Category: Anime

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]

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]

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.… [Read More]