Anime Review Page

Appleseed the Movie (Toonshaded, made after original 2D Movie)

Put simply, this movie rocks! The toonshading is groundbreaking and works well, unlike some other uses of 3D in movies. The story follows Dunan’s admittance into the great city Olympus, but all is not so smooth in the paradise of the future. Artificial humans known as bioroids make up half the population, and indeed a bioroid is the prime minister, but some humans are not happy about it. In a battle to save the city Dunan must uncover a tragic past to stop dark forces from plunging humanity back where it always seems to end up, in a mire of self destruction. The music, story, and art give you 100 percent for a ten out of ten experience, and I cannot wait for the next one which I understand is coming out soon. I was surprised the 3D toonshading worked so well, and in my opinion represents the best use of 3D in anime for the future. The Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone complex is also great, which uses 3D for some mecha, but 2D for the characters. In appleseed it is all 3D, and despite the tweening (smooth motion between key frames) I feel subtracts from the illusion, in this case it works for a great experience.

I, My, Me, Strawberry Eggs

A lot of people may not have heard of this anime, and its title is funny, but it is a great anime. A young male school teacher finds the only employment he can get is at a local school which only hires female teachers due to an extreme feminist who runs the school. The writing on this is excellent, moving and funny. A story like this works best in a 2D anime where there is room to smooth details, and this anime exicutes it with great success. The story takes chances with taboo subjects that will never make it main stream in American culture (at least not while I'm alive), but it is great to see the Japanese can provide it for us. This is a must see and collector's item for any anime fan, and I give it a ten out of ten, and is in my all time top 10.

10 out of 10. Funny name, great anime.

Video Girl AI

Video Girl AI is one of those series that truly puts anime on the map, and not for people who like crap like Cowboy Bebop or Dragonball Z. The story and characters of this animation match in greatness any great live action movie Hollywood has ever produced, and better. This is hands down, the best love story involving artificial intelligence I have seen, and the school atmosphere of the young characters is truly haunting and beautiful, reminding all of us of those young days and idealistic dreams we had with each other. The music for this series was so good I went to Little Tokyo and bought not one, but two sound tracks they offered for it, and I never buy soundtracks. I thank the producers of this series for bringing this thing of beauty into my life. If you have ever been lonely, unpopular, or in love with someone who does not love you, do yourself a favor and surely buy the DVD set for your eternal collection.

Kiki's Delivery Service

This Miazaki movie is an example of the finest storytelling, with heart found little where else for sure. There was so much in this movie that made me care about it. It seems strange about a young girl learning to become a witch, but the character development is truly excellent, and this provides for wonderful suspense and affirmation of people who have good hearts. The struggles of this young witch are part of makes her success so wonderful, and the last action scene of the movie is truly moving. I don't see Hollywood or American movies that provide the feeling that this movie gave me. I don't. As a matter of fact, I liked this movie more than the much more popular and well known Miazaki movies, Princess Monanoki, and Spirited Away. Those were great movies also, but they do not provide the moving feeling in your heart that Kiki's Delivery Service does, and are therefore lesser to me. This is a golden treasure to keep forever, and an example of how the Japanese people and culture produce things we just can't.

Neon Genesis Evangelion - "Death and Rebirth"

This is actually excellent art in anime, despite some notable flaws. I was moved by this installment of this now classic series, primarily because of the excellent character development, which features tragic backgrounds and very tangible personalities. The thing that moves me most is the character "Rei", who is this sad, kind of emotionless girl who does not seem enthusiastic about living at all. She gets hurt, she even dies several times, and despite her loyalty to the father of the operation, does not really care about anyone. None the less, that is what makes her so compelling, that, and her frail beauty.

The problems with this series remain the lack of a cohesive plot, no satisfying relationships, and a dismal outlook on life itself, with lots of typical meaningless bloody violence. There is no central figure that you look out at the over all story from, so there is a kind of being lost in events, but plot elements are so interesting, using things from the bible even, that it makes for an interesting watch. Excellent classical music, especially the violin, add to the weird tragic feeling you get from it.

Gunslinger Girl

This anime is truly a gem among gems, and moved my heart with its original and fascinating story. I was not sure what to expect with the title, but when I saw this anime from the first episode I knew this was something good. Little girls who have been severely injured are given the chance to live a short while longer as programmed cyborgs in a specialized police force. They are programmed to obediently serve their masters, cops called handlers, who are sometimes nice, and not so nice men. Because of the cold and deadly nature of their business the girls are very serious and not prone to jump around and play like normal girls. They are given orders and they perform their duty perfectly or they are scolded. Each episode left me wanting to pick up a little assassin and hug and kiss her and tell her I love her. This anime is nearly perfect, only I dare say I would have done a little more with the story, but given the excellent quality of the story, I also would have given the animation more quality and detail. The opening song is fantastic, I even bought the CD, Hate by Delgados, and the ending theme is just perfect for the show. There is no doubt this is a ten, and a great anime you simply cannot miss.

Review: Ergo Proxy

I first caught a glimps of Erog Proxy on Fuse TV, catching a few parts of it here and there. I was not too impressed at first. The art was kind of dark and gothic, and not as much anime looking. As I began to watch more episodes I began to pick up interest. I really liked the opening theme (Kiri, by a Japanese band called Monoral). I began to like it so much I started to record it on VHS. I was captured by the psychedelic component to the scenes, where is seemed a mystery what was happening and when. This I realized was a totally ass-kicking anime, and while I cannot afford to buy too many box sets I knew I would get this one, and I did.

Ergo Proxy is a post apocalyptic drama where androids known as autoraves live amongst the population. Inspector Re-L first encounters the mystery of a monster in the immigrant district of her domed modern city, Romdo. Authorities cover up a following incident where the monster attacks her at her apartment, and from there she seeks to discover the connection between a poor humble immigrant, Romdo, and the monster. The humble immigrant, Vincent, escapes from the city after he was attacked by the monster, but outside the city is the harsh, disease and radiation ridden land left by the third world war. Inspector Re-L in pursuit of the mystery follows after him, and along with a companion model little girl auto rave they have adventures in the wasteland that begin to unravel the fascinating mystery.

My heart just sings for this completely excellent work of art, and I thank those people who created it at Manglobe Incorporated, a Japanese animation company. The opening theme song is just so cool, so good, with a verse, “You complete my faith…” that really resonates with me. Although the female lead in this story is a cruel, mean bitch, I tell you I just love her, love her! The character design is original, top notch quality, with human looking characters you might see in an English originating production, and 3D is wisely used, unlike most productions. The hint at God and creation combined with high tech theory are very well written, and nowhere does the story leave you bored, or your heart unmoved. Ergo Proxy reminds me of why I am proud to be an anime fan, and bless the Japanese people for their great work to entertain us and show us what great art can be.

Princess Princess

Princess Princess, despite its somewhat childish atmosphere works quite well to entertain. I found myself really looking forward to the next episode as I watched it. I kept thinking about the design for the dresses the princesses wear, and thinking I would like to learn how to draw these. The key to any good anime is the story which keeps you interested as you watch, but the visuals of course are important to affecting the heart of the viewer. The setup is following a young man who must transfer to an all boy’s school, where he finds upon arrival the school has a long tradition of recruiting handsome freshmen to play princesses. He is dismayed to find they immediately assign him to be a princess, but because of his financial status agrees to participate in the tradition as there is pay involved with the job. As the story progresses he learns the purpose of the princess system is to liven up the dull atmosphere of dreary gray boy’s uniforms, and provide inspiration for the boys. The new princess is amazed at how all the boys love the princesses (there are currently three including himself), and they are cheered, respected, and admired by all the boys in the school. My heart was moved at how the boys would crowd around them, even when they are not wearing their girl’s clothing, and weep and beg for them to give them their warm smile. The princess all feel a deep obligation to oblige the students, with the exception of one of the princesses who is not very happy about being elected to the job.

The primary duty of the princesses to go all the various class and sporting events and smile and wave as the boys proudly show their work and accomplishments. What is moving is how the presents of the boys dressed up as girls is no less inspires the students, who brighten and do their best because of the beautiful princesses. They often hold photo shoots with the three princesses dressed up in elaborate clothing made by an award winning if not somewhat crazed clothing designer. The newcomer is amazed at how the boys cheer them on and love them, in and out of costume, though they know it is fake.

What makes the visuals work so well in Princess Princess is the classic, distinctive, girly outfits the princesses wear. There is a mystery of the feminine character I have yet to unravel or perhaps accept fully accept, and that is the totally weak, totally babyish, totally impractical, frivolous status associated with the heart-drawing feminine dress style. In my own limited art I always depict women as space warriors, strong and practical as you would need them to be if the human race was threatened with extinction from aliens. You could not have them prancing about in lacy dresses that would snag on things or slow them down while running or fighting. High heel shoes are also totally impractical. I think maybe with my inspiration from Princess Princess I am ready to try drawing impractical, frivolous, weak, vulnerable feminine characters in classic dresses with bright colors and big cute bows. Also for these I think I will employ the more anime look for the faces, rather than the more real looking characters I often draw.

There are of course attractive tough-chick characters like Major Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell, or Priss from Bubblegum Crisis, but perhaps they give up a certain aspect of glory for this tough-chick image. The greatest thing of course is modularity, if she can go from heroine to cute and feminine with seamless integration, as oppose to female characters that are depicted as one type or the other. Is the cute feminine girly-girl not as suitable for the ass-kicking heroine role, and vice versa? It seems to me there is a cut-off point of heroic deed and capacity for women before it enters inappropriately into male character territory, the problem being she cannot be below her man, or need him in the same way otherwise. Of course it depends on the couple.

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Comments About Anime from Rick Bruce

Thanks for checking ou my humble Anime Review Page. I cannot afford to buy too many anime titles so I try to buy those that are the larger, better rated titles. This does not mean that there are great works that are less known and are not listed here yet. Please feel free to email with a recommendation, rickorange5@yahoo.com. I'll say this: without doubt I would trade all the live action movies in the world for anime. The Japanese are masters of design and writing great creative stories, and prove their intelligence by devoted attention to animation as a serious art form. I am ashamed of my own America for not being able to realize or produce anything competetive, or even a worthy contribution. Aside from DNA, I think Japanese culture lends itself to appreciation and intellgeance of great things in regard to the medium of anime, and I woe that I was borne in my culture with its dull, ugly, respectless, put-down culture, which scoffs at anything sensitive or intellgent, especially for our young people in schools and their surrounding culture. We should take a lesson from the Japanese, dump our culture completely, and copy theirs exactly (bowing our heads in shame!). For those of us who do appreciate anime, we can be greatful the Japanese share it with the world.