Category: Reviews
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Ghost in the Shell: The College Years
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Read More →: Ghost in the Shell: The College YearsGhost in the Shell: Arise marks Production IG’s attempt to reboot the classic franchise. With multiple successful superhero and anime reboots out in the wild, it’s only a matter of time before others (certainly Dragonball) get remade. Movie and television producers reboot well loved shows to appeal to modern audiences. The story, the characters, and the special…
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The best decoy ever
Read More →: The best decoy everIs this the era of the sports anime? Without doing the research, it really feels like it, more so than at any other point in recent history, and what’s more, most of it’s really quite good! I’ve already written about Ping Pong the Animation, but in short, I love(d) it. Then again, I always knew…
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Blood tastes like iron
Read More →: Blood tastes like ironEven when there’s a guy like Masaaki Yuasa handling the adaptation of one of your favourite stories, there’s always a small worry that something won’t click. In Ping Pong‘s case especially, pairing Yuasa with mangaka Taiyou Matsumoto was almost too perfect, because as any one who has read Matsumoto’s other works will know (Tekkonkinkreet and…
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Just Communication; Rewatching Gundam Wing
Read More →: Just Communication; Rewatching Gundam WingLet’s be honest, here: I rewatched Gundam Wing these past couple of weeks because A Day Without Me was posting hilarious screencaps on twitter, and listening to Just Communication a grand total of once convinced me it was a good idea. When Gundam Wing aired on Canadian TV, in the early 00’s, I paid it no more than passing attention. I…
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Unspeakably beautiful: Devilman anime review
Read More →: Unspeakably beautiful: Devilman anime reviewA belated new year’s resolution for me is to publish more posts this year than last, but rather than try to come up with a bunch of boring editorials, I went through MyAnimeList and picked out twelve anime that I want to try and write about, bringing me first to Devilman (both The Birth (1987)…
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Kill la Kill and (my) great expectations
Read More →: Kill la Kill and (my) great expectationsKill la Kill defies comparison. It’s from the writer and director duo that brought us the beloved Gurren Lagann and it reads a lot like the classic Revolutionary Girl Utena but come into Kill la Kill expecting a series like those two and you’ll be disappointed. It’s its own animal, albeit with a twist of…
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Rin's labyrinth
Read More →: Rin's labyrinth“If you were stronger, I don’t know how this would have ended. But I know one thing. That woman would be dead. Those who gain power must pay a price, something in exchange. If you seek to be stronger than others you may have to lose what you value above all else. Remember this well.”…
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Still warm
Read More →: Still warmIn another life, I may have been a vegetarian, but in this day and age of supermarkets and their aisles of prepared meat, it’s hard to imagine something as generic as a chicken breast once belonging to a living animal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m well aware that it does, but having been divorced from…
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And Punpun is just fine, today.
Read More →: And Punpun is just fine, today.I spent two days reading up to the latest releases of Oyasumi Punpun. I spent two days kicking myself for not reading Inio Asano’s longest-running work sooner; assuming it would be inferior to the tight, refined narratives of his one shots. I spent two days crying over the fact that no-one picked up the English-language…
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Death to the fantasy
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Read More →: Death to the fantasyOf all the new anime that I’ve seen this season, it’s probably WataMote that has left me with the strongest impression, to the point where I went ahead and started reading the manga straight after watching it. With its English title of No Matter How I Look At It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Unpopular!…
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In the Mouth of Madness: Aku no Hana
Read More →: In the Mouth of Madness: Aku no HanaThere’s a beautiful scene at the end of episode seven of Aku no Hana (Flowers of Evil.) Finally overcome with the guilt of stealing Saeki’s gym clothes, Kasuga asks Nakamura to help him confess and in the dead of night they head to their classroom to do just that. She forces him to write his…
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Ghosts in their own ghost stories: Shokuzai
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Read More →: Ghosts in their own ghost stories: Shokuzai“If it cannot break out of its shell, the chick will die without ever being born. We are the chick-The world is our egg. If we don’t crack the world’s shell, we will die without ever truly being born. Smash the world’s shell. FOR THE REVOLUTION OF THE WORLD!” –Revolutionary Girl Utena Shokuzai (Penance) is…
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Majestic Prince
Read More →: Majestic PrinceEvery season has its dark horses and this one is no different. I’ve been excited about Flowers of Evil, Attack on Titan and Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet since the offset, but I ignored Majestic Prince, which I figured would be as cliché as it looked. I don’t know if it’s just Hisashi Hirai’s dated…
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Don't give up: dying in pursuit of change and The Sky Crawlers
Read More →: Don't give up: dying in pursuit of change and The Sky CrawlersMamoru Oshii doesn’t make forgettable anime. Be it Ghost in the Shell or Patlabor 2, the man injects so much personality into his films that it’s impossible not to recognise his touch. There is, of course, his famous basset hound, but there’s also a poetic side that transports this viewer into the ether. I can’t…
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All good dreamers pass this way
Read More →: All good dreamers pass this wayAll these years, I wanted K-On! to prove me right. I wanted it to be a shitty anime about cute girls doing cute things. I wanted to hold myself above it and I wanted you all to point and look and say “Look at those folks over at Bateszi Anime Blog, they have such good fucking taste, they’d…
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The anime-fication of Attack on Titan
Read More →: The anime-fication of Attack on TitanThis season, I’ve found myself in the fun position of having two of my favourite manga series adapted into anime. We already know how things went with Flowers of Evil, but there’s still the case of Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) to consider. Produced at Wit Studio and directed by Tetsurō Araki (of Death Note…
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The flower bloomed
Read More →: The flower bloomedBefore you decide to watch Flowers of Evil (Aku no Hana,) please ask yourself these questions: do I purely want bishounen, or bishoujo, characters in my anime? Am I always looking for attractive characters? Should anime always look the same? If you’ve answered in the affirmative to any of these questions, forget about Flowers of…
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The end of Psycho-Pass
Read More →: The end of Psycho-PassOne wouldn’t think it to look at them, but Shin Sekai Yori and Psycho-Pass were like two peas in a pod. Both deal in dystopian futures, social commentary and rebellion, both attempt to obfuscate their commentary by presenting it through morally-questionable speakers, and both refuse to end with everything neatly resolved. Suffice to say, I…
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Fractale: Beautiful and unfulfilling
Read More →: Fractale: Beautiful and unfulfillingFractale premiered in January of 2011 as part of the noitaminA animation block on FujiTV. The series’ inclusion in noitaminA led to high expectations. The block, putting aside its lame name (animation spelled backwards), has a reputation for interesting and innovative shows, including Honey and Clover, Eden of the East, and House of Five Leaves.…
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My name is Squealer
Read More →: My name is SquealerThe end of a season is a bittersweet time for anime fans, as the joy of seeing a series reach its climax is undercut by the knowledge that this is the last hurrah for a story we’ve grown attached to over time. Such is the case with Shin Sekai Yori (From the New World,) a…
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The shrinking of Attack on Titan
Read More →: The shrinking of Attack on TitanBack in 2011, I wrote two posts about the manga series Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) and since then, it’s only grown in popularity, and in addition to a live-action movie, now has an anime series starting in April, too. I can’t wait to see how it turns out, but in the meantime, I…
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Aim for the Ace!
Read More →: Aim for the Ace!Her hand bloodied and blistered, she bandages it up, ties it to her racket and keeps going. Giving up isn’t an option. This is her moment! Her chance! Her dream! This is Aim for the Ace!. Hiromi Oka has spent her youth idolising Reika Ryūzaki, known otherwise as the beautiful Madame Butterfly (Ochōfujin,) a formidable,…
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Because her soul is enslaved to a goddess; Oniisama E
Read More →: Because her soul is enslaved to a goddess; Oniisama EBy all means, Oniisama E, translating as Dear Brother, is unassuming in its premise. However, pegging Oniisama E as anything other than a landmark production would be short-sighted. Ikeda Rioyko’s original manga was penned in the 1970s, and yet the series moves through triggering subjects like terminal illness, suicide, incest, homosexuality, and drug use without batting an eyelid.
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Top 12 anime of 2012
Read More →: Top 12 anime of 2012The last time I wrote a list like this was back in 2007. Can you believe it’s been 5 years since then? 5 years since Gurren Lagann? I don’t know how I’ve lasted this long. The pace of my blogging has slowed since then, too. In 2007, I made 82 posts; in 2012, this will…
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Head/heart
Read More →: Head/heartBeing an anime fan at the moment is fun. The Autumn season has really upped the ante, with two series in Shin Sekai Yori (From the New World) and Psycho-Pass proving fascinating in different ways. I’ve already written about Shin Sekai Yori. It’s a series that stole my heart almost as soon as it appeared, through…
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The Flowers of Evil
Read More →: The Flowers of EvilFirst, imagine an alternate version of FLCL, where Naoto hooks up with the loose-canon Mamimi and revels in her pyromania, falling ever deeper into her psychosis, burning away their boring world together. This is The Flowers of Evil (Aku no Hana,) a manga series (and soon to be anime) that begins like any of the…
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I Get to Burning For Nadesico
Read More →: I Get to Burning For NadesicoRightstuf is on a streak of licensing critically-acclaimed, but undervalued, shows. They released Utena in 2011 and announced the future release of Rose of Versailles. My favorite recent Rightstuf release remains Nadesico. Unlike Utena, Nadesico has always been available used at an affordable price even after the ADV release went out of print, so I was surprised…
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Broken Apple: Shin Sekai Yori
Read More →: Broken Apple: Shin Sekai YoriMany of us are optimists and like to think there’s an innate sense of goodness within us all, but given a God’s power, how would we react? Shin Sekai Yori (From the New World) answers that question within its first 3 minutes: upon the discovery of psychokinesis, civilisation regresses into a thousand year-long dark age,…
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Survive, you shit!
Read More →: Survive, you shit!There’s no denying that I adore survivalist fiction. For example, I love Romero’s zombie films because they are all about surviving (and inevitably failing in) an impossible situation: a world overrun with violent madness. In terms of anime, I’ve often talked up Blue Gender, but there’s also Gantz, Infinite Ryvius and Highschool of the Dead:…
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A distant light: Hyouka
Read More →: A distant light: HyoukaSomewhere between its Autumn lights and shifting leaves, there’s a warmth in Hyouka. Warm is a good way of describing the series, emotional is another. Not emotional in a melodramatic sense, but rather, one feels a liveliness coursing through every table leg and dusty bookshelf in the series. It has the sense of a story…
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Anime still has it: Space Brothers
Read More →: Anime still has it: Space BrothersFor a while there, I stopped believing that the anime industry was capable of crafting shows like Space Brothers (Uchū Kyōdai.) When I seriously started getting into anime, there were series like Planetes, Gankutsuou, Monster and Mushishi all being released in and around the same time. These were series not influenced by other anime and…
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Taiyo Matsumoto’s new manga, Sunny: melancholy and wonderful
Read More →: Taiyo Matsumoto’s new manga, Sunny: melancholy and wonderfulI’ve long been a fan of Taiyo Matsumoto, a guy who for years has ranked amongst my favourite mangaka. Hopefully you’ll know him as the author of Tekkonkinkreet (Black & White,) or GoGo Monster, or perhaps even Ping Pong? If not, you really should, because he’s a genius.
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Lost in Transition: Gunbuster the Movie
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Read More →: Lost in Transition: Gunbuster the MovieI had low expectations when I bought the Gunbuster movie on blu-ray. The visuals looked underwhelming, as did the plot summary. Still, I felt that as an anime fan I had an obligation to watch a Gainax classic, and I’m happy I did. Gainax could have created a forgettable story about girls battling aliens with giant…
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Liking Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse? See also…
Read More →: Liking Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse? See also…Earth’s invaded, humanity’s out-matched and Japan’s moe legions are our first line of defence. Would you feel confident?
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The girl who became a zombie
Read More →: The girl who became a zombieI’m utterly torn by Sankarea. It has beautiful art direction and some fascinating ideas, but it’s also about as exploitative as anime gets. There’s just so much to like about it though, starting with the girl who became a zombie. Of course, to become a zombie, one must first die. Sanka commits suicide because her…
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I'm scared of you, let's have sex: Time of Eve
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Read More →: I'm scared of you, let's have sex: Time of EveTime of Eve is about a Japanese society assisted by intelligent, human-form androids. It draws heavily from the robots of Isaac Asimov’s books. Asimov’s and Time of Eve‘s robots are bound by a set of three laws that prevent them from harming humans or allowing humans to come to harm. Both Asimov’s and Time of Eve’s…
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A life as a martyr to his dream
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Read More →: A life as a martyr to his dreamEpisode 10 of Berserk is amongst the finest episodes of anime I’ve ever seen. From the moment Guts kills the boy Adonis, we’re forced to re-evaluate the righteousness of Griffith’s conquest and whether it’s worth its price in blood. “But there is one other thing more precious to a man beyond all else. Something one…
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Girls with Guns: Men Please Apply Within
Read More →: Girls with Guns: Men Please Apply WithinFor a different perspective on Phantom see bateszi’s review here. After eight years, three series, six girls, and lots of guns, Bee Train has revolutionized the girls with guns genre by adding… a guy. Men, you too can aspire to be a professional assassin, the last bastion of gender inequality has officially fallen. Joking aside, Phantom:…
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Birdland
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Read More →: BirdlandAlthough I’ve been writing this anime blog for a long time now, over 6 years, in fact, I’m still not sure of the kind of blogger I am. I’m not disciplined enough to write every few days, nor do I enjoy deep analysis of anime. I don’t even really enjoy discussing it to any great…
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A journey into Fate/stay night begins
Read More →: A journey into Fate/stay night beginsUntil Fate/Zero appeared, I’d never planned on watching Fate/stay night. At the time of its airing back in 2006, it’d always seemed a tad too pandering for my tastes. I knew nothing about it and was happy to keep it that way, but then, last year, I tried watching Fate/Zero and realised that I wanted…
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A missed opportunity: Jormungand
Read More →: A missed opportunity: JormungandI really wanted to like Jormungand. It’s a series about illegal arms dealers and child soldiers, which is not exactly typical fare for anime and sounds interesting. Comparisons to 2006’s fantastic Black Lagoon abound, then, but after 3 episodes, I’m giving up. I realised I had to stop half-way through episode 3, when child soldier…
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Being swept away
Read More →: Being swept awayI have many a faint and fond memory of Eureka Seven, but wasn’t sure how to feel about news of its sequel. It ended with a quite profound sense of finality, after all. Everything that needed to be said, was, and underscored with probably the finest insert song ever used in anime, too. I’m using…
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Sexuality in anime: Mine Fujiko and Faye Valentine
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Read More →: Sexuality in anime: Mine Fujiko and Faye ValentineLike any potentially great anime, the new Lupin the Third: Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna has given us much to talk about already. It’s a beautifully animated, adult series the like of which we haven’t seen in TV anime for a while.
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Hot Topic Meets Anime in Ergo Proxy
Read More →: Hot Topic Meets Anime in Ergo ProxyRemember when goth, and by extension Hot Topic, reigned supreme? Ergo Proxy is basically an anime peopled by fans of Hot Topic. The setting is gritty, and the main character wears black outfits, steal tipped boots and heavy mascara. The color palette skews towards grey and black, and even when the show uses other colors,…
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Giving Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence a second chance
Read More →: Giving Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence a second chanceWhen I first saw Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence I left the screening unimpressed. At the time, it felt like a confusing trip through a philosophical morass. I disliked the Major’s lack of screen time as I loved her central role in the associated TV series. Still, when I heard that Bandai planned to…
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The state of Noitamina and Thermae Romae
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Read More →: The state of Noitamina and Thermae RomaeIt’s fair to say that, critically, 2011 was a poor year for Noitamina and (with Guilty Crown in tow) is currently at its lowest ebb. It’s now suffering from an identity crisis, no longer the bastion of josei anime it once was. Chihayafuru is a good example of what’s meant by that; a series that…
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Returning, being a superficial anime fan and Rinne no Lagrange
Read More →: Returning, being a superficial anime fan and Rinne no LagrangeIt’s been a while since my last post. Around a month, in fact. Through-out February, I took something of a break from anime. I’ve been keeping up with One Piece, but that’s about it. This wasn’t a planned thing, either. I just stopped watching anime. Winter hasn’t helped, either. Although a notoriously poor time for…
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Shadow of the Colossus
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Read More →: Shadow of the ColossusUnless you count my yearly flings with Football Manager, I’ve never been much of a gamer. Even still, I bought myself a Playstation 3 in December. Stepping into today’s world of consoles is intimidating at first. I’d been divorced from the culture for nearly a decade and knowing how deeply some are into it, it’s…
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But I'll be Peter Pan forever: To Aru Majutsu no Index and I
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Read More →: But I'll be Peter Pan forever: To Aru Majutsu no Index and IIt’s a common story. A Saturday night, no plans. What do I do? Seek out a new anime to watch, of course.
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Because you need a little violence in your life: Dr. Mohiro Kitoh's fabulous depression
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Read More →: Because you need a little violence in your life: Dr. Mohiro Kitoh's fabulous depressionOne thing we may deduce about author Mohiro Kitoh from Bokurano and Narutaru is that he probably had a few bad experiences growing up. It’s otherwise very difficult to understand why his stories about children are quite so fucked-up. Case in post, Narutaru, of which I just finished watching the anime adaptation.