I got my hands on a copy of Beck today! I’m so excited I can’t tell you! I couldn’t wait to grab my pocket knife and carefully slice open the plastic covering the disc. Inside is a black guitar pick with the Beck logo inscribed on the front, on the back it says “Music is life!” Which, as any fan of this series knows is the key premise of the show.

The big worry I had was that the opening and closing credits would not be in tact. I checked those out real fast, then sat down to watch a little bit before dinner. So just so everyone knows, I have NOT spent much time with this DVD. What I can tell you is as follows:

The opening credits are in tact! I am very pleased that the music for Beck is still “Hit in America”. I hadn’t seen confirmation of this in any articles on the release of this series so far, so for any readers who’ve happened upon this and were wondering… yes, the Beat Crusaders are still a part of the show.… [Read More]

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad North American Release!

Geneon’s releases of Trigun Remix are coming out so fast that I can scarcely keep up with them. I purchased this volume at the end of September and volume 3 of this series is already out!

This will be a short review because I think I covered this release fairly well in my original review of the first volume. If you’re buying this release, it’s because you’ve already seen Trigun and loved it. The 5.1 dub track is nice, but this series really could have benefitted from some video clean up. The only news about this volume really was that there was a slight hiccup with the release that didn’t cause any delays because several shipments that were sent out early had the wrong cover art in the packaging.… [Read More]

Trigun Remix Volume 2

Funimation has finally issued the first DVD of a series that I caught when it was being fansubbed and I am so glad! Trinity Blood is a post-apocalyptic story that follows Father Abel Nightroad as he tries to save the world from an invasion of vampires.

Visuals: This is a Gonzo title, I have nothing but wonderful things to say about Gonzo’s visuals and I tend to buy anime simply because they were produced by Gonzo. The only real exception to that has been Speed Grapher. I’m only avoiding Speed Grapher because it’s not a series that I can sit down and watch with the kids. Trinity Blood is a bit graphic in the violence category so I wouldn’t recommend that you let young children watch this series, but it’s great fun with older kids because the violence is just graphic enough for you to realize that something really bad has happened without going over the top.… [Read More]

Trinity Blood Volume 1

X (TV) is based on a manga written by CLAMP. X tells the story of the end of the world and the fight to save the Earth from apocalypse between the Dragons of Heaven and the Dragons of Earth. It primarily follows young Kamui as he tries to find his way through his destiny to become a dragon of heaven or a dragon of earth and the conflict that ensues after he makes his choice.

Visuals: Absolutely gorgeous. The artwork for this series stays very true to CLAMP’s characteristic style and flows beautifully. If there is use of CG in this series, it does not stick out like a sore thumb as it tends to do in other anime.

Sound: I tend to skip the English dub for most releases, but I gave the English dub a listen for an episode and found that I wasn’t too disturbed by it. The voice casting fits with the characters well enough that it was enjoyable to watch in English, but I do prefer the Japanese voice work.… [Read More]

X Remix Box Set

For those who have not seen Samurai Champloo, this series is to anime now, what Cowboy Bebop was to anime of the 90′s. It is, simply put, the sh*t.

As always, everything with this series is amazing, including the English Dub, which features a favorite voice actor of mine, Steve Blum (Spike, from Cowboy Bebop) as Mugen. The music is great, the story is amazing, but I have one minor beef.

Is it just me, or is the artistic quality of this show diminishing as time goes on? Mugen and Jin just don’t seem as well drawn in these later episodes as they did in the earlier ones.… [Read More]

Samurai Champloo Vol. 6.

The second volume of this series does not fail to appease fans with continued gorgeous visuals and amazing story.

I don’t have many improved remarks here because I refuse to spoil the story of this absolutely incredible show. Suffice it to say that volume 2 continues where volume 1 left off and keeps right on rolling through. I’m still enjoying the series and am not seeing a decline in quality between the first and the second volumes.… [Read More]

Ghost in the Shell SAC 2nd Gig. Volume 2

This is a long awaited release for me. I’m a huge follower and fan of the work of Gonzo Digimation, so this latest installment in Gonzo’s releases to the US has been one that I’ve looked forward to for some time. So I hate having to say bad things about this release, but it’s really not Gonzo’s fault.

Backstory: Samurai 7 is a rather capricious undertaking for several animation studios. Primary animation was handled by Production IG (most famously known for Ghost in the Shell and Blood: The Last Vampire), direction and story writing was done by the venerable Akira Kurosawa. Even if you aren’t an anime nut, it’s likely that you’ve heard of Kurosawa. Production, meaning the money behind the show, was done by Gonzo Digimation. So all of the major players in anime were involved here, and some heavy hitting film-makers as well. With all of this heavy hitting cool factor going on, it’s hard to think that anyone would have anything bad to say about Samurai 7.… [Read More]

Samurai 7: Vol. 1

I first heard of this series some time ago. Some company has the license for the OVA/Movie for this series and titled it “Oh My Goddess!” I’ve seen that floating around on the shelves before, but never took an interest because the packaging for the OVA box is less than spectacular and reveals little to nothing about the content on the DVD. Then I found a fansub of the tv series available online. I downloaded it and watched the first eight episodes.

Ah My Goddess is exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a light, funny and warm-hearted story that was a change from the dark and ominous anime that will be reviewed later this week. It fits that bill perfectly, but in addition that, it’s got some clever gags and grown up humor that most comedy anime simply doesn’t live up to.

The Story: Morisato Keiichi is having a hard time of it.… [Read More]

Ah My Goddess 1&2

So, I finally got around to borrowing Haibane from a friend and actually got to watch the first disc yesterday because I had a math test and hence, no math homework. This series recently came out in a thinpak edition, but for my viewing, I am watching the original release so I won’t talk about packaging.

The Story: Haibane Renmei is not the sort of story that you would expect from the creators of Serial Experiments: Lain. Haibane is a much lighter, sweeter story, at least it is in the beginning. I had no preconceptions going into this viewing other than the connection between this series and Lain. I didn’t even read the backs of the boxes first. I just popped the DVD’s in and watched. If the story gets darker from here, I haven’t gotten there yet. This story follows the lives of a few beings called “Haibane”. The Haibane are sort of like angels, but their wings are small enough that they can’t fly.… [Read More]

Haibane Renmei Vol. 1

So.. I finally got time to watch it today, even though it meant skipping class.

You know how the line “things get better with age” is usually a lie? Well, in this case, it’s the God’s honest truth. SAC 2 is as incredible visually as the first season, but the story is.. absolutely incredible. There’s a subtle underlying arc that gets touched on in each of the first episodes in the first volume. It ended up being a very good thing for the show that the Laughing Man story arc is over, because at this phase, the series is so good that I think even people who didn’t enjoy the first season will enjoy the second.

For my viewing, I watched this with the English Dub. Since I first saw the original “Ghost in the Shell” film in English, the Major’s voice sounds wrong to me in Japanese. As usual with this series, the voice work is above par.… [Read More]

Ghost in the Shell SAC 2nd Gig. Volume 1