Moving

I'll be moving my blog and starting to post again! I prefer Tumblr...
http://trashcancandyanime.tumblr.com

Blog Reviving Time!

Sorry for the super long hiatus everyone, but I do believe I'll be reviving this blog now. However, I'm not so sure I'll be sticking to my alphabetic checklist so much ^^; Next up is Dragonaut, possibly followed by a request from a friend for Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Enjoy~ --Candy

One Piece: Season 1

Synopsis: Before he was executed, the legendary Pirate King Gold Roger revealed that he had hidden the treasure One Piece somewhere in the Grand Line. Now, many pirates are off looking for this legendary treasure to claim the title Pirate King. One aspiring pirate, Monkey D. Luffy, is a boy who had eaten the Devil Fruit, a fruit that gives the consumer superhuman powers at the expense of losing their ability to swim forever.  The specific Devil Fruit Luffy ate, the Gum Gum Fruit, turned his body into rubber and gave him the ability to stretch, deflect bullets, and do many other amazing things! Now he is off to recruit a worthy crew and find the legendary One Piece, while battling enemies and making new friends along the way.
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Sorry, everyone! I have been putting this review off a bit.

When One Piece was first requested, I was honestly tempted to answer with, "Sorry, but I'm allergic to bad anime."  I could not say that, though, since I had just finished telling that same person that I review anime whether it is good or bad.  That is the point of reviewing.  So, I agreed to review Season 1...reluctantly.  I usually avoid anything that Shonen Jump puts out.  I also am not a pirate enthusiast (maybe it was the craze over Pirates of the Caribbean or something, but I just want to gag when I hear people talking about how awesome pirates are all the time).  Boy, was I surprised!  It sure took its time getting good, but by episode 36, I was hooked like an old lady on a bad soap opera.  That is why I have been putting the review off--I was having so much fun watching it!

Probably the most difficult thing I had to get past when I initially started watching One Piece was the art style.  I could not figure out if I found its simplicity charmingly old-school or repulsively lazy.  Now, I am more used to it, though I usually have a thing for more detailed and pretty art.  Character designs struck me as being rather ridiculous at first, especially villains.  (For example, there is a hypnotist at one point who is a very obvious Michael Jackson clone.  He even does the moonwalk instead of walking forward.)  That having been said, though the art style is not exactly detailed and beautiful, many of the islands are very creative beautiful places that took a lot of imagination to come up with.

The second thing I had to get past was the waiting period.  Shonen Jump is rather notorious for putting out anime that take a long time to pick up and get interesting, but I assure you, after around 23 episodes of bearing with One Piece, it definitely gets better.  A lot better.  By episode 36, the weak character development does a complete 180.  I found myself tearing up over Nami's background story and actually starting to love the characters.  The humor improves, as well.  At first, I thought it was overdone and silly, but once the story started to pick up, the funny moments were a lot more hilarious.  I have actually laughed out loud on numerous occasions (and it is rather difficult to get me to laugh out loud when viewing anime--or any other tv shows...usually I just laugh inwardly).

As far as voice acting is concerned, I initially wrote in my notes that both the Japanese and English dubbed versions were irritating.  Now, I like the English dub better than the Japanese, and I am not quite sure what I found so annoying about the voices.  I suppose pretty much everything about this anime grew on me.

Everything except for the theme songs, that is.  I would advise just skipping them altogether.  I really have not heard a single theme song that did not make me want to sadly shake my head.  The background music, for the most part, is nothing amazing, but it fits the series.  I do love the song Overtaken, though.  Every time I hear it I get a bit excited, knowing that some awesome fight is about to go down.

So there you have it.  A short review (I apologize that my reviews have been so short lately.  I swear I am going to start taking better notes again and stop procrastinating on writing these.), but in my opinion, enough said.  Bottom line, One Piece definitely lives up to all its hype, and I would highly recommend it if you are looking for a fun adventure!  Even if you have a bias against Shonen Jump and pirates like I did, I urge you to give it a chance.  A good long chance, not just the first few episodes--remember, it takes quite a while to get good.  Patience is a virtue, and it will be rewarded with this anime, which definitely makes for addictive viewing.  I might add that Season 1 ends on an interesting cliff hanger! Betcha can't watch just 1!

I will rate One Piece Season 1 an 8 out of 10.  If it had not wasted so many episodes in the beginning and started out as good as it ended, it might have made it to a 9 or 10.


Up next is Air Master!


Feel free to leave a comment with any thoughts, questions, or just telling me you read this.  You don't need an account to do so.

Air Gear

Synopsis: Minami “Ikki” Itsuki, is a student and a delinquent. Also known as the “Unbeatable Babyface,” Ikki is the leader of the youth gang by the name of “East Side Gunz.” Upon his return home after being humiliated by a street gang of Storm Riders called the Skull Saders, Ikki discovers a secret hidden from him by his benefactors, the Noyamano sisters. The sisters belong to a group of Storm Riders who go by the team name of Sleeping Forest. Keen on helping Ikki to regain his confidence and pride, they supply him with a pair of Air Trecks (abbreviated as “AT”). Ikki eventually settles his grudge with the Skull Saders, but in the process he receives more than the simple satisfaction of revenge. Determined to experience the sensation of “flight” for as long as he can, our headstrong protagonist is quickly sucked into the mysterious, yet irresistible world of Air Treck.
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Sorry to disappoint, but this time I do not really plan to dazzle anyone with my awesome review on this anime.  See, I wound up taking a bit of a break from all the note-taking and reviewing stuff to just enjoy leisurely watching this series.  I am sure if I really tried, I could put together something nice and spiffy and word-packed.  Instead, I am just going to give a few comments and an out-of-10 rating.

I really was not expecting to enjoy Air Gear at all.  Sports-themed shonen (shonen =  genre of anime based on action that targets mostly a male audience) is not exactly my thing, and gangs riding around on high-tech rollerblades struck me as pretty lame.  In addition to that, a lot of this anime seems to have been a rip-off of Jet Set Radio with a typical, formulaic shonen anime plot with typical characters.

Having said all of that, the art was nice.  The character designs were interesting.  The tricks were fun to watch.  For once, I preferred to watch the dub, as the use of slang actually added to the series without veering away from the original script.  The soundtrack was mostly really great.  In conclusion,I had way more fun watching this than I thought I would, and I am quite disappointed that the anime was canceled after only the first season.  I will be reading the manga, which is still ongoing, but it is a shame I will not get to see the tricks in motion in color.

I'm giving Air Gear a 7.5 out of 10.  Above average, and a lot of fun to watch, despite its copying of JSR and other flaws.

Up next, by request, is One Piece, Season 1!


Feel free to leave a comment with any thoughts, questions, or just telling me you read this.  You don't need an account to do so.

Agent Aika (and AIka R-16: Virgin Mission and AIka ZERO)

Synopsis: A catastrophic earthquake has left Tokyo, and most of the Earth for that matter, under the sea. Aika is a salvager who retrieves various remains from the watery ruins. When Aika accepts the dangerous mission of locating and obtaining the mysterious Lagu, she discovers that she's not the only one after it.
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This is the first ecchi anime I have reviewed, as well as the first I have seen (as far as I can remember anyway).  For those of you who do not know what ecchi is, it is anime that has vague sexual context, but at the same time does not show outright sex/pornography.  I have seen a few hentai anime (yes, anime porn), so, thankfully, I was prepared for the ridiculousity that is ecchi.

Ah, Agent Aika, an ecchi classic.  A silly, mostly female, 007-style comedy.  Beautiful art, and great music. What can I say?  PANTIES!  Yes, hundreds of panties are what Agent Aika is most known for, and for good reason.  I mean, yes it is ecchi, and fanservice upskirt shots are quite common in anime, but seriously! Panties in the first few minutes, and a never-ending ridiculous display of them throughout the rest of the show.  If you are easily offended by upskirts and crotch shots depicting tightly fitting white panties, do not, I repeat, do NOT watch this one.

Okay, now that I have gotten that out of the way...

I suppose I will start with sound.  I was impressed with the opening theme song.  It has a catchy '80's punky metal sound with lots of electric guitar that shifts to a more uplifting rock sound near the end of the song.  The background music is also quite good, giving the anime a jazzy, spy movie feel and building up to dramatic effects at the right times.  The ending theme song is fun, something you can dance to, with an almost techno-like beat and some elements of rock.  In episode 4.5, which is pretty much stupid filler--I was glad it was so short!--, there is a different opening theme with a nice amount of dramatic tension and interesting use of trumpets to add that cool spy movie sound.  Please, do not bother putting yourself through the ending theme of this episode.  Sadly, 4.5's ending theme becomes the opening theme for the remaining episodes, this time a rock version that does not sound much better.  The ending theme for the remaining episodes was so bad I did not even want to listen to it.

I watched the English dub, since I could not find any good quality episodes with subtitles that were not fuzzy.  The dub was pretty terrible, but I expected it to be bad.  Voices do not match the characters very well, and actors often miss the intended goal in expressing certain emotions shown in the characters' facial expressions.  Also, the volume seems lower for certain characters than others, as if they were recorded in different studios and the volume was not adjusted.

The animation was beautifully executed! Lovely use of vivid colors, extremely smooth movement for 1997, an interesting array of comedic facial expressions, and creative character designs.  (The one character design I really hated was Neena, when she transforms using Alternate Metal.  She becomes entirely gray, including her hair, which I might add is styled very unattractively.  In contrast, I loved the darker-skinned version of Aika when she transforms using her Alternate Metal. Very pretty!)  Agent Aika is well-known for its creative use of camera angles to achieve maximum panty exhibition, and it certainly lived up to its reputation! I was in awe of the immense variety of creative camera angles and different perspectives used throughout the show.  Fight scenes are flowy, skillful, savvy, slick, and well planned out--well planned if girls flying through the air or falling over in the perfect way to show their panties is your thing, of course.  Girls who are knocked unconscious either wind up with their butts in the air or their skirts flipped up or their legs spread.  Every time, without fail.  The designs of the technology in the show is decent.  I did not give it too much thought, other than thinking a slapstick fight using the grappler arms of ships was completely awesome!

The story is solid enough to keep you interested, which is not a common characteristic of ecchi, as far as I have been told.  It is not an amazing story, but, then again, most people are not viewing Agent Aika for an amazing story.  If you keep in mind that it is a silly, dirty, Bond-influenced comedy, then you will probably be quite satisfied with the story.  Readers might want to be aware that this show does contain possible incest.  I say "possible" for a couple reasons.  In anime, female characters often refer to older male characters as "Onii-chan" or "Older Brother" even though they are not actually related.  Therefore, the fact that Neena calls Rudolf "Big Brother" could just be a direct translation of her nickname for him, and not something that implies they are related.  To help clear this up, out of curiosity, I consulted Wikipedia, of course.  Wikipedia says this of Neena Hagen: "She is a test tube baby like Rudolf [Hagen]. It is unknown if she is the blood sister of Rudolf."  These are the two reasons I say "possible" incest.
The final episode was alright; it brought back some characters, which was cool, but it lacked the excitement of previous episodes, which made for a somewhat disappointing finale.

If you keep in mind what Agent Aika was intended to be and are prepared for too many panties to count, an all female army, large breasts, perverted humor, nudity, latex uniforms, lingerie, etc, then Agent Aika will most certainly not disappoint you.  It was an excellent production, considering it's goals.

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AIka R-16: Virgin Mission

 

Synopsis:  Aika is a smart and athletic high school girl. She is so competent that she successfully passes the salvager's license test, obtaining a C-class license. Yet, she is young and hotheaded, so much so that Gota still treats her as a child. Due to this personality, no one is willing to hire her for salvaging jobs.

Since she had taken the trouble to get her license, she decides to post an ad in her school to attract clients. She manages to get the attention of Eri, a daughter of a rich family and the leader of the treasure hunting club. She asks Aika to salvage something from the sea and Aika delightfully accepts the request.

However, upon seeing the state-of-the-art submarine loaded onto Erika's private cruiser and discovering their destination, Aika realizes the terrible nature of her assignment. This results in a clash with a group of high school girls in the southern islands.

Who is the mysterious girl named Karen? So begins Aika's newest challenge!
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I am not going to go as in depth about R-16 as I did with the first series.  I am just going to write a few things directly from my notes.

The opening theme is good, but not spectacular.  I can listen to it with no problem, though.  Same goes for the ending theme.

Aika, as a younger girl, has much more personality.

The art is different, but I cannot say if it was better or worse.  Just different.  The animation may be slightly improved, but the original was so wonderfully animated that it would be tough to improve on.  [Also, any improvement would obviously be due to the fact that this one came out after.]

I watched the Japanese version with subtitles, and the voice acting was good.  I did not notice any flaws with it.

The story is much better than in the first series, in my opinion, and one you can take a bit more seriously.  The humor is also really funny at times! Be sure you watch the ending credits and after them for the true ending of the series.

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AIka ZERO

 

Synopsis:  Aika is now 19 years-old, 3 older than in R-16 and 7 younger than in Agent Aika. Strange phenomena have been occurring at a girls' academy. Slowly but persistently, the cutest and most beautiful girls are joining an internal club, but instead of a sing-in they just get abducted by a strange being that takes control over them by some indecent means. By coincidence Aika was flying-by in her plane when one of these abductions occurred, and she was attacked to prevent her from coming closer.  Instead of repelling her, she is intrigued about the attack's origin, and the opportunity shows up when her partners from R-16 decide to investigate the abductions.
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Just as in R-16, I am also not going extremely into detail with ZERO.  Here are my notes on it.

Opening theme was once again nice, but not special in any way.  However, the ending theme was really good!  Pretty, soft vocals and rockin' electric guitar to contrast them!

This series brings back characters from R-16, which I liked, but I was sad that Karen has her hair cut short.  She was so beautiful and almost ethereal with it long.

In ZERO, the creators get even more perverted and more bold with the usage of nudity.  It borders on the line between ecchi and hentai at times, but does not cross into hentai.  Somehow, it still does not strike me as trashy or silly, though.  The story, as in R-16, is good and one you can take more seriously.  In my opinion, better than the original.  If I had to choose which story is better out of R-16 and ZERO, I do not think I could.


This series is rather difficult to rate.  If I rated it as if it were just another anime series, I am sure the rating would be rather low.  However, I am going to rate it keeping in mind what it is: ecchi, and it was damn good, considering that.  I am going to give it an 8, as I found it to be very enjoyable, and the overall experience allowed me to overlook any flaws.


Next on the list is Air Gear!


Feel free to leave a comment with any thoughts, questions, or just telling me you read this.  You don't need an account to do so.

Ai Yori Aoshi (and Ai Yori Aoshi: Enishi)

Synopsis: Kaoru Hanabishi, a college student who living alone, meets a beautiful but bewildered girl dressed in kimono at a train station. He volunteers to guide her to the address she is looking for, which is near his apartment.  However, it turns out to be an empty lot. Not knowing what to do next, Kaoru invites the devastated girl to his apartment and asks for any additional clue -- a photo with two children whom Kaoru immediately identifies as himself and "Aoi-chan", his childhood friend. It turns out that the girl in front of him is Aoi Sakuraba herself, his betrothed fiancée who came all the way to Tokyo to marry him. Her revelation is not only surprising but also reminds the deepest part of Kaoru of the reason he left the Hanabishi house in the first place.
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When I first started watching Ai Yori Aoshi, I got into it really quickly.  I loved the characters!  I often find myself cringing at how cheesy and barf-worthy romance genres can be, but this anime had me literally squealing like a little girl over how cute and sweet the characters were.  However, it soon began to fade into boring plot filler, aforementioned cheesy romance, and generic harem-style characters.  Things started to pick up again in episode 12, though, and better character development and romance returned.  The anime occasionally faded back and forth from good to boring filler throughout the entire season, but I was satisfied with the ending and found myself hoping that the second season, Ai Yori Aoshi: Enishi, would live up to the standard set by the first season. (Let's not get ahead of ourselves, though.)  To be fair, I think most of my boredom while watching this series stemmed from the fact that it fits into the same genre category as Ah! My Goddess, which I just finished watching and reviewing. 

As far as art goes, this series is sufficiently aesthetically pleasing, but nothing special.  Also, seeing how Aoi's family is in the kimono business, I really wish they would have changed her kimono up instead of just the pattern on the obi.  How boring to always see her wearing the same color with no pattern on it!  The animation was nice and smooth; it did not seem sub par at all to me.

Now, I shall move on to sound.  The opening theme is pretty.  I love the piano and vocals! At first, the ending theme seemed pretty average to me, and it struck me as sounding a bit like lounge music.  It did grow on me a bit, though.  I was kind of disappointed when it changed in episode 15 to a more mellow not-as-pretty song.  Luckily, the ending theme changed back to the original one for the remaining episodes.  The background music is often quite lovely, with a bit of a traditional Japanese sound to it, using instruments such as the koto.  Even sound effects were nicely done!  Voice acting is all good, except for Tina.  Her voice annoyed me, which is to be expected, since she is supposed to be an American, but still...there was just something about her voice itself that I did not like.  (Speaking of Tina being an American and voice acting, I might as well note that it is quite humorous to hear the Japanese voice actors who are supposed to be American or supposed to have spent time in England say phrases in English.  Without the subtitles, it still would have been kind of hard to make out what they said at times!)  As far as the dub goes, avoid it like the plague! I had to watch the dub for a couple episodes because I could not find the subtitled ones, and it was so bad that at first I honestly thought it was a terrible fandub.  Then I watched the ending credits, and it appeared to be a legit Pioneer English release.  What were you thinking, Pioneer? And what is with translating some suffixes to "Miss" or "Lady" or "Sir" prefixes while leaving others as Japanese suffixes?  Strange.  Also, Tina's voice is even more irritating in the English dub!

I have already said a bit about the story.  I will go on to say that it is a pretty usual strange-girl-randomly-shows-up-in-ordinary-and-shy-boy's-life-then-tons-of-girls-also-wind-up-falling-for-him harem plot, though it is different enough to keep things interesting and set it apart a little.  Some viewers may be offended at how the main female character, Aoi, is portrayed.  She is very submissive to the main male character, Kaoru, but one must keep in mind that she was raised in a very wealthy traditional Japanese household.  Also, she seems to be happy, and the two seem to truly love each other.  This anime is one of the sexier romance/harem series I have seen, but I say that in a classy way (remember, Aoi is very traditional, and Kaoru is rather shy and has a lot of respect for Aoi).  Classy, of course, with the exception of Tina's annoying breast-squeezing greeting and occasional fan service type humor that is to be expected in anime.  Make sure you do not miss the adorable flashback at the very end of the last episode, after the ending theme song! It is way too cute to miss.
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Ai Yori Aoshi: Enishi

Synopsis: Two whole years after Kaoru & Aoi reunited, they are still in love with each other. Although they are still in love with each other, their relationship still must be kept a secret, despite getting the approval from Aoi’s parents, for fear it would cause controvert with the rest of the Sakurabas and the Hanabishis.
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As for the second season, Enishi, I will not go too in depth.  Not much is different from the first season, and I do believe it lived up to the standard that the first season set.

The opening theme song was bland, for lack of a better term.  The ending theme was just bad.  It was annoying.  It changed for the better to a more soft rock and almost R&B sounding song (still not great, but better) in episode 9.  However, once again, this ending theme change did not stick.  I did not even pay enough attention to the background music to take any notes on it; I suppose that means it was just average background music.

There were a few odd moments in the animation.  The one that comes to mind is a moment in episode 1 when Kaoru's voice is really flustered-sounding, but his facial expression stayed exactly the same.

Character development for Tina was really excellent toward the end of the season.  It almost completely changed my opinion of her during the last few episodes.  I actually grew to like a character that I previously could not stand.

I want to give this anime some props for being the only series I know of that has a ferret as the token cute animal.  Uzume's ferret mannerisms and movements were dead-on, too! I know from having experienced practically living with someone who had a ferret.  I have to give the animators credit for that.

The ending was a happy one.  It left a lot up to the imagination, but did give a good glimpse into everyone's near future.

There is a Christmas special for Enishi, often called episode 0, but officially titled Miyuki.  It seems to take place about two years before Ai Yori Aoshi (as in, season 1) starts.  I suppose I should have watched it before the rest of Enishi, but the truth is that I did not plan to watch it at all.  (I do not usually like Christmas specials.)  I wound up watching it simply because I was procrastinating on writing this review.  I am glad I did! This was actually a really cute special that gives a little bit of a magical, fantasy twist to the otherwise reality-based "fate" that this season is named for ("Enishi").  Watching it out of order did not make much difference, however, I would recommend that you do watch it before the rest of Enishi, so that you can keep the cute magical twist in mind for the rest of the show.

Overall, this series was pretty good!  I will grant it a 7, as it was above average, but did seem a bit like previous works and had a few flaws.


Next up is AIka, which will be followed by AIka R-16 and AIka: Zero!  Hooray for a genre change! Get ready for some ecchi, comedy, action/adventure, and sci-fi!


Feel free to leave a comment with any thoughts, questions, or just telling me you read this.  You don't need an account to do so.

Ah My Goddess: Everyone Has Wings

Synopsis: One year after goddess Belldandy emerged from Keiichi Morisato's mirror and promised to stay with him forever, a new threat to their happiness emerges, one that could end the contract between Belldandy and Keiichi.

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If you are looking for a good in-depth review for this one, you will not find it here.  As with the first season of AMG, I did not jot down many notes, as I did not feel very compelled to.

Season two, also called Everyone Has Wings or Flights of Fancy, was improved when compared to season one, I will give it that.

The animation was smoother, and the art had more definition and detail.  The character designs were beautiful.

The plot was strange and often boring. Sadly, Belldandy and Keiichi do not seem to have made much progress in a year's time.  They are both so shy and naive that is almost nauseating at times.  At least there is more (and better) humor.

The theme music is much better for this season! I liked the opening theme; it was fitting for the series, yet still interesting.  The addition of bagpipes was beautiful.  The ending theme was much less annoying than in the first season, and in episode 12 the ending theme changes.  The second ending theme is definitely the best song I have heard in this series.

Yes, that is pretty much it.  I was not impressed.  My overall opinion is cute and sometimes interesting, but not as great as everyone makes it out to be.  Not even close.

I think I am going to rate this a 6 out of 10.

Originally I had planned to also review the OVA as well as Mini Goddess, but I think I will pass.  I might go back to them some day, or I may review them if someone is really interested.  However, I was pretty bored with this series.  Next up on my list is Ai Shite Night! Stay tuned! Next up will be Ai Yori Aoshi instead, since only episodes 1-3 of Aishite Night have been subtitled so far (out of 42).


Feel free to leave a comment with any thoughts, questions, or just telling me you read this.  You don't need an account to do so.