Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase

Originally Posted by Onegai:

General Information:

Studio: Shaft

Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Action

Episodes: 25

OVAs: 1 (Unrelated)

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Synopsis:

Kouhei is an aspiring photographer with a very special talent for photographing ghosts. This ability does not stem from higher spirituality or any affinity he shares with the other side. It’s rather the complete opposite. You see Kouhei is so spiritually dense that ghosts don’t affect him, nor does magic – or anything vaguely mystical for that matter.

Thus Kouhei finds himself on yet another paranormal assignment taking pictures in a particularly sinister old, abandoned castle. During his exploration, Kouhei meets a girl who introduces herself as Hazuki. But Hazuki is no ordinary girl; she’s a vampire princess who’s been imprisoned in the castle by her father. Kouhei, being as dense as he is, notices nothing out of the ordinary about Hazuki and is instead more interested in having her model for him than anything else. After realising that her Vampiric power has no effect on Kouhei, she is forced to resort to more blunt ways to persuade him to free her.

Once Hazuki has been liberated, she is left with nowhere to go so she decides to move in with Kouhei – in spite of his many objections.

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Review:

I really loved this one. The storyline is sweet even though it can get quite silly every now and then with certain elements treading just behind the safety margin of over-the-top. If one were to really get down and analyze the underlying plot however, it’s actually a very compelling little story and by mixing it with very quirky humour, Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase retains a good balance of serious and funny.

There’s nothing worth mentioning, good or bad, about the artwork. It has a relatively generic and sometimes flat appearance but it’s tolerable. The animation’s not too great either in a lot of areas. There are a small number scenes where budget constraints on the animation become quite apparent but they are few and far between so it didn’t really bother me too much. Most people won’t even notice.

The soundtrack was reasonably good excluding the main intro theme. There is a fine line between “kawai” and just plain annoying and that opening theme came close to crossing said line.

All in all though, Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase turned out to be a really fun anime and despite its few shortcomings, it’s on my list of favourites and definitely worth watching as it should appeal to just about any anime fan in some way or another.

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Other Formats:

Manga: 16 Volumes

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Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

Originally Posted by Onegai:

General Information:

Studio: Studio Deen

Genres: Thriller, Horror, Drama, Tragedy

Episodes: 26

OVAs: 5 (Unrelated)

English Name: When the Cicadas Cry

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Synopsis:

Keiichi has recently moved from the big city to the village of Hinamizawa. For the first time in his life, Keiichi is now exposed to simple country life – a life he thinks is peaceful and tranquil. However, it does not take long before things begin to fall apart at the seams and for paranoia to overcome sensibility.

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Review:

If you watch it, DO NOT miss a single episode. That’s because the plot is very complicated. There are no answers or explanations given for the events taking place until the very end of the series and you’re forced to make your own deductions up until then. Not that making deductions will do most people any good since the story has been very cunningly compiled and will likely misdirect you; making you think that you were wrong about something only to discover later on that you were originally on the right track.

Aside from a brilliantly evil little storyline, the show also does take time out for a few laughs, and mundane moments. That combined with a very surreal intro theme make for a very creepy and looming atmosphere.

The artwork and animation aren’t really worth a mention but to say that the CGI waterwheel was most off-putting. Still, this hardly matters when stacked up against the very clever writing and directing along with some fairly apt character development.

Overall it’s a good series and I personally thoroughly enjoyed it but I don’t think it’s for everyone. If you like lots of action, humour and straightforward plots, then I wouldn’t recommend Higuashi no Naku Koro ni to you because it’s far more artistic than entertaining. The complicated plot is likely to give many people a migraine and some may even find it a little on the slow moving side. If you enjoyed Jigoku Shoujo then there’s an above average chance you’ll enjoy this.

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Other Formats:

Game: Microsoft PC, Playstation 2, Nintendo DS

Light Novel: 4 Volumes

Manga: 30 Volumes

Live-action Films: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (2008), Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Chikai (2009)

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Brief History:

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni originally started life as a dojin game back in 2002. It was well received which is likely why eight total games including one bonus disc have been released thus far. Along its journey, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni has been adapted into an anime, two live-action films, a manga series and a light novel series. The anime continues in a sequel, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, of 24 episodes in length.

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Kiba

Originally Posted by Onegai:

Studio(s): Aniplex, Madhouse

Genres: Fantasy, Action, Sci-Fi

Synopsis:

Zed and his friend, Noa, live in a city called Calm. Zed is somewhat of a renegade who’s constantly skipping school and getting in trouble with local law enforcement, largely due to the fact that he never had a father and his mother is mentally ill. Unlike his friend, Noa is a responsible young lad who, despite being very sickly, tries to live life to the fullest. But their lives change drastically when Zed is led through a portal by a strange, angelic creature. When Zed wakes up, he’s in a strange fantasy world called Tempura where magic is real. Zed then discovers that he’s actually a Shard Caster – a magic user with the ability to summon powerful spirits in battle. From that moment on, Zed realises his life will never be the same again.

Review:

There are few very original plot devices in the series but the storyline is still quite enjoyable once one gets into it. In terms of characters; there’s a fairly decent amount of character development along with quite a large variety of characters which does make for more interesting viewing. As far as artwork goes, it may not be dazzling but it’s nice the majority of the time (Of course when it comes to artwork, it’s a matter of personal taste in a lot of ways). Sadly, the animation itself is rather lazy. That is to say there are far too many fight scenes that consist of still images with fighting noises played along with a few jerks of the camera. The background movement itself is virtually non-existent with townsfolk seemingly frozen in a sort of limbo. While these are very common shortcomings in anime in general, in Kiba’s case it’s a little too constantly evident to pass off. As for the CGI use, I’ll admit that there were two elements that actually had to be rendered with CGI to create the desired effect. Unfortunately for Kiba the rest of the CGI elements that should have rather been hand-drawn as they tended to conflict with the rest of their surroundings. Luckily, compared with a lot of other modern anime, Kiba actually didn’t contain that many CGI elements (It is sad that I should even make a statement like that but “the times; they are a changing”). Moving onto the soundtrack now, I’d say it was somewhere between average and good. It had a few good scores and it definitely worked for the anime and created all the right atmospheres at all the right times and thus it accomplished its purpose. My overall view of Kiba is that it’s definitely worth a watch if you have it or if it’s being aired in your region but it won’t kill you if you miss it.

Koi Kaze

Originally Posted by Onegai:

Studio: Rondo Robe, Geneon Entertainment

Genres: Romance, Drama, Slice of Life

Synopsis:

Koshiro Saeki lives alone with his father and works with two co-workers; both of whom he doesn’t really relate to. He recently broke up with his girlfriend but seems rather apathetic about it. In fact, Koshiro is apathetic about his entire existence, not even really noticing that the seasons have changed. His life is about to change when he meets a 15 year old high school student, Nanoka, on a train. They end up going to an amusement park together where, despite being complete strangers, they end up pouring their hearts out to one another on a Ferris wheel and Koshiro starts developing slightly romantic feelings towards her. It’s revealed the same night, however, that Nanoka is actually Koshiro’s estranged sister. The two were separated long ago due to their parent’s divorce but now Nanoka will be moving in with Koshiro and their father as her high school is close by. Almost immediately, Koshiro finds himself caught in a web of complicated and conflicting emotions as he tries to fight off his ever growing romantic interests in Nanoka.

Review:

Warning: This may offend many audiences. This is because although there are comic-relief moments in Koi Kaze, it’s for the most part very intense. The anime deals with a subject matter which is a social taboo in a very psychologically in-depth way; perhaps far more so than the average viewer would like. If the question was “How far down the rabbit hole are you willing to go?” then the answer would be “All the way” in Koi Kaze’s case. Much like NHK ni Youkoso (Welcome to the NHK), Koi Kaze is a very blatant look at the human condition that will, very sadly, probably not be very popular among many audiences as they would sooner cringe back from uncomfortable topics. The animation itself was quite pleasing as there is usually a fair amount of movement in the background (something I always find pleasing), fair attention to details and the players are all very well characterised. As for the characters, the important ones are all very three-dimensional, although the support characters, admittedly, do lack much definition – possibly an intentional contrast. The atmosphere is very powerful just about all the time as if every scene was very carefully thought out. The soundtrack is neither here nor there, but it works well for the anime and I couldn’t imagine it any other way. All in all, Koi Kaze is one of my favourite series although, as stated earlier, it’s definitely not for everyone.

CGI Is Destroying Anime

Originally Posted by Onegai:

Below: A snap from Appleseed. Top: A snap from Appleseed 2.

It seems to be a growing trend to use CGI in anime these days. Many fans will agree when I say that it totally destroys a perfectly good anime and can actually put one off to the point that they stop watching. Apart from any other considerations; it’s killing the art of drawing, not just in anime but even in western animation.

CGI began long ago, back in the1970s. At this stage it was crude to say the least. Now and then minor CGI was used in visual media but to a very lesser extent as it was fairly costly in those days and technical capabilities were exceedingly limited. Then, nearly two decades later, a company called Pixar created Toy Story, the first full-length, fully CGI animated production. The subsequent effects it had on the film industry would change everything, western and eastern alike.

After seeing the success of Toy Story, Disney slowly started phasing out hand-drawn animation in favour of CGI. Meanwhile, the art of special effects was dying a slow and painful death as the world of CGI encroached on it. Stop-animation was no safer because CGI artists proved they could produce very similar results in far less time at far less cost. It was only the diehards like Tim Burton who clung to the art of stop animation, but even they have or will soon bow to the inevitable.

The CGI trend has since begun spreading in the anime world in two ways. The first is by using a methodology known as “Cel-shading”. This form of CGI (supposedly) looks hand-drawn. A good example of this would be and anime film called “Appleseed”. It’s an attempt to replace traditional art with CGI. Scarily enough, Cel-shading has gained quite a bit of popularity. The second way in which CGI is corrupting anime is the use of regular looking computer graphics in conjunction with hand-drawn frames to handle the more complicated animation sequences that would be time consuming and difficult to draw. For example, a hand-drawn animation of people walking may have CGI windmills turning in the background. Though it also apparently works out cheaper than hand-drawing these sequences, in the end it can be a put-off to a lot of potential viewers out there.

To further exacerbate things, CGI in anime is very often of a low standard due to the budget constraints. Now CGI usually clashes visually with hand-drawn animation as it is, but when the computer graphics are of poor quality; they totally destroy the anime. It is a fact that, apart from large companies like Square Enix, Japan generally produces inferior CGI to the west when it comes to movies. This is because, as a good friend of mine once said, “America has military-sized budgets to throw at productions” where as Japan is a little more conservative, perhaps even a little more sensible.

Even if the CGI was on the level of Final Fantasy: Advent Children, it would still lack that special feeling and look that hand-drawn animation has. No matter how they have tried, no one has (And I doubt will any time soon) be able to produce the same look that hand-drawn animation has. This is the part that saddens me that most. To hell with everything else I’ve mentioned because the feel and look of anime is probably one of the biggest things that attract me to it and seeing great artwork and impressively animated scenes is simply priceless. There’s an anime called Porco Rosso (Kurenai no Buta – Original Japanese name). It’s a 1992 vintage and it’s completely hand-drawn. There are some amazingly well-animated scenes in it where just about everything is moving on the screen including the POV. I was mesmerised as I watched it. On the other hand, a friend and I recently began watching an anime called Blassreiter. I did not even finish watching episode one because there was so much CGI in the thing that the clashing between the computer graphics and the hand-drawn animation made it impossible to maintain focus. “Off-putting” would have been an understatement.

I don’t have a problem with using computer assistance for colour-fills or for background scrolling. In fact if it saves money, I say go for it. As long as all the components are hand-drawn, I don’t make a fuss over putting it together using digital means. In fact I’ll even go as far as saying that I don’t mind stuff drawn on a digital pad. As long as there always remains the “human” element of hand-drawn art, I’d say it’s perfectly fine.

While I’m not a purist who hates CGI and wants it eradicated from all non-interactive visual material, I do feel that it has its place and that place is not substituting traditional artwork. I thoroughly enjoyed the film Animatrix and both Final Fantasy CGI movies. I’m not saying get rid of CGI, I’m merely saying that we mustn’t abandon true artwork in favour of a lazier and more cost-effective medium.

Blood+

Originally Posted by Onegai:

Blood+

Studio: Production I.G, Aniplex

Genres: Action, Horror, Drama

Synopsis:

In this epilogue to “Blood: The last Vampire” Saya has returned, only she’s not the Saya that we remember. With no memory of her past self, she’s now a typical high school girl enjoying a normal teenage life. Unfortunately for Saya though, her peaceful existence is disrupted when Chiroptera once again begin menacing the population. Soon the young girl is torn from her home, family and friends and drawn back into the world of fighting and bloodshed as the secrets about her past and origins slowly reveal themselves.

Review:

The series is riveting to say the least. Though it consists of fifty episodes, it feels like only half that due to the brilliant pace. The introduction of many new characters makes for a refreshed and interesting storyline which actually doesn’t give the feel of a sequel but rather a brand new show altogether. The character development is utterly superb, as is the character diversity and complexity. The soundtrack goes perfectly with each scene and the artwork is very pleasing to the eye as well. The only fault I can find with this series is a certain lack in consistency with the movie as far as Saya’s appearance goes. But that pales into insignificance weighed up against everything else this show has to offer. Blood+ is one of the few series that I can attribute the word “Epic” to and I believe that there is virtually no anime fan out there who would not enjoy Blood+, including those who disliked the movie.

Spice and Wolf (Season 1)

Originally Posted by Onegai:

Lawrence and Horo

Studio: Imagin

Genres: Fantasy, Drama, Comedy, Romance, Adventure

Synopsis:

Lawrence is a good-natured and honest merchant. His dreams are to amass sufficient funds to open his own shop. On a routine trip to collect some merchandise he meets Horo (Holo, Eng version), a mysterious woman sporting the ears and tail of a wolf. At first Lawrence doesn’t believe her when Horo tells him she is the god of the wheat harvest but when she reveals her full wolf form, he realises that this is true. He agrees to escort her as she makes her journey back home to the north but along the way they end up facing a series of extreme complications where quick whit is often proved an essential tool.

Review:

The series is very slow moving for the most of this season. Despite this factor, it’s very warm and friendly with light-hearted humour and an easy-going feel to it. One of its strongest points definitely lies in the directing which is absolutely first-class combining whit, a lot of subtlety and some very good character interplay. Unfortunately, the sound track is not very impressive at all. In some scenes, the musical score seems to clash with the event taking place. There is one track in particular that I actually had an aversion to. The character art and background art is nice and the animation itself is good although I suspect there may have been a certain level of computer assistance involved but it looked visually pleasing nonetheless. It’s obvious that this season is part of one continuous plot that’ll run into season two due to the fact that the last episode ended without tying much up at all. Therefore I’m not prepared to fully judge the plot and storyline since it’s technically incomplete. If you’re into very gentle, slow paced stuff then you’ll probably enjoy this and some Mushishi fans might like it too. It’s very niche in my opinion and I wouldn’t really recommend it for the majority of viewers yet.

Jigoku Shoujo

Originally Posted by Onegai:

Jigoku Shoujo

Studio(s): Studio Deen, Aniplex

Alternative Name: Hell Girl (U.S.)

Genres: Suspense, Horror, Drama, Tragedy

Synopsis:

Hell Correspondence is a website only accessible at midnight and only to those who truly seek revenge. When someone seeks revenge they need only submit the name of their antagonist to Hell Correspondence. The antagonist will then be sent to hell for eternity but in exchange so will the sender – only when they die of course. This is where we meet the series protagonist; Ai. She appears as a young teen and her job is to carry out the revenge and ferry the souls to hell. It’s obvious almost straight away that Ai does not enjoy the work she does. She’s a very quiet and sad girl, perhaps in total despair of her existence and humanity’s need for vengeance. Initially each episode seems self contained but as the series progresses, so the episodes become more and more interconnected with the appearance two very important key characters (No spoilers!) who both end up caught in the middle of everything. Soon, as more and more is revealed about all the players involved, it becomes quite clear that there is a definite connection between them.

Review:

Jigoku Shoujo is one of the more original pieces of work I’ve seen in a while. Despite this, it isn’t for everyone. It’s reliant mainly on suspense and good story telling with very little action but a good deal of horror. The series is mysterious and will have you on the edge of your seat once the plot gets going but at the same time there’s something about it that’s heart-wrenchingly dramatic. The atmosphere is eerie and mournful with a soundtrack that’s chilling to the bone. The pace of the story seems to accelerate; beginning at a mediocre speed but picking up as the overall story unravels. Peripherally, it’s also a very critical look at society and humanity and it explores a lot of questions about morality. The character development is good although in some cases it could have done slightly better. Personally, it’s one of my favourite series ever but if you like lots of sword fights, Mecha battles and things exploding, it may not be to your taste. I’d like to compare it to other anime out there and say “If you liked xyz, then you’ll like this” but I actually can’t because of just how different this series is.

Final Fantasy Unlimited

Originally Posted by Onegai:

Final Fantasy Unlimited

Studio: Gonzo

Genres: Adventure, Action, Fantasy, Fail

Synopsis:

Two children happen upon a portal that takes them to a magical world. Upon arriving they are a little nonplussed to discover that life here is completely different to where they come from but this doesn’t seem to in any way inhibit their curious nature. Based *loosely* on themes and concepts from the awesome videogame series Final Fantasy.

Review:

This is one of the most disappointing anime shows I’ve watched, if not the most. I only watched one episode before switching it off to prevent myself from clawing my own eyeballs out so maybe it does improve, but I doubt it. I’ve always believed in giving something a fair hearing and watching/reading it in it’s entirety before commenting but trying to watch this is somewhat like trying to walk through a lake of peanut butter with cement blocks strapped to your boots. To give you just one example of what I mean; there’s scene in the first episode where a monster waits patiently for a good three minutes while the hero carefully selects three different shells for his ?Summoning gun. He then fires the three shells simultaneously which seems to summon Phoenix. I would have preferred materia, magicite or good old fashioned spells but anyway. The artwork’s not really worth a mention; it’s not hideous but it’s definitely a far cry from good and the CGI integration seriously doesn’t do it any favours. Observe the top right inset, that’s apparently a chocobo. Need I say more? I’m a huge fan of the Final Fantasy game series (I exclude anything beyond Final Fantasy X when I say this) so maybe my opinion is biased, but I doubt that too. If you are a genuine old-school Final Fantasy Fanboy like myself then the chances you’ll hate this are “Over 9000!!!” to 1, if not then maybe you’ll like it, but I doubt that too. The choice is yours.

Noir

Originally Posted by Onegai:

Kirika and Murielle

Studio: Bee Train

Genres: Action, Suspense

Synopsis:

Murielle Bouquet is a first class assassin for hire who goes by the codename of Noir. One day Murielle is contacted by Kirika Yumura; a seemingly ordinary high school girl. When Murielle demands to know who Kirika is, the young girl says that she too is Noir. Murielle is taken by surprise when she soon witnesses that the young high-schooler is more than apt at killing people; employing both perfected hand-to-hand combat skills and deadly accurate aim. Kirika claims to have no memory of her past or knowledge of where she attained her abilities. Reluctantly, Murielle agrees to work with Kirika to help the young girl piece together her past. However, soon the two of them find themselves working to uncover an ancient mystery that connects them in more ways than they could ever have dreamed.

Review:

After watching the first episode, don’t expect to be impressed. Once you get into the story though, it’s actually quite enjoyable. The backdrops are mostly very nicely drawn with a excellent level of detail in a lot of places though the character art is nothing special. The fight scenes are very well animated, maintaining a very fluidic flow of motion on the whole. The sound track is awesome, but then again anything Yuki Kajiura lends her creative hand to generally is; and I’d have to say this is definitely one of the show’s two strongest points (The other being the animation). The character development isn’t anything spectacular I’m afraid, but don’t get me wrong, it’s far from bad. As for the storyline, well, as I mentioned earlier, it’s better than it seems at first glance. There are a string of self-contained episodes initially before the main theme really gets underway which leads to a good combination of variety and continuity. If you enjoyed MADLAX , you’ll most likely enjoy Noir.