Anime

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Burst Angel


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There are times when a series has a great premiere and a great reception only to fade away like dust in the wind. If a series is lucky it’s just that the response wasn’t what the studio or network was hoping for and it was cancelled before truly achieving glory. If the series was at least halfway entertaining then a fandom will grow around theses series and continue to sing its praise. Unfortunately as most are aware, Anime for the most part has a planned out length and get map of the story they are hoping to tell. This means that if a series has a great opening or start to it and their isn’t’ a huge group of followers discussing it and demanding that sequels be made then there is a good chance the series was just not every good in the long run. This was my experience with Burst angel.

My first exposure with the series took place at Acen 2005. I was at my hotel room and a friend of mine had returned from the dealer room with the first disc that Funimation had just put on sale that weekend. My friend popped it in and I will admit the first few minutes of the first episode are nothing but awesome. Before we even meet any characters we watch as a giant root gets into a fight with a giant monstrosity. The battle is intense as we watch the mecha, Django, defeat the creature with a pair of rapid fire pistols. It is probably one of the best first few minutes in anime history. Sadly it’s all downhill from here.

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As the series begins we are introduced to Kyohei (you can just feel free to call him chef as his job is to cook for the rest of the characters and he has little character developments.). Anyways, Chef is hired to cook for a team of Mercenary girls all who are named after characters from the book little women. Unfortunately, none of the girls are nearly as developed as their classic literature counterparts and are instead bland enough to be downgraded to their job title. Sei is the business side of the operation, Jo is the muscle and pilot of Django, Amy is the hacker, and Meg is the hostage. No seriously she gets captured during almost every story line she’s involved in. More on this in a moment. Basically, chef is the normal one finding the operations the girls undertake to be too intense, but does little but sits on the sideline and watch as things explode around him. If you think I’m underselling the series you’re sadly mistaken.

One of the problems with the show is Meg. Like I said she gets captured every story line and despite having a real cool gun, she doesn’t do anything cool with it or defeat any of the enemies. She also doesn’t grow as a character, which makes the ending that much more frustrating. The biggest and most frustrating moments is the very end of the series, (YES, I am giving you spoilers as its for your own good), as it appears that Jo is gone, Meg says she will keep up the fight with the final scene being her wearing Jo’s jacket, Jo’s pistols, and a repainted Django. There was not enough development for the character for this ending to make any sense and the character is just plain annoying.

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The mecha in the series Django is a pretty impressive robot with a nice cowboy look. Sadly it after the first fight in the opening things quickly goes downhill. Basically the impressive looking robot fights against a bunch of crappy generic monster of the week mechanical animals and poorly put together robots. Also, Django has no close combat weapons, which is a major flaw I see in all giant robots as close quarters weapons is a basic mainstay with all robotic arsenals.

When I did finally get around to watching this series was incredibly disappointing, especially after I had such a fond feeling from the first episode. I can’t tell fans enough that its just for the their best interest to stay far away from this series. I need to go watch a Gundam series just to watch the taste out of my mouth from writing this review.

Rating: D

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Neon Genesis Evangelion

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I was kind of hesitating to write this review. I mean this is Neon Genesis Evangelion we are talking about. What could I possibly say about a series that has had such praise for close to twenty years? But I know it’s my duty as a reviewer specializing in Mecha to talk about the series that was a turning point in the genre.

Taking place in the future city of Tokyo 3 the story focuses on a young man named Shinji Ikari. Called home by his father Shinji finds the city under attack by a mysterious creature called an Angel. Rescued by a member of the organization NERV run by his father Gendo, young Shinji is tasked with piloting the EVA 01 a robot specially designed to fight the angels. As Shinji begins to fight against these monsters he eventually discovers there are more forces at play even with the robot he has been assigned to use in battle.
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There have literally been novels discussing the different aspects of this series. Instead of looking at them in an effort to dissect the series (so this review doesn’t go on for an entire month) I am instead going to go over how I viewed and enjoyed the series over the years. I started watching this series at the end of high school where I found it enjoyable as a giant robot series. That was for must of the first run. The second time I researched it I started looking into it for the deeper meanings of the series and asking some of the bigger questions like “What was Seele really planning?”. Then I eventually watched End the Evangelion and didn’t really know what to think about the whole thing. Man that movie was a trip but that’s a review for another day. Then came the disenchantment with the series. I eventually got a roommate that obsessed over the series to the point of collecting Rei Ayanami figures and basically helped the End of Evangelion to leave an even worse taste in my mouth. I haven’t re-watched the series since then. The shine of the series was gone and I wonder if there is any way to bring it back. I mean I still appreciate the series for what it is. This was a game changer to the mecha genre much like Puella Magi Madoka Magica shook up the magical girl genre. My relationship with Neon Genesis Evangelion is much like a real relationship complete with its ups and downs.
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Basically this is a series I had great devotion and has stood the test of time but since it has been around for so long I have fallen out of love with it but reflect on the memories we had fondly. I guess the best way to renew the feelings I only certain held for it would be to finally break down and watch the new movies. I just have been having trouble breaking down to watch them. I mean I have been burned before.

RATING: B

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Knights of Sidonia

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Keeping up with the many different series that keep coming out in anime can be a bit difficult. I mean on top of consuming all the media, I have writing to do about it in both blogging and creative writing aspects. Still, when a great Mecha comes around, I can’t help but want to check it out. Unfortunately, there are so many titles with Giant Robots, that this is not always an easy task. Luckily I took the time to check out this new Netflix exclusive series as it was worth it.

In the bowels of the future space colony of Sidonia, Nagate Tanikaze has been in intense training. When his food supply runs out, he has no choice but to venture above and become reintroduced to society. Entered into the Guardian piloting program, it soon appears as if his training was for nothing. It is not until he is given the legendary Tsugumori robot that his skills are truly uncovered and he is able to become the hope that Sidonia needs to survive the alien menace known as the Gauna.

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One of the more appealing aspects of this anime is that it has a lot of good world building in terms of the scientific aspects of the story. Humans in this world have been altered to allow themselves to photosynthesize so they require less food and nutrients. This is a very reasonable explanation on how a space colony is able to survive despite how many people are in its population. There also was the very amusing scene with characters putting on their space suits and feeling uncomfortable as they have to adjust to the feeling of having a catheter in is just another piece of good world building.

I can’t help but point out one of the aspects of the show that I found a bit disconcerting. The character designs for Hoshijiro and Shinatose are too alike. I mean I know they say that Shinatose is some kind of Hermaphrodite that will later choose her gender but that doesn’t change the fact that the two have similar physical features and hair cuts to the point I didn’t realize they weren’t the same person until they were standing next to one another. Points off for not making the two characters stand out more from one another.

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Still, the series was addicting and I found myself binge watching it in less than a week. I’m half tempted to break down and run out and buy the manga for it. This is a lot of praise for a series as I usually don’t read much Mecha manga as I don’t think they capture the action as intensely as well as the animation does. Still, I’m trying to watch my spending so I’ll have to wait for more episodes to appear on Netflix. Unless someone out there wanted to make a sizeable donation so I can go grab some copies of the manga. HINT, HINT!

Rating: B