Category: Anime review

Dead Space: Downfall

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I’m going to admit, I’m not a fan of most video game cross media tie ins. Most somehow usually don’t translate well into other medias. Dead Space + anime+ horror film = a confused Torsten at first, but they all came together as one giant terror sundae.

Downfall is an anime prequel film about what happened to the Ishimura before Issac’s team showed up. The story begins with the discovery of the marker on Aegis 7 and how it screws with the minds of the crew, leading to murders and hallucinations. Our main character is head of security Alissa Vincent and her team as they start battling the creatures. We also follow Dr. Kyne, a alley we had in the game, who witnessed the madness of the marker and has to face off against the ship’s captain, losing his mind under his belief in the marker.

Dead Space: Downfall does remarkably well standing alone as a horror movie and a prequel to the game. They did amazing recreating locations, voices, and maintaining the look of the game. If you love the game, you’ll appreciate this film. If you love gory anime, you also won’t be disappointed. This movie is fast, disturbing, and full of good horror and characters. I highly recommend it to any fan of the games or anyone who wants to watch some creepy anime and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Deadman Wonderland

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I love anime but sadly I don’t watch nowhere near as much as I would like to. My third favorite of all time is a very short, sadly cut short anime called Deadman Wonderland. It was shocking, raw, and made me rethink my own passion project, so it can be something different than most so I owe it a lot.

Deadman Wonderland is the story of young Ganta Igarashi, a ordinary middle school who’s life goes nightmarish when a mysterious figure known as the Wretched Egg appears and slaughters Ganta’s friends and entire class with a strange power, leaving Ganta the sole survivor. Camera footage is found framing Ganta for the brutal murders and he is sentenced to life in the newest prison/ tourist attraction called Deadman Wonderland. To the public, prison’s risk there lives in deadly games in exchange for antidote to a poison there are injected with via collar they are forced to wear around there necks. Security is tight and Ganta is pushed to his breaking point by the sick inmates and horrible sights, but he finds a old forgotten friend in Shiro, a strange girl always following Ganta. During a brief encounter with a Wretched Egg, Ganta discovers the key to his salvation and damnation, his Branch of Sin- his blood is a weapon, when he bleeds he can gather it and fire it as a hard projectile. Suddenly he is taken from the general populace and introduced to Carnival Corpse, an underground fighting arena dedicated to others inflicted with the Branch of Sin like The Crow who can form long, curved blades from his slashed wrists or Hummingbird who fuses the blood from her ears into her hair like living razor wire. When things look at there worst, Ganta, now called Woodpecker, discovers a resistance of Deadmen inside the prison, readying to plot there escape, can they escape all the horrors Deadman Wonderland holds inside?

Deadman Wonderland is a sad case. The series was prematurely cut because of legal bullshit so it feels messy at the end of it’s 12 main episodes. I say this because there is a bonus 13th episode that is a Crow origin episode. You can tell if it had 12 or 14 more episodes it could have ended more more tightly but they did ok regardless. Artistically the show is beautiful and the characters are compelling. I love the Branch of Sin; my favorite is Owl’s, leader of the resistance, who can form his blood into grenades. The opening song, One reason- Fade, is probably one of my favorite anime songs of all time. I warn the faint of heart, don’t watch if you can’t handle blood, torture, images of rape, vulgar language or dismemberment. If you can get past all that, there is a lot to be said inside of it’s short narrative and I highly recommend it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox

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Another great comic I wanted to read and one of Flash’s greatest stories that inspired much of season 3 of the show as well as rumor has it is looking up to being the focus of DCEU’s solo Flash movie.

We join Flash, Barry Allen, as he goes about his normal life as the Scarlet Speedster. Fastest man alive. Life is ok, but could be better. Barry’s driving force is the death of his mom Nora, the death that put his dad away for a murder he never committed. A conflict with Flash’s greatest nemesis, Eobard Thawne- Reverse Flash, brings Barry the oppertunity to have his dreams comes true: Thawne gives Barry the chance to travel back and save his mom. He takes the chance and saves her, causing one huge bitch of a paradox. Barry wakes up one day and discovers himself powerless but happy, but the world around him a dark mirror of itself on the brink of WW3 between Themyscira and Atlantis, where Bruce Wayne was shot dead in Crime Alley as a kid and Thomas Wayne became a malevolent, cruel Batman, and Superman was found by the US government instead of the Kents and experimented and locked away. Barry is powerless and alone, realizing his dream meant the suffering of millions.

I have to say this was my favorite DC animated movie so far. Batman was my favorite part, twisted and sad. If you love Flash or are one of those people who think comic books or superheroes can’t tell great stories, I urge you to check this animated movie out on Netflix. May the gaming gods bring you glory and best wishes.

Shiki

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I don’t think I’ve seen an anime that made shift my opinions so rapidly in the span of 26 episodes, ranging from “this sucks balls” to “dammmm”. A little personnel background with me and the anime, I jumped into this because of probably the most deceiving trailer I’ve ever seen in my entire like. The trailer made this look like a ultra dark, grim, almost found footage vampire story and was going to be really disturbing and creepy and…no. This is not the case at all. If you caught my Salem’s Lot review, you’ll recall I called Shiki the anime version of Salem’s Lot and essentially that isn’t wrong. Pretty much a mysterious family moves into a quiet, sleepy little village town and people start dying mysterious deaths. First they get lethargic with flu kind of symptoms and die. The town doctor and a fairly emo high schooler are the only people that see these are vampire attacks and at the end the series abruptly switches paces and holy shit becomes a six episode vampire snuff film. I don’t call myself a anime connoisseur, but I know what I like and I don’t hate it Shiki but it’s my least favorite for three reasons. First, the pacing sucks. The first ten episodes drag and frankly I wasn’t even really invested until episode 14 or so. Secondly, this show feels way more like a soap opera than it should and that drags it down I feel. Third, it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. Salem’s Lot didn’t either but it had a good story to back it up. The story was fine but none really stuck out to me, hell I can’t even remember any names really. The ending does make up for it a bit, and there is a pathos to the vampires being slaughtered.  I like the designs for the vampires, with the ultra pale skin and giant black and red eyes; the score is fitting and nice. I can’t really recommend it unless you’re a hardcore vampire or anime fan, or you want to see a great fuck you to a truly annoying character that made my day- I will give it that. As always thank you and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Claymore

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Do you enjoy sexy ladies, giant monsters, crazy ass sword fights, or mi-devil stories? If you said yes to one or more of these things, Claymore is an anime for you. Set in what I take to be mid evil times, people are in fear of humaniod beasts called Yoma. These things are vicious as hell and pretty unkillable, except for a Claymore. A Claymore is a human female/ Yoma hybrid trained as a warrior to kill the beasts; they are faster, stronger, have ridiculously quick reflexes, and rarely age. It has to be a young woman that is changed, males don’t react favorable to the hybrid process. They are controlled by a mysterious Organization, who collect money for the Claymore clearing the town. So essentially they are pimps. Any way, our main focus is on a Claymore named Claire and her human companion boy Rocky as she aims to destroy a talented Claymore turned full Yoma who murdered Teresa, the once greatest Claymore and who had saved Claire as she herself saved Rocky.  I loved almost everything about this series but towards the end it starts to drag a little for me. While I usually don’t like happy endings, I was really invested in Claire and Rocky’s friendship, as I was Claire and Teresa’s. I love Skyrim and the scenery and score reminded me of it a little bit. This show features one of my favorite fights in all of anime, Teresa the ranked #1 Claymore vs 2-5 and it’s gorgeous and badass to watch. If you want a short but rich anime to watch, I highly recommend Claymore and you can find it all dubbed on Hulu. As always thank you and may the gaming gods be with you.

Hellsing Ultimate

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It’s been awhile but I’m finally back with part three of my best and worst of vampires thread. Let’s face it, if you caught my last two parts you can probably guess what part three and four of the worst will be. It’s quite obvious really. But the best parts likely aren’t. So I’m here to talk a little bit about my favorite interpretation of Dracula ever, Alucard. Specifically Hellsing Ultimate; I’ve never actually watched the first anime but I’ve been told by many that Ultimate,  which follows the manga more closely than the first, is far superior. So Hellsing Ultimate is the story of the Hellsing Organization led by Integra Windgates Hellsing, descendant of the famous Van Helsing continuing to keep Great Britain safe from the creatures of the night. Her personal guard and secret weapon is Alucard, a very powerful, ancient vampire that has served the Helsings for ages back. Occasionally killing lesser vampires and fighting the never ending grudge with rival and nemesis Alexander Anderson, a catholic priest with grand regenerative abilities from a rival organization.  Alucard, known for being cruel and ruthless, takes pity on a dying police woman named Seras Victoria and turns her into vampire instead of letting her die. We follow Alucard and the rest of the Hellsing Organization as a devastating plot unfolds involving Nazi vampires, a over militarized Vatican, an android and treason from within themselves.

Holy shit this anime is crazy but so incredible it has to be seen. Crispin Freeman as Alucard steals the show for me. In fact, the main characters are all deep and well developed. This series avoids a lot of modern day vampire tropes which is refreshing: Alucard DOES NOT fall in love wit either female lead nor is a “sensitive monster”, the female leads are strong, ground, thoughtful women- not damsels in distress, and Alucard isn’t creepy or brooding. He’s a fucking pimp but isn’t Bela Lagosi. I love that Hellsing Ultimate pulls no punches dealing with religious, sexual, political, or historical subject matter but keeps an elegance to it. Instead of standard 30 minute episodes, there is only 10 but each is like a mini movie which is cool. Definitely check out Hellsing Ultimate if you like Dracula, vampires, crazy shit, or bloody anime. As always thank you for reading and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Trigun

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Admittedly when I watched this anime as first, I thought it was kind of stupid. Damn how wrong I was. Something I thought was goofy turned out to be pretty dark and cleaver and now I give it a lot of respect for a truly great lead character in Vash the Stampede.

Trigun is the story of the world’s greatest, most notorious fugitive Vash the Stampede, known for wiping out an entire town all by himself. He’s being pursued by Meryll Stryfe and Milly Thompson, two insurance agents trying to caputure him for the high insurance costs he causes as well as the slew of others who want to cash in on the sixty billion double dollar bounty on Vash’s head. He appears as a tall drifter in a long red coat, long buckled gloves, spiky blond hair, and amber tinted granny style sunglasses armed with a big ass revolver. At first glance he’s intimidating until we start to see him as a clumsy, childlike idiot that uses seemingly uses dumb luck to evade his captors. Slowly we discover Vash’s true nature as a highly calculated badass who refuses to kill. He forms a friendship with the ladies trying to book him and a lonely priest named Nicholas Wolfwood with a huge badass cross. In the end we discover vash’s true tragic origin and how he was forced into his horrible crime by the only person as mysterious and dangerous as Vash, his maniacal and bloodthirsty brother Knives…

I applaud this anime for tricking me so convincingly into thinking it’s something it’s not. As I said, I thought it was a western spoof in anime form. It is but isn’t. Vash is a deep well as character, both fun but tragic, and I’d say one of my favorite heroes in anime. I love the old west setting. The characters are memorable and with a second rewatching, the series gets better. My only real complaint is Knives is a little bit cookie cutter and underutilized but still great. Definitely check it out on Hulu and as always, thank you all for reading, special thanks to our old friend and Battlebuddy Sniperelitest for introducing me to the anime in the first place, and my the gaming gods be with you.

 

Invader Zim

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Zim and Gir will always be close to my heart. This Nickelodeon cartoon was creepy if not damn right disturbing at times but had a sort of dark manic humor that your average early 2000’s cartoon didn’t have, that was quickly dying with the 90’s. Invader Zim is the story of Zim, a disgraced alien conqueror sent to Earth on a bogus mission with his lovable but defective servant droid Gir as they try desperately to conquer our world undetected. But Dib suspects Zim’s secret, a young man in Zim’s class obsessed with aliens and government conspiracies who wants to go down in history for dissecting Zim….This show pushed a lot of boundaries with it’s more mature themes like Zim stealing organs because he’s afraid the school nurse will discover he ain’t human, that always stuck with me. I don’t recommend this to the easily creeped or weirded out but for that insane weird kid at heart, definitely worth watching on Hulu.

Death note

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So in the fabled year of 2014 when life was Ok and I was almost another person in almost another life, a close friend and original battlebuddy SniperElitest gave me an amazing B-day gift: the complete Death Note anime collection and after that I got hooked into anime. Many people who stereotype anime as violent cartoons full of flashing lights and tall haired buff people that fight and kill each other need to watch this particular anime. Duke, thought Dragonball Z was drawn out and boring so thinking outside the box I introduced him to Death note and he fell in love with anime too. Death Note is the story of bored genius teen Light Yagumi who one day comes across a mysterious notebook called “Death Note” that falls from the sky. He takes it home with him and reads the rules inscribed in it: the first being that anyone’s name whose written in the Death Note will die as long as the owner can picture the victim’s face in there mind. Light is visited by a strange creature, a Shinigami- a death god named Ryuk who sheds light on the situation and helps explain the power of the note, urging Light to try it. Light discovers it’s power are true, watching a robber die just how he wrote it. Light decides to use the Death Note to rid the world of it’s evil people, acting as the “god of the new world” under the moniker Kira- or “Killer”. The world becomes enthralled with the phenomenon, murderers, corrupt officials, warlords, terrorists, child molesters and rapists all magically dropping dead or coincidentally succumbing to fatal accidents. Light’s father is in charge of the task force in charge of hunting down Kira, but on there own they are no match for his intellect. Until L comes along, a odd famous investigator that reaches out to the police to help them catch Kira. From the start, L proves to be a match for Kira’s intelligence, suspecting Light is Kira from the get go. He keeps tabs on Light, watching every move he makes but Light manages to prevail. But a disturbing revalation comes to both L and Light when a second Kira emerges with another note of there own. Enter Misa-misa, a air headed model and pop culture sensation obsessed with Kira who falls madly in love with Light. Ryuk tells Light of a special “deal” the owner of a Death Note and a shinigami can make- in exchange for half the owner’s life span, the owner can borrow there sight and suddenly see the full names of anyone he sees. Misa made the deal with hers. Light charms her into being his accomplice while him and L clash wits and minds as the new world unfolds…but who will come out on top?

The anime is great, not one of my favorites but amazing all the same. It drags and being 37 episodes that says something but it’s full of complex thoughts between the main characters so I can understand. The music is catchy as hell; the animation is gorgeous. Definitely watch it…

So the Americanized Netflix movie? Eh…I hated it. It took the basic premise of Death Note, took out most of the twists and turns and gave us a emo teen romance story. Light Yagumi went from a character starting out as someone with good intentions that becomes a relentless murderer with a god complex who will do ANYTHING to reach his goal. In fact, when he freaks out over the very idea of killing his dad killed the movie for me; in the anime, when push came to shove he did and didn’t have one shred of remorse for it. Mia (formerly sweet, idiot Misa-misa) was more of what Light was supposed to be like. Another huge problem I had was that Ryuk was clearly the villain and actively tried to screw Light where the anime made Ryuk a grim spectator, unable to interfere with the note. The score is replaced by music that reminds me of a more emo John Carpenter knock off. Willem Dafoe is by far the best part of this thing as the voice of Ryuk and the dude who plays L is ok; there’s some decent Final destination style kills but that’s about the best it’s got to offer for me. Don’t watch this if you saw the anime first, you will get pissed.

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Cowboy Bebop

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I got giddy as hell just prepping this review; so many memories! Cowboy Bebop is a fascinating specimen of anime. One part space odyssey, one part soap opera noir, some ass kicking fights, all wrapped in stunning animation and a soulful blend of jazz and the blues creating a story of four bounty hunters and a dog going through space trying to make it rich and avoid old pasts. Our main characters (from left to right on the poster above) are Spike Spiegel, Faye Valentine, Jet Black, and Ed (and I can’t forget Ein, the dog.) Each is a deeply rich character that leaves an impression. Spike is a lazy, good hearted fighter escaping his past with a deadly gang; Faye is a woman who had been Cryo frozen, broken hearted, and now breaks hearts for money; Jet is a tough ex cop with a synthetic arm and head of the ship; and Ed is a super smart, super quirky 11 year old hacker with no past we know of but her love of Ein.

Right from the get go with the opening theme titled Tank! you immediately feel pumped up and ready to go. No matter how bummed out I am, just hearing that classic opening spreads a smile on my face and a second wind in my soul. The show isn’t very long, about 26 episodes, but it fits right. Every episode gives you a little something different, though overall there is a beautiful sense of melancholy artists rarely capture without making it too depressing. The action is cool and more plausible than most other anime; in fact, although a Japanese anime, Cowboy Bebop feels very American, like a livelier Blade Runner with jazz music. If anime has ever seemed too over the top or too weird for you, I suggest Cowboy Bebop for an fan of drama, anime, or great music. See ya next time cowboy and may the gaming gods be with you.