Categories
Reviews

Black Lagoon – 7 – Personality clash

The ticking time bomb of Revy’s personality finally explodes in the face of Rock, though gratefully he also snaps back and unfurls a passionate rant all of his own. It’s easy to imagine Rock being your typical male doormat, but here he stands up for himself and proves he too has an unbreakable steely quality beneath his tentative nature.
Revy, who often uses Rock’s middle-class background as a reason to insult him, is firmly put in her place and suddenly they have a new-found respect for one another. Rock has proven to Revy that he is willing to risk it all for the Lagoon, even if it took a black-eye and a gun to the head.
Amidst all this, there is treasure chest of absurd humour and quirky gimmicks to found in a wily mob of arms-dealing, drugs-smuggling nuns; all headed up by a sweet old lady with a specific taste for quality tea. I love how Black Lagoon is set in such a dead-pan and colourful paradise for unconventional criminals of all shapes, scars and sizes!

Categories
Reviews

Black Lagoon – 5 to 6 – Nonchalant massacre of Neo-Nazis

It’s clear by now that Black Lagoon will be Rock and Revy’s show; the action scenes in these episodes are as expected absolutely kick ass, though the majority of what Black Lagoon is driving at is Revy’s humanity (or lack there of). Having slaughtered dozens of Neo-Nazi bastards, she nonchalantly explains to Dutch that she can no longer work with Rock.
Revy’s super human killing instinct is borne from an absolute disdain for life (including her own); she can kill so many people because to her they are nothing. However since Rock turned up and started questioning her brutal ways, Revy has started doubting herself too, and it’s that split second of hesitation that can cost her life. Assassins can’t afford to have morals.
On a totally superficial level, it was great to see Dutch kicking some Nazi ass too; he is the cold, calculated hit man to Revy’s indiscriminate kill-everything-that-moves motto of death. The inevitable Nazi showdown was edgy in how it soundlessly depicted Revy just walking from room to room, shooting men by the dozen. There is such an exhilarating discard for life during these moments that you can’t help but love it.

Categories
Reviews

Mushishi – 21 – Animalistic tragedy

Since the last few episodes of Mushishi left us in upbeat and melancholy moods, this was a timely reminder as to just how heartless a series it can be. I don’t mean heartless in a sadistic sense, rather how a mushi can cause such great tragedy to a couple of people who are quite clearly already at their lowest ebbs.
On its own child birth is hardly a pleasant spectacle, but to give birth to a glob of green goo would be utterly horrifying. Mushishi is filled with this kind of grotesque horror, but within the context of each episode (and as it is here) it’s usually a tragic, sad sight.
In many episodes previous we have seen that Ginko has an underlying passion for his patients; those usually stricken with life-threatening mushi, but here he is almost too clinical. When he tells a couple of budding parents that they will have to murder their mushi-infected kids, you can’t help but feel sorry for them, but Ginko comes across as a bit too detached from their peril and it’s no wonder that he ends up getting stabbed by “their” desperate mother.
Episode 21 of Mushishi is a sad, cautionary tale though this time there is no strong underlying moral. Instead we are again shown the darker side of Ginko’s travels and meet a animalistic mushi that will do anything to survive.

Categories
Reviews

The Third – 1 to 3 – Far-reaching Fantasy

I’m not usually one to bother with such knowingly cute anime, but for whatever reason, I today found myself taking in the first three episodes of The Third. Of course, it turned out to be (much) better than expected.
In a world torn apart by war, our saviour would appear to be a talented young swords-woman called Honoka. There is nothing new to her personality that we haven’t seen before in countless other shows; she is an emotionally underdeveloped, uptight tomboy who is more befuddled by her emerging romantic feelings than the ugly hordes of giant insects it is her job to exterminate. Honoka makes for a likable lead character, who for all her fearsome sword wielding skills, is actually as unsure and vulnerable as any 17 year old girl. She also shares a fun relationship with her tank- yes; Honoka has a talking, thinking and sarcastic tank.
If I’m honest there is very little true originality to be found in The Third; it is simply teenaged pop-corn entertainment, highly polished yet set in a complex world of environmental devastation and social upheaval. The Third themselves are a race of people similar to what The Guild are to Last Exile; an over-looking and technologically advanced branch of man (or possibly aliens, we don’t know much about them yet) who appear beautiful and want to control everything and anything.
It’s the setting that engrosses me in this series; it is interesting and mysterious, dotted with just enough minor detail to really capture my imagination. It helps that it looks great too. The animation by Xebec shows some fierce potential for action and has some beautiful, nostalgic star gazing. The landscapes- the majority of which are parched deserts- are vast, desolate and dangerous; often teaming with giant ants and disgusting spiders.
For pure escapist entertainment, The Third was a pleasant surprise. It won’t impress those looking for sophistication, but its combination of attractive characters and far-reaching fantasy is nothing less than fun.

Categories
Reviews

Ergo Proxy – 9 & 10 – Behemoth of confusion

Science fiction and confusion often go hand in hand, but Ergo Proxy is close to reaching the kinds of befuddling heights scaled only by behemoths like Mamoru Oshii. The dialogue, the action and even the damn visuals are so frustratingly cryptic and symbolic that only vaguely am I able to follow what is going on here – not that this is a bad thing, though certainly the viewer should be in the right (preferably coffee induced) frame of mind to get the most out of Ergo Proxy; just don’t expect answers, only more questions.
My real concern (no pun intended) is that this series severely lacks in compelling human qualities; the similarly bleak cyberpunk thriller Texhnolyze was hardly easy to follow, but at least it introduced us to a cast of interesting, dramatic human characters. Ergo Proxy has Real and that’s it- her predictable resurrection from murder is a godsend in that she is the only character in this show that I can empathise with, the rest are emotionless shells; proxies for Dai Sato’s high brow musings.
The truly great aspect of Ergo Proxy is its dark dystopian vision and pondering philosophy; I can see myself enjoying it much more once a few of the big questions have been answered and I’m able to just sit back and let the atmosphere wash over me. I love that this series has vastly decaying landscapes, a sophisticated and mature theme with proper adult characters and a really unique animation style that takes on bizarre, exciting feats of physical action when Proxies clash heads.

Categories
Reviews

Naruto – 187 – Taste the Flower Ninpo

The problem with these Naruto fillers is that while they are not particularly good, they are not particularly bad either – they are just by-the-books action adventure. Over this past year Studio Pierrot have become the masters of just filling 22 minutes with the most inoffensive, straight forward ninja action you are ever likely to see.
This week’s instalment again sees us repeat that same old formula; Tsunade makes her token office appearance and jokingly briefs Naruto and his random team of the month (Hinata and Chouji) on another mission to do with protecting a bunch of weak villagers who find themselves under the thumb of a group of classic cliche villains. Naturally Naruto gets to do his Shadow Clone thing. It’s like being stuck in a time warp, repeating the same mission again and again; may be I’m trapped inside someone’s sadistic Mangekyou Sharingan?
As ever, episode 187 was a fun way to spend 22 minutes and the action regained the series’ trademark of slick fluidity and cutting motion but still, the complete lack of story progression and character development is hurting me something chronic. I hope and pray that Naruto is too good to rely on this overly familiar, mind numbing formula for too much longer.