X Remix Box Set

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. Musically, the show has theme that blends perfectly to the story and the action that is currently happening on screen, overall not too distracting. The 5.1 surround is a rather nice addition for this particular release, which was not available on the earlier release of this series.

Packaging: This is my major complaint with this box set. If you’re going to pay over 100$ for a series, the box should be able to withstand a bit of use and I worry that this one won’t. The box is designed to look like the CLAMP artbook that was released for X, and while it is very appropriate the binding feels like its held together with tape. The DVDs lay in trays inside the cover of the “book” which hold the discs very well, but the mechanism that holds the trays together so that they fold out like pages seems questionable to me. If this box holds up for a couple of years of my watching the show I’ll be very happy with it, but we won’t know until that time comes.

I’m going to avoid talking about the story here other than to say that I think this series is great. I had to force myself to take it out of the DVD player and not put the next disc in so that I could get my homework done. Wonderful series, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for some action and drama in their anime.

Samurai Champloo Vol. 6.

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.

Ghost in the Shell SAC 2nd Gig. Volume 2

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.

Samurai 7: Vol. 1

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.

The truth is, I don’t have much bad to say, but what little there is I have to blame on Funimation.

The Story: In the distant future, the world has become a place much like feudal Japan, Samurai are honored by peasants, feared by city dwellers and deemed as unfortunate necessities by nobility. In the country, samurai turned bandits rampage. They steal harvests of rice and take advantage of the village’s women and then leave. Fighting back is impossible for the peasants who quietly grow the rice, or so it seems. Then the water maiden, Kirara steps forward and goes to the city in search of Samurai to defend her village. Armed only with a payment of as much rice as the samurai can eat, and the companionship of her younger sister, and dear friend, Kirara sets out on a dangerous journey, one that will show her the ways of the world and of the samurai.

The Art: Gorgeous. This is IG and Gonzo here. It can’t help but be gorgeous.

The Dub: The English dub for this series really, really stinks. Don’t bother.

The Package: Very, very nice. Lots of premiums in the box if you purchase the series now, and if you don’t, oh well. The box still looks gorgeous, makes a nice presentation on the shelf.

DVD Logistics: The menus are nice and clean. The audio encoding works well, the video looks nice and clean on my home theater system, but I’ve got a major beef. Funimation sets up the opening and closing titles for all of their releases on a viewing angle. Many older dvd players simply put the word “angle” on the display on the unit itself. Current DVD players have minimalistic displays, so the “angle” notation shows up on the screen and sits there all the way through the opening and closing titles. It’s very disruptive to viewing. Also, the physical DVD itself is thin and seems flimsy. I’ve been tempted to make myself a second copy of the discs, remove the angle switch on the titles, and store away these thin originals without playing them a second or third time. When I buy a series, I tend to watch it over and over again. A flimsy DVD is not something that entices me to buy more products from Funimation. Funimation released these same flimsy DVD’s with Fruits Basket and never replaced them, so that’s a major down side.

All in all, Samurai 7 is a thing of beauty, but the release from Funimation is really less than I expect from an anime title. So buy with caution.

Ah My Goddess 1&2

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. His luck is consistently bad, he’s always late to class, his bike never runs and his senpais are always sticking him with the chores around their dorm. But his luck changes when he dials a wrong number and gets in touch with Belldandy of the Goddess Help Line. From here, wackiness ensues.

The Dub: The English Dub is all right. I prefer the Japanese, but I am finding that over time, I’m becoming a purist. As far as dubs go, this one isn’t really all that bad. It’s not quite to the level of the English dub for Fruits Basket (which must have simply been a fluke for Funimation), but it’s still servicable.

The Package: Looks gorgeous and is a perfect fit for this series. The first two volumes’ spines fit with the interstitial graphics used to lead in and out of commercials in the show. I do hope the other volumes continue with that theme because it makes for an interesting presentation on the shelf.

DVD logistics: I’ve watched this dvd on two panasonic dvd players. One of them on a 27″ television and the other in my basement on my home theater system. The video quality on this dvd is excellent. The audio quality is great. No major glitches here. I do have one beef though. The menus. It gets annoying having to wait for Belldandy to flick open her wings and drop a few feathers so I can change the language track, or play the show. Otherwise, the menus are nice, clean and easily navigable.

This is a great little show. If you’re looking for some witty, wonderful light-hearted comedy, “Ah My Goddess” is for you!

Haibane Renmei Vol. 1

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. The first episode shows us the birth of a new Haibane, and our main character, Raka, and has some gruesome footage in it, but that footage is sparse compared to the rest of the disc. From there, we learn about what it means to be Haibane along with Raka.

The Art: Gorgeous! The colors in this series remind me a lot of the palette from Last Exile. The town also has a similar feel to Norkia. I have to wonder if there was some animator cross-over here somewhere because the resemblance to the look and feel of Last Exile is striking, even though Haibane is the older of the two series. I know that can’t be so because Haibane is not a Gonzo title, but still, it’s remarkable how much the two series feel alike.

I can’t say much more without any spoilers, but this series gets four plums out of five so far!

Ghost in the Shell SAC 2nd Gig. Volume 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. In fact, in terms of the technical aspects of this series, I can say nothing but good things. The venerable Yoko Kanno is responsible for the soundtrack, and there’s a cameo from anime fan favorite, Steve Conte for the end titles. The openers and closers are gorgeous, appropriately animated to the series.. and if I haven’t said it before about the SAC franchise, I’ll say it now… the music is to die for.

What’s new here is the story. The series tends to stick to the stand alone theme, but rather than splitting it off into two parts of stand alone episodes and complex episodes, the new season is a network of “divided episodes”. Each episode has its own story that seems to play into an arc of politcal intrigue that surrounds the existence of Section 9. So while you watch the Major dive off of buildings and do all that cool stuff that has every kid I know wanting to grow up and be the Major… you’re also tugging at the underpinings of a very precarious political situation that’s got Aramaki in it up to his nose.

No matter which way you slice it, this volume is just plain good stuff. So good… that after it was over, I hit play a second time.

Live Blogging: Enter Naruto Uzumaki?

That’s right ladies and gentlemen, Naruto has finally aired on television in the US!

My kids and I have just finished watching the first episode, and so far, I have been *very* pleasantly surprised. The voice casting for the Hokage, the senseis and the other children in the show is solid, but the voice casting for Naruto himself is leaving me a tad cold. The voice really needs to have more power and strength to it. I’m not sure how this voice actress will do with the more poignant moments in the show when Naruto stares into the face of his enemy and says “I will never take back my words! That’s my way of the ninja!”

The bloody nose scenes have been dumbed down a bit, they have been replaced with some blue screens with outlines of blood pouring out of the character’s nose done in white. All in all though, that isn’t unfitting for the series.

The opening titles for the US version of Naruto are non-existant. They have taken caps from various points in the opening titles all across the series, and cobbled them together in a 30 second spot that isn’t exceptional, or memorable at all, but it does allow them to put more show on the air here, which I am grateful for. So far, I have yet to notice any missing scenes or lines.

As far as the translation work goes, its not at all comparable with the work of the venerable ANBU, but it’s not bad, it really translates over to the American market well, I’m very happy with it overall.

I’m being incredibly forgiving, do keep this in mind. If I had a choice on a DVD, I would not watch this dub, but when compared to other dubwork I’ve seen recently that’s come out of some of the larger US anime distribution houses… Naruto stands up at least as well as Saiyuki.