Alchemist is probably the most heartfelt anime I’ve ever watched, weaving touching genuinely touching moments with pure tragic times. The characters are all compelling and memorable. Alchemy is a fascinating and imaginative power. The only real flaw I can see is the ending is a bit anti climatic and while exciting and captivating, it lacks the action level of say DBZ or Bleach but I’ve been told Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is more action packed, though I haven’t watched it yet. I highly recommend this fantastic anime. May the gaming gods bring you glory and best wishes everyone.

Knights of Sidonia

knights of sidonia

You ever wish John Carpenter’s Thing was mixed with space mechs or J.J. Abrams Star Trek was creepier? Well, here you go. Sidonia is the last bit of humanity left, a militarized colony in space, struggling to battle the Guana- giant, fleshy space creatures that cause mass devastation. Sidonia’s main defense are the Knights, mechanized suits of weaponized armor. Upon the brink of destruction, a young man emerges with an uncanny gift to pilot, but will that be enough to save him and humanity from the threats inside and out?

My feelings here are pretty mixed. Regardless, the show looks beautiful. My problem is I was truly invested in season 1, addicted even. There was intrigue, danger, creepy shit, and messed up political scheming going down. After the first season though, two fell flat for me. I couldn’t really dig the direction the story was going in; in lames terms it blew its load too soon, pardon the expression. If you watch season 1, its a fast, exciting, and creepy space adventure. After that- meh. May the gaming gods bring you glory and best wishes everyone.

Another

another

“What happened in Class 3 twenty six years ago?” is the question that drives this strange, tragic and creepy anime. The story follows a class of kids that have the misfortune of being in a cursed class. Every year, if there is a Extra involved in there class, people in the class and there families begin dying. To counteract this, the school pretends a unlucky kid doesn’t exist as part of a tradition. New kid Koichi isn’t aware of this and acknowledges pale, one eyed girl Mei and so begins the curse and the fear who will go next as these kids try to discover how to break the curse.

I’m going to say this anime stole my heart with it’s creepy atmospheric tension, engaging and likable characters and great dialogue as part of a fascinating mystery. I binge watched the hell out of the short 12 episode series. For those new to anime and love a good psychological horror mystery or want a good quick anime to binge watch, I highly recommend Another. May the gaming gods bring you glory and best wishes everyone.

Tokyo Ghoul (season 1)

tg1

In many ways I consider Tokyo Ghoul the spiritual successor to Deadman Wonderland but there’s a beautiful sense of madness, beauty, and pathos to this story. Keneke is a quiet bookworm all alone in the world except for his best friend. Until he meets a beautiful girl who enjoys the same literature he does, but all is not what it seems. She is a ghoul, a flesh eating beast that is resilient and powerful and wants to eat Keneke. Through the accident the beast is dead but by a twist of fate, her organs were accidentally transplanted into him and suddenly he isn’t the same, left with the mind of a human and the stomach of a ghoul. Suddenly Keneke is thrust into a dark underbelly of monsters and a relentless task force meant to slay his kind, but he must wonder what really makes a monster…

This is one of my favorites artiscally, while gory, there is a breathtaking amount of vibrant color mixed with a lot of gothic and noir elements. Also I’m in love with the opening credits and the song Unravel. The characters are really good and the world itself is pretty fascinating. I will warn you, this is a very violent and towards the end of the season, very disturbing show so if you get sick around blood and torture, this isn’t for you. I do recommend this to anime and horror fans alike. May the gaming gods bring you glory and best wishes everyone.