Review: Hatenkou Yuugi (破天荒遊戯)

Posted by ranpha on 13th June 2008
Posted in: anime review - reposted. Tagged: . Leave a Comment


The moment I see her eyes, I know I have to make a screenshot so that I can put it up with this review.

More manga reading prevents me from watching the short 10-episode Hatenkou Yugi straight away. I did get around watching this series yesterday, and immediately I regret doing so in the end. This is a 2008 anime, thus it will challenge the 7-out-of-10 H2O footprints in the sand for the provosional Anime of the Year 2008 title but suffice to say early in this review, that this anime has failed to do so.

Story:-
Our main female protagonist with EXTREMELY BIG EYES was told by her father to haul her ass on an endless journey. She was then accompanied by 2 handsome hunks (one of which appears out of nowhere just like that) as they move on from town to town doing their thing.

This anime is basically the 2008 version of Myself, Yourself, that’s how awful the story is. While it does seems that this series is just a precursor to a bigger story (in a second season?), I have to say that this precursor stinks badly. The story, for what it worth, actually flows and develops nicely but other things such as ridiculous attempts at humor degrade this anime further. I wonder why this anime has only 10 episodes (not a normal episode count). Maybe the director sees sense and decided to castrate this anime early from its normal 12/13 (or god forbid, 24/26) episodes run?

Character development is also not that good if you ask me (and no outstanding characters). For starters, where the hell Baroqueheat comes from, and how did he join the main protagonist and Alzeid? This anime just repeats the mistakes done by the second season of Comic Party anime. The anime did try to give more perspective on each of the three main characters, but within only 10 episodes, there’s not much that can be done. The ambiguous ending strongly hints of a second season, which I definitely will not watch.

Character Design:-
The big eyes that the main female protagonist has really creeps me out. I have spent years watching Japanese anime, inclusive a fair amount of hentai too but the size of her eyes really takes me aback. Anime like DiGi Charat do have big eyes too but they at least do not really shock me to the extent her eyes did. Is this the kind of eyes Something Awful reviewers say that can be seen by orbiting satellites? (warning: this SomethingAwful link may scar you for life).

Anyway, the character design in this anime is actually excellent, if you omit those big eyes of hers. Would have been a positive aspect of this anime if not for that pair of eyes she has.

Voice Acting:-
The voice acting in this anime is just average, nothing else I can say about this.

Music:-
OST and OP/ ED themes, none of them actually interest me.

Animation/Direction:-
The animation of this anime is quite good, even in fast-paced scenes. The choreography is just average though, with a considerable amount of action happening off-screen. The directing is good though, although with this story that this anime has he/she can only do limited things with it.

Conclusion:-
4 out of 10. H2O can keep the award for a little bit longer. Will read some more manga, before going around to finally watch Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai (hoping for more neckstabs) or Records of Lodoss War, depending on my mood.


One of the very few humor attempts that actually succeeds.

Review: Noir (ノワール)

Posted by ranpha on 1st June 2008
Posted in: anime review - reposted. Tagged: . Leave a Comment


This commercial break sequence really shows this anime’s age. The story is great though.

A week on ISP problems prevents me from watching Noir earlier, but eventually I did finish it today. With this, I have watched the whole ‘girls-with-gun’ trilogy, although not in the correct order and Madlax being watched before this blog started. Comparison to Madlax and el cazador de la bruja will be inevitable.

Story:-
A professional assassin named Mireille Bouquet received a request from a client that wants to open the ‘door of the past’ with her. Puzzled, she went to Japan to see the client and there, she finds out that the client holds the key to her past when her parents were murdered. To find more information about that, she has no choice but to tag along with the new-found client…

Between the titles in the trilogy, Noir definitely has the best story of them all, followed by Madlax and then el cazador de la bruja respectively. For starters, while in the latter two titles, the main gun-toting female protagonists are paired with partners that are basically useless in battle, here the main protagonist is accompanied by another gun-toting partner that is even more skilled than her. Which means the partner did not need saving from the baddies. I also like the fact that the protagonists did not spare their enemies and will kill them without mercy, which is more realistic if you ask me. For example in a certain episode that takes place in Taiwan, Kirika kills more people in one episode than Nadie (of el cazador) did in her entire series.

The story did not start very well though, because it started too fast for my liking for about 2 or 3 episodes. Only then the pacing settled down considerably and the plot started to develop very nicely. This continued until the ending, which is also done well, although it will do better to be less ambiguous. Character development was also done well, but I do not think there’s anyone who stands out from the rest, although I really like the premise of a dual gunwomen. Generally this anime did not have any weaknesses here.


A dog is taking a nap in the shade. Not really sure why I am taking this screenshot though.

Character Design:-
As a whole, the character design in this anime is decent but not exactly spectacular. About the usual hair color comment, it seems to be realistic, especially if I consider the setting of this anime and the fact that the main protagonist is a Caucasian with the partner is Oriental (probably). Between the titles in the trilogy, the order is reversed, with el cazador de la bruja having the best overall character design, followed by Madlax and then this anime. Although I should also mention that Madlax has the best design from all three main protagonists that featured in the trilogy.

Voice Acting:-
The voice acting in this anime is good, but there is no one outstanding here. Between the titles in the trilogy, the order is still the same as the one in character design section.

Music:-
This anime has excellent OST, but forgettable OP/ED themes. Thus, between the titles in the trilogy, Madlax takes the crown followed by el cazador de la bruja and then this anime.


Our sidekick which is stronger than the main protagonist is looking at her dinner. Maybe it is the secret of her strength?

Animation/Direction:-
The animation in this 2001 anime is decent, and did not suffer from fast-paced scenes. Loses out to el cazador and Madlax respectively though. Meanwhile, choreography is very well done, and only loses to Madlax (which main title character is awesome with skills that eclipsed Mirelle, Kirika and Nadie), while el cazador takes up the third place.

For directing, it do not have the unnecessary frills that el cazador has, which is a good thing, and also scored in terms of realism (the shoot to kill thing I mentioned before, and did not have the supernatural elements that both Madlax and el cazador has) and lack of silly camera angles (I’m looking at you el cazador). The severe lack of blood in this anime where lives is cheap is bugging me a lot though.

Conclusion:-
8 out of 10. The director for the trilogy is doing Blade of the Immortal this summer, and I for sure will watch that series (I read the manga too). Please do not butcher this epic title please, kthxbye. The next anime will be Hatenkou Yugi, a 2008 anime because I think I should give the H2O footprints in the sand a challenge.


More blood would have made this anime more realistic.

Review: Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone – ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版：序

Posted by ranpha on 28th May 2008
Posted in: anime movies, anime review - reposted. Tagged: , . 2 comments


Our emo poster boy returned, now with DAT player in tow. Compare with the earlier entry here.

Just after posting the Gakkou no Kaidan review, I went ahead and watch the first Evangelion remake. 2 hours later, the movie is finished and here is another review, the 2nd for this day.


The green one has now become the brown one.

Story:-
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?

Well, for this movie there’s only 2 of them for now. Based on the first 6 episodes of the TV series (as claimed in the PDF file inside the torrent), this anime still retains the same story for the most part, with some modifications. Those who have not watched the TV series may enjoy the movie, but for those who do, the bad points of this movie readily become apparent.

The first negative is how some important scenes are simply missing. For example, Shinji’s first day at school where he was punched by Touji. For those who haven’t watched the TV series, they will be in a disadvantage because they will not know exactly why Touji is doing that. The explanation given by Kensuke is simply not enough to explain the context of that scene. There are few others like this such as the incident where Shinji is supposed to go home after rebelling against Misato and others, and each and every omission gives different negative effects on the storyline.

As the consequence of the first point above, the second negative would be the ridiculously high-pace presentation of the storyline, especially the ones that deal with the first 2 episodes of the TV series. This was done by omitting some details that was inside the TV series (like the installation of batteries in Misato’s car) and also reconstructions of some parts of the story (such as the meeting between Shinji and his father for the first time in front of the Unit 01). This was made worse by the fact that the pacing suddenly slowed down right after the second Angel was defeated, because it happened just right after I have accustomed myself with the torrid pace with which the movie started. It feels like slamming the brakes of a car that travels at 100km/h before driving at a more normal pace.

As mentioned above, this retelling of the TV series does several things differently relative to the original story; omitting certain parts of the story (some to the detrimental effect of the movie), adding original elements to it and also retelling existing parts in new light. It was the latter part where this movie has largely succeeded without major troubles. The way NERV deals with the third Angel is so original, it is even better than the version in the TV series.

Character developments are not as good as the ones in the first 6 episodes of the TV series, and the main protagonist is the one that suffered the most while the biggest gainer is Misato. It is really hard to judge this aspect for the time being, because it seems that the subsequent movies will deviate more from the original storyline, and I may have to retract some of what I have written above.


The ‘innovative’ monster is still here…

Character Design:-
Basically the same as my entry for this anime late last year. The Angels has also been redesigned, to mixed effect.

Voice Acting:-
Same as above.

Music:-
The OST seems to be better in this version, but Beautiful World is no Fly Me To The Moon.


…but it now has a brand-new drill.

Animation/Direction:-
The part where this movie has greatly improved upon, the animation in this movie is excellent, even in fast-paced scenes. Choreography is the same as the TV series, with the exception of the retelling of the third Angel, which is better. The older animation scenes has been remastered and new cooler animation is done for the scenes that has been retold, like the third Angel incident. The directing is at fault for the horrid overall pacing of this movie, but has done well in other parts.


Actually, if Gainax remake this and change this DAT player into an iPod or even a Zune, I will probably overlook it.

Conclusion:-
8 out of 10. This movie ends well after a bad start. Now waiting for the next instalment this year, hoping that the strong ending that this movie has can be continued.


So that’s how the contraption that Asuka wears all the time looks like.

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