anime review

All reviews written since I moved the blog to the wordpress platform. Default category.

Review: Ergo Proxy (エルゴプラクシー)

Posted by ranpha on 19th June 2010
Posted in: anime review. Tagged: . 3 comments


The main male protagonist, who is about to be eaten.

While hundreds of million of people around the world watched Spain slipped on a slick Swiss cheese, I’m watching a 2006 anime titled Ergo Proxy instead. Therefore after a long absence, Chocotto Sister will finally have its first challenger for the ‘Anime of the Year 2006’ title.


Well, he somehow escapes his horrible predicament, but still ends up in jail with the loli android a.k.a. one of the best characters in this anime.

Story:-
In a post-apocalyptic world where humanity now lives in domes like the ones in Koukaku no Regios, the main female protagonist is investigating an outbreak of a mysterious virus that caused the android servants to revolt against their masters. In the course of the investigation, she meets the main male protagonist who is also involved in the investigation. After a long hard day at work, she was then attacked by a mysterious monster in the bathroom (emphasis added), which is also connected with the virus outbreak. Hunting for viruses and perverted powerful monsters, will she ever be able to solve the mystery?

The story in this anime is really good, and anyone who doesn’t hate science-fiction should take this title for a spin. This anime is a dialogue-heavy title (although not as much as Bounen no Xamdou) but there are plenty of action and comedy too in this anime. Excellent pacing and flawless story development will keep you glued to your seat, with some exceptions between episode 18 and the start of the ending arc at episode 21. The ending arc started with some offline scene progression (kinda like what have been done in the ending arc of Asura Cryin’ – but with less negative effects), but otherwise the ending is great and is open for a second season if the producer decides to do one.

Character development in this anime is largely good, although a couple of characters with relatively lots of airtime doesn’t really benefit from it. There are two great characters in this anime; the first is the main male protagonist’s loli companion android and the second is that android’s ‘father’, who is the head of the Security Bureau. The two main protagonists are not bad but they are not as appealing as the loli android is, nor they are as interesting and unpredictable as the loli android’s father is.


He doesn't seem to be thrilled to be in the same place as her though.

Character Design:-
The main female protagonist really stands out in this aspect for her controversial usage of mascara in this anime. It is so futuristic, several characters in this anime actually tried to mimic it. Well, the polarizing mascara usage is good for her, because she looks so ordinary without it. In general, character design in this anime is quite good, with the main female protagonist being the best. A positive point for this anime.


Nevertheless, the interaction between these two characters is one of the highlights of this anime.

Voice Acting:-
In this dialogue-heavy anime, a good voice acting performance is more essential than ever. And this is where the main male protagonist failed miserably. Just like in Excel Saga, the voice actress for the timid and indecisive main male protagonist simply cannot fit the profile of the character she voiced. But when the main male protagonist switched characters with the head of Security Bureau in that fake memory episode, the voice actress suddenly performed very well as the main male protagonist, in his new position, is kicking ass and taking names.

This is a pity because if you exclude the main male protagonist, voice acting in this anime is very good all around. As usual, the loli android, the main female protagonist, the genius doctor and of course, the real Security Bureau head stands out from the rest.


The loli companion android, one of the best characters in this anime…

Music:-
The OST is not very good, and so are the ED theme from Radiohead. The OP theme is the only positive this anime has in this section.


…and this is her 'father' who heads the Security Bureau, also one of the best characters in this anime.

Animation/Direction:-
Animation in this anime is great, even in fast-paced scenes. Choreography is quite decent too, but not spectacular. The director has done a near-flawless presentation of this anime, with some neat first-person camera techniques too thrown in the mix. A plus point for this anime.


Mocking the main female protagonist is also one of the loli android's favorite pastime.

Conclusion:-
9 out of 10. Chocotto Sister is still the reigning ‘Anime of the Year 2006’ title holder, but this anime is still a recommended watch. So, what’s next?


His answer to this TV quiz question is very predictable but still very hilarious.

Shortlink: http://wp.me/prgSo-ds

Review: Kara no Kyoukai – The Garden of Sinners (空の境界)

Posted by ranpha on 15th June 2010
Posted in: anime movies, anime review. Tagged: . Leave a Comment


Just like Pizza Hut sponsorship of Darker than Black and Code Geass, this anime is brought to you by Häagen-Dazs®.

If not for the World Cup, my review for the psychological thriller anime series Kara no Kyoukai – The Garden of Sinners would have come earlier. Even more so if the power supply of this very machine I typed this review on doesn’t blew up. ANN says that this anime consists of seven movies, therefore the anime movies tag. Because the first movie was released in 2007, this whole series (even if it ends in 2009) will compete with another psychological thriller anime titled Bokurano, which just happened to be the current ‘Anime of the Year 2007’ title holder as of time of writing.


The clinically insane main female protagonist.

Story:-
A timid but idealistic high-schooler befriended a kimono-wearing, knife-toting girl who have a Naruto-esque bloodline power. Many events happened between them in the years that followed, with most of them involving gruesome murders and some magic too.

The story in this anime is just so-so for a seinen, but its presentation is what this series is all about. The best positive point of this anime is the timeline management, incorporating storytelling techniques such as flashbacks and flashforwards to present a surprisingly coherent storyline. This will be apparent prominently in the first long movie in episode 5. The ending could have been magnificent, but for some gutless decisions made by whoever wrote the story for this anime.

Character development is excellent, which is another good point this anime has, for the two main protagonists. Well, with 2 dedicated episodes for doing just that, this is pretty much inevitable. There are no outstanding character in this anime though. And I do really want to repeat the fact that whoever wrote the story really miss the opportunity to construct a magnificent ending from the otherwise strong final arc this anime has. Man, did the writer realize that this anime is seinen? Gosh, the ending this anime have are common in shounen titles. I don’t expect to see shounen-like endings in mature seinen titles.


This murder scene that is about to happen is one of the most hilarious murders ever happened in anime history.

Character Design:-
Character design in this anime is good, with plenty of realistic black hairs. Veered towards the style of shounen but still a positive point for this anime.

Voice Acting:-
Unfortunately, voice acting in this anime is just plain average, without any good gigs from any of the voice actors/actresses.

Music:-
The OST is sparse but good. None of the ED themes are of any good though.


The director sometimes made errors like having the main female protagonist leaving a scene (in this case, school) while leaving her properties (bags and jacket) behind. This kind of error are repeated several times

Animation/Direction:-
The animation quality is excellent all-around, with plenty of photorealistic background used in this anime. Choreography in this anime is also great, especially the fight scenes that involves the main female protagonist. The director has done a great job with the presentation as mentioned above, and also with camera works plus photography. A positive point for this anime.

Conclusion:-
8 out of 10. This anime failed to take out Bokurano off its throne. I will watch one or two more anime titles before the inevitable Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood review comes up. Or maybe not, FIFA World Cup notwithstanding.


Meanwhile, fed up with the main female protagonist murderous tendencies, the main male protagonist chooses to make out with another old friend of his instead.

Shortlink: http://wp.me/prgSo-dp

Review: Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版：破)

Posted by ranpha on 8th June 2010
Posted in: anime movies, anime review. Tagged: , . 2 comments


This early scene in the movie is just the beginning of more deviation from the TV series by this movie.

As mentioned in my previous review, today’s post will contain my review of the second installment of the Evangelion movie titled Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance. This movie is the second of four movies (if the ANN is to be believed) and my review of the first movie can be read here. This is a 2009 anime, but Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei will keep its throne for the time being.


The story in this anime has been heavily altered, and so are his role.

Story:-
An excerpt from my review of the first movie:-

A teenage kid was forced to become a child soldier pilot for a robot by his own father to fight some monsters called ‘Angels’. Things become difficult when it becomes clear that the boy has some ‘problems’ and his colleague-pilots don’t seem to be sane either. Can a trio of problematic robot pilots save the world from devastation?

While there are only 2 pilots in the first movie, there is another 2 added in the second, instead of one like what the TV version of this series portrayed. This early change in pilot numbers is just the beginning of many other changes, additions and omissions that this movie undergo through compared to what you can see in the TV version.

As I also predicted in the review of the first movie, the sequel indeed has deviated further away from the TV version, even more than I first thought. Unlike the two-gear pacing speed that the first movie has (early part of the movie has very fast pacing, the latter part is far slower), this movie’s pacing is more stable, but it is still fast. Let’s just say that the general pacing of this movie is in-between the first movie pacing in its first half and the pacing of the first movie’s second half. In general, if you want to make comparisons, the pacing of this movie is by far is the fastest compared to all the movie titles I reviewed before this movie, listed here.

Another obvious fact that you can observe in this anime is that the movie omits plenty of contents/stories/plots that is available in the TV series in their comparable time-frame, even more so than the first movie. This may not affect you if you haven’t watched the TV series, but if you do, some of the omissions may have a negative effect. For me, the complete omission of the arc where Shinji and Asuka fought the two-core Angel with synchronized movements is a bad decision made by whoever wrote the adaptation into this movie. That actual battle itself is not so important, but the training before the battle provides great value for character developments of both Shinji and Asuka (and their relationship too I suppose). The writers probably tried to compensate for this by modifying the original infected Eva Unit 3 arc plot by putting Asuka in it (Eva Unit 3) instead of Toji (as it is in the TV series), but it failed. IMO, if the aforementioned missing arc was included in the movie unaltered, before the altered infected Eva Unit 3 arc happened, the latter arc would have generated more impact that it currently does in the movie.

The fast pacing and many omissions (I think there are at least another two Angel arcs in the TV series removed from the movie, amongst other things), allows this movie to rapidly reached at least episode 22 or 23 of the TV series time-line. For comparison, the first movie spanned only the first 6 episodes of the TV series, but the second movie spanned the next 15 episodes or so. The next two movies is definitely going to be original stories not seen in the TV series. And I would also want to add that none of the reconstructed arcs in this second movie has surpassed their originals in the TV series, unlike the reconstructed 3rd Angel battle in the first movie that I think is better than the one in TV version.

Just like the first movie, there are some changes too happening in the movie, like the Asuka’s name change (why this happened, I don’t know), her lack of infatuation for Kaji, her obvious attention toward Shinji, her changed roles like the one in the aforementioned infected Eva Unit 03 arc and many more. Additions that was made in the second movie includes the extra additional pilot (also from Europe just like Asuka is), some original plots like the visit to the artificial aquarium and Shinji’s father visit to the moon and more. These changes and additions doesn’t have as much negative impact compared to the omissions mentioned a couple of paragraph above.

The good ending finished on a cliffhanger, kinda like Code Geass’ first season. Therefore, wait for the review of the third movie somewhere in 2013 or something.


Unfortunately for the main protagonist, so are his sexual preferences…

Character Design:-
My comment from the review of the first movie still applies.

Voice Acting:-
My comment from the review of the first movie still applies.

Music:-
The OST has regressed in quality, and the ending theme is just another variation of the ending theme of the first movie (that I didn’t like).

Animation/Direction:-
The animation quality matches the excellent quality seen in the first movie. Choreography is one of the few things that the second movie has improved from the first, with better fighting scenes in the reconstructed Angel arc and good battles in original ones. The director has stabilized the pacing compared to the first movie, but I don’t think he made a good choice of what TV arc he has omitted compared to what he includes (and made).

Conclusion:-
7 out of 10. Slightly inferior to the first movie. With this movie, the whole TV series has been rebooted, and the next two movies should have original contents. I think Gainax should have made 5 movies, with 3 for the retelling of the TV series, and 2 for whatever original contents they want to have. Too many TV series contents has been omitted for my liking, even more than the first movie.


This area has just been devastated by a nuclear bomb, but our bad-ass main protagonist simply strolled out there as if nothing has happened. Those radiations must be nothing for him.

Shortlink: http://wp.me/prgSo-dj

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