Tsunami Jones' Weekly Anime Review

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Tsunami Jones
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Tsunami Jones' Weekly Anime Review

Post by Tsunami Jones » Fri Feb 13, 2004 8:27 pm

Hey all! As part of an effort to get a little more involved here at the 'org (and because i just felt like it), I will now be doing a weekly review of anime! Well, not just reviewing, but also telling everyone a little bit about what I review, to allow people to have a better idea of what's good and what's not, especially since there are alot of anime out there that most people don't know much about.
And I have a few rules here, so please take a look at them and wish me luck!

1. I haven't done any reviewing of anything before, so if you think I suck, don't bother flaming me, as I will get better.
2. If you disagree with a review of mine, feel free to post and I'll be happy to discuss the anime in question. Once again, if you don't like what I say about an anime, don't bother flaming me. It's a waste of my time and yours.
3. If you want me to review a certain anime, feel free to say so. Just don't post on this thread, instead, email me, contact me by AIM, or send me a private message.
4. If I have some info on something wrong, please put up a post saying so. It will be appreciated.
5. Right now I'm using a rating system of "stars." I would like to use something better and more anime related. So if you have a suggestion, contact me by AIM, PM, or Email.
6. As I said, I will review things weekly. I will only be reviewing two to three anime per week as I'm kinda busy, but I will try to keep in with putting up the reviews every friday (although if it's late, I'm sorry).
7. Also expect light spoilers. I'll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but when I review a series, expect me to pretty much drop the bomb on what happens in the first episode. But on each review, I'll let you know.
8. And if I write a review late at night, I can't guarentee that'll it'll be coherhent. So please, you'll just have to put up with me.

So, I think that's it. so on to my first two "reviews." This week I reviewed Tokyo Godfathers and Boogiepop Phantom. I hope you all enjoy this in the coming weeks, as I know I will!


Tokyo Godfathers - spoiler level= very, very light

This is the story about three homeless people (a young runaway girl, a transvestite, and a middle-aged man who’s been living on the streets for years and claims that he used to be a professional bicyclist), who find a baby girl who has been abandoned in the trash. They decided to take care of the child, and begin to attempt to find her parents.
While this seems simple enough, the three homeless friends go through strings of coincidences (and meet some very interesting characters along the way, such as a crime lord; a Latino-family who lives in Japan, but can’t speak a word of Japanese; and a cab driver who I feel very, very sorry for), which lead up to finding the child’s parents.
Now, I’m sure most of you are familiar with Satoshi Kon for his work on “Perfect Blue,” and “Millennium Actress,” but “Tokyo Godfathers” is a distant cry from his previous works. For one, this film is hilarious. Now, I know that “Millennium Actress” has it’s comedic parts, but Tokyo Godfathers is humorous the whole way through. I can’t remember when I last saw something that I smiled and laughed through so much while watching it.
The other thing that happened while I was watching this film was that I was “drawn in.” Which is something that has never really happened to me while watching, well, while watching anything. At least not on this level. I found myself constantly reacting to events in the film the whole time, and I was immediately “connected” to these homeless men and women. I could almost feel if I was right there next to them. And this effect is helped by the fact that nothing in the entire movie distracts from the atmosphere at any point, not even when the scenes change, in fact, everything felt, “seamless.”
Now, one of the first things that I immediately took notice of while watching this was the visual impression that was created by Kon and his team of animators and everyone else that was involved in the of this amazing film. And it’s not just the animation (which of course, is wonderful) that helps create this. Soon after the movie opens (which by the way, it opens with a Christmas pageant) , you get to see Tokyo. Some of the scenes of the city are so well drawn, that if someone came up to me and said, “Here’s a photo that I took of Tokyo,” I would believe them, not even considering to think for a moment that the city-scapes weren’t taken by a camera. You can see just how meticulously, and how much care was taken when animating this film and designing the backgrounds. All in all, it creates a very unique, realistic visual experience.
The other thing that is noticed right off the bat is the music. Christmas carols are throughout the film, and the rest of the music fits perfectly (even when Hana the transvestite, begins to sing a number from “The Sound of Music”)
Now, what makes this movie great isn’t the comedy, the visual expression, or the music. It’s the human element. This is one of the most heart filled movies that I’ve ever seen. It’s about hope, joy, sadness, friendship, and just how precious life really is.
Truthfully, I must say that I was very surprised by how this film turned out. I truthfully had no idea what to expect from a movie that was about three bums and a baby, and was done by Satoshi Kon, especially when you consider his previous work. So I recommend Tokyo Godfathers, as this is one of the best movies that I’ve ever seen, and I give it 5 out of 5 stars. If you have any chance to see this film in a theater, I suggest going to see it ASAP. My only regret about this film is that I’ll only be able to see it in on the big screen once before it leaves my area (I didn’t know it was being shown here in Denver until way late, so I got to see it yesterday, which turned out to be the last day it was being shown).
And one last thing, if you’re ever just going around, and you perhaps see a homeless man or women, remember, they aren’t just some trash to let die in the gutter. They’re people, the same as you or me, who’ve just perhaps happened on hard times. So treat them with the respect they deserve. Especially since there are too many people nowadays that have seemed to have forgotten this.
So once again, I give “Tokyo Godfathers” 5/5 stars.



Boogiepop Phantom - spoiler lever= light/1st episode

Now, when I first heard of “Boogiepop Phantom” it was in the form of the picture on the cover of the 2001-2002 (I hope that’s the right year) RightStuf catalog. So, when I decided to take a look at the back of the DVD case at the store, I really had no idea what I was about to buy (buying anime on a whim is not necessarily a good idea, in fact, it’s not a very good investment at all and I end up doing it far to often, which is some of the reason why I decided to start up this review thread, because it really sucks when you buy something that turns out to be crap. Like the time I bought Sorcerer on the Rocks; which by the way, I’m going to give 1 ½ out of five stars), but, it looked really cool, and in some ways I thought in might be similar to Serial Experiments Lain (mainly in the part that I thought it was going to be very weird. I was right). So I took the risk and it turned out to be a very good choice, as this has become one of my favorite anime.
Now, one of the things that helped improve my viewing experience of this short series (12 episodes), was that I really hadn’t heard anything about it. So, right now I’ll say that this series is amazing, just in case you want to go out and see it without me telling you anything else about it.
“Boogiepop Phantom is a very unique series. Moto (a character from the first episode) puts it quite nicely. “The pieces of the puzzle form the whole picture.” And this is exactly what the series is like. Every episode is a small piece of the whole puzzle. And one of the elements that contributes to this is how the viewer sees the events in the show. There are many events in this series that you’ll see, and won’t have any idea what really happened until a later episode. There’s an event in the first episode where Moto is approached by a senior at her highschool, who says that she has a “bug” attached to her heart, and that if she ever wants him to grope her chest to just let him know. This character, Jounochi’s his name, comes off as very creepy, and very perverted. When you get around to episode two, we find out that Jounochi isn’t actually a pervert, but in turn becomes far, far more creepy, almost to the point of down-right disturbing.
When the first episode for “Boogiepop Phantom” opens, I knew that I was in for a treat. The visual style is very dark (there are almost no bright colors throughout the entire show), and the animation almost has a “gritty” look about it. It ends up having the effect of giving the viewer a sense of realism.
And so we open into Scene 1 (each episode is divided into scenes, which each scene having a number and giving a location), which happens to be in a school, where you hear some very odd sounds, of what seems like a person in great agony. Then suddenly, a gigantic beam of light shoots into the sky, sending out waves of energy which distorts all the electricity in the city. Now this is one of the most important events in the story, although you won’t know what really happens for some time. Now, you see this event repeatedly throughout the show. In fact, almost all of the events rotate around it, and since they generally don’t give you a time frame of when each episode takes place, this what lets you realize where all the events fit in time wise.
Now, we’re onto scene two, which opens into a girl’s bathroom in a highschool where there’s some interesting gossip going around. They’re talking about Death, who’s name is Boogiepop. And apparently, if you see Boogiepop, you won’t live long enough to tell about it. And then we enter Moto, who narrates the whole of the first episode. She’s a very interesting character (all the characters are interesting in this series, which, is one of the best things about it), who has some problems (once again, just about every character in this series has “problems,” some of which are stranger and creepier than others). One of these problems being that Moto disdains contact with males. And not just direct contact, she uses tissues to open doors so that she won’t have to touch it directly. Yeah, I know, it’s odd. But there is one person, whom she actually fell in love with, a character by the name of Saotome, who is integral to the series.
The first episode is fantastically done, as we see, or at least here about almost every main character in the series. But anyways, Moto loved Saotome, but, she never ended up telling anyone, and eventually middle school graduation came around, and they ended up going to different schools. Moto then finds out that Saotome, disappeared one month ago. This worries her, and she goes off to the school he attended to try to find out what exactly happened from someone he apparently tried to go out with. Needless to say, she doesn’t find out much. And then it gets interesting. While walking down the street with a friend (and several of that friend’s acquaintances), Moto stumbles into an alley, where Saotome’s specter appears. Moto screams, and the specter goes as quickly as it came.
But, as Moto loved him, she decides to go back to the alley way and tell him. Unfortunately that doesn’t work out to well, and Saotome says that he’s going to kill her, and Moto doesn’t care (this is another one of her problems. She hates her life). Now, we finally enter Boogiepop, who enters by throwing a, well, it’s like a small dagger that’s attached to a cord, straight through Saotome’s head, just as he’s about to devour Moto’s energy. Saotome dissipates, and Boogiepop tells Moto that the specter wasn’t Saotome, but a “man-eater” who simply took his form. And Boogiepop leaves, telling Moto that she killed Saotome some time back.
So anyways, this whole first episode is masterfully done, as is the whole series. And now on to sound.
The sound is this series is incredible, and sports some of the best electronica/techno that I’ve ever heard (and I for one, rather dislike this genre, but I ended up buying the 2-disc sound track as it’s just that good). And the music, in combination with the visuals, creates an atmosphere that almost enraptures the viewer.
Another thing about this show is the dubbing. It’s one of the few that I can actually stand (I tend to hate most dubbing in anime. It just bugs the crap out of me). All the voice actors actually fit their characters, and Saotome is dubbed by Crispin Freeman, who really does a wonderful job with his voice (although that’s pretty much the case every time I hear a voice done by Mr. Freeman, as he’s an excellent voice actor).
So anyways, this is a truly excellent viewing experience, and I whole-heartedly recommend it to everyone. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

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Post by Tsunami Jones » Fri Feb 20, 2004 9:42 pm

Well, here I am at week 2 of my anime review. Feel free to give me some feedback about this thread! It would be appreciated :)
This week I'm reviewing Eat-Man '98 and Getter Robo Armageddon. So here we go.


Eat-Man ‘98 (spoilers = none)

This is one of the series that chronicles tha adventures of the greatest mercenary (explorer in the manga that’s been released) in the world. He goes by the name of “Bolt Crank,” and he has a very unusual, and unique ability: He can eat anything, and later produce whatever he ate from his right hand in its original form. As I said, it’s a strange power, but it’s very, very cool to see Bolt eat screws/scrap metal/gun powder and all sorts of other stuff and re-produce them in various forms (including some of the biggest guns that I’ve ever seen one man use).
The series is broken down inot his various jobs, and each “job” is generally spans about 1-2 episodes with the longest one being four episodes. Now, this is good and bad. The good part is that it’s easy just to sit down and watch 1-2 episodes without caring much about the rest of the series, or to show a random set of episodes to someone who hasn’t seen it before, as each “job” is completely separate from all of the others. The down side to this is that there is never any actual plot in the series (although that’s not nessecarily a bad thing; this is how the manga is). So don’t come to this expecting any deep story. Also, the writing isn’t exactly the best that has ever been. Bolt’s lines fit his character perfectly, but other than that, there is a lot that could be improved with the other characters that he meets (such as Hard. Yes, his name is Hard, and he’s rather . . . well, to me he’s rather lame).
As you might guess, the main focal point of Eat-Man, is Bolt Crank. Bolt is one of THE coolest characters to ever exist. He looks like a bad-ass, is the strong and silent type, has a kickin’ power, and remains amazingly cool in every situation.
So Bolt goes from job to job, doing exactly what they ask him to, and taking whatever pay they can give him. Normally this might seem that this would result in a very cold-hearted killer, but this is not so in Bolt’s case. He’s definitely a hero, and ends up doing what’s right and pulls through for everyone at exactly the right time. And that’s pretty much the premise for the show.
Now, Eat-Man ‘98 features wonderful action, but it woudn’t nearly be as good without the music. The music is very well placed throughout the series, and features a nice, but small, variety which pretty much ranges from some very cool acoustic guitar to several selections of industrial sounding tunes, along with one or two songs with vocals (besides the opening/ending theme songs), but these songs while entertaining, have some rather odd lyrics and are partially sung in English. All in all, I would say that the soundtrack is worth buying (I bought it), but that might just be me.
Now, if you decide to buy the nice, shiny Eat-Man ‘98 DVDs with the hope of seeing some sweet DVD special features or some kick ass dubbing you’ll be sorely disappointed. The DVD is completely devoid of any extra features, and as for dubbing, well, only the first two episodes are dubbed, and they’re dubbed poorly.
So overall, I’m going to give Eat-Man ‘98 3.5/5 stars, as it’s a short, but enjoyable series ( that is rather economically priced (12 episodes in a 2 DVD set for around $35, although I’m sure you can probably find it cheaper than that).



Getter Robo Armageddon (spoilers = none)

This is quite possibly the best (and most violent) giant robot anime ever. It’s brought to us by Go Nagai (Devilman, various hentai), and features some of the best gaint robot action scenes ever animated.
The animation itself is from 1998 (I hope that’s the right year), but it has that “old-school look,” which the end result is a very, unique, appealing style of animation. All the character and mecha designs are top-notch (Shin Getter Robo just looks so damn cool) and just packed with even more style. The action scenes are smoothly animated, and all of Getter Robo’s special attacks are yelled out by voice actors who you can tell put their heart and soul into the recording of their lines.
Now, some of you who haven’t seen Getter Robo might already be familiar with it if you’ve seen “Martian Successor Nadesico” in the form of Geki Gengar III, as Geki Gengar is a mainly a parody of this incredible show (well, mainly of the original Getter Robo, not this one).
So as I’ve been saying, the animation is stylish, the action scenes are awesome, and even the music is totally kickin’, some of it even has some really cool orchestra stuff (I have to say that I love the theme songs; they rock). Unfortunately, not everything in this series is all good, mainly when it comes down to some of the dialogue. Some of it is very well written, that nearly borders on philosophical, but then some of it is just down-right corny. Also, where the original Japanese voice acting is great, the English dub is just plain mediocre. Nothing really bad, but sadly, nothing really good - with the exception of one or two characters, but they unfortunately can’t hold up the dub by themselves.
Now, just like Eat-Man up above, the DVD box-set is reasonably priced. It’s 4 DVDs (thirteen episodes), and when I bought it I managed to pick it up for just over $40. And I have to say, its been worth every penny. So, I give Getter Robo Armageddon 4.5/5 stars.

Well, thanks for tuning in, and I'll be back next week! Remember, if you want me to review a certain anime, just let me know. If I can get a hold of that show I'll be happy to review it!

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Post by OmniStrata » Fri Feb 20, 2004 10:55 pm

I miss doing these things

:(

You're on a roll...
"Strength lies in action. Let the weak react to me..." - Kamahl, Pit Fighter from Magic: the Gathering
"That is a mistake many of my enemies make. They think before they act. I act before I think!" - Vortigern from Merlin ('98)
"I AM REBORN!" - Dark Schneider Bastard!! OAV

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Tsunami Jones
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Post by Tsunami Jones » Sat Feb 21, 2004 12:06 am

OmniStrata wrote: You're on a roll...
yup! and hopefully it'll continue to stay that way! :D

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Post by Tsunami Jones » Fri Feb 27, 2004 6:47 pm

Alright, here we are again. First things first, I would like to apologize to a certain member (I even spaced out your name! I'm very sorry), who requested that I review Abenobashi Magical Shopping District. I said that I would borrow it and review it this week. Unfortunately, I was unable to get it do to some stuff that came up, so I should have a review on it next week. Once again, I apologize.

So anyways, this week has been kinda busy for me, so I've done a combination review of Record of Lodoss War OVA, and Record of Lodoss War TV.




Record of Lodoss War OVA and Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight


These two series comprise one of the best fantasy anime that I know of. The only fantasy anime that I think of that are on par with it are Slayers, and The Vision of Escaflowne.

The original series was released in 1990 (I hope these are the right dates), and Chronicles of the Heroic Knight (which is the TV series) came out in 1998. So there’s a nice time span in between them, but they both have the same level of excellence throughout them.

Now what makes Lodoss War such a great series you ask? Well several things. First off, is that it was a wonderfully rich enviroment. From elves to magic to dragons; all are supremely portrayed (especially the dragons). The character design is quite excellent, and features some of my favorite characters in anime, including Deedlit and Black Knight Ashram. The other thing I have to mention is the music. It’s good throughout the two series, but it really shows itself in Chronicles of the Heroic Knight. The opening/ending themes are some of the best that I’ve heard, and they are easily some of my favorite music in all of anime. And the action scenes are at some points, incredible (one of my favorite scenes is when they fight the dragon, Shooting Star).

So anyways, let me tell you a little bit about the series itself. The OVA starts off with, well, with an episode that features all the characters already on their quest, so the series kinda really starts on episode 2, where you meet a young boy named Parn, who ends up saving a girl from vile goblins, who later decide to then attack his village. Parn, in battle with the goblins, ends up killing their leader (with a little help from the local wizard), and decides to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a knight. So he leaves town with his childhood friend, the local wizard, and Ghim the dwarf. They encounter many other characters along the way, some who join their group, like Deedlit and Woodchuck, and some who don’t, like Orson the berserker, and a few enemies like Karla the Grey Witch.

The first series is nice and short (13 episodes), and is rather reasonably priced ($53 on rightstuf.com). There’s only one real problem with it. Lodoss War is based on a book, and unfortunately they weren’t able to fit the whole story into it. So they had to eliminate characters and many events. This is where we enter the TV series.

Chronicles of the Heroic Knight picks up where episode 7 leaves off (minus an encounter with Orson), and takes place 5 years later. All of our favorite characters are still there, (although in some cases their personality is different, like Deedlit, as Deed had several different character’s personalities mixed into her in the OVA. The result is that she becomes far more serious than she is in the OVA). So all the characters are back, and they re-do their encounter with Orson and Shiris. Our heroes go of for another epic quest, and then 8 or 9 episodes later we find ourselves skipping ahead in time, again. This is where the story switches focus. We go from Parn and his crew, to knight-in-training Spark. The original characters are still involved, but they don’t have nearly a big as a role as they once used to.

Now, if you wish to buy Chronicles of the Heroic Knight, be willing to spend a decent amount (or not. it's apparently dropped alot in price since i last looked; either that or my memory is failing me, which happens all to often). It’s a good 26 episodes, and is on 4 DVDs. But like our friends Slayers and Irresponsible Captain Tylor, it’s only available in a boxed-set. I spent a whole lot more money on this a year or two back than what it's priced at now. Right now you can find it on the rightstuf for only 63 bucks. For 26 episodes that's a pretty damn sweet price.

So, if epic battles, sensational fight scenes, dragons, magic are your thing, both of these series are worth having in your personal collection. I give them a combined rating of 4 out of 5 stars.



Tune in next time to when I review Abenobashi Magical Shopping District, and Tamala 2010: Punk Cat in Space (quite possibly the strangest anime ever.)

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Post by Tsunami Jones » Fri Mar 05, 2004 6:02 pm

Well, here we again! As promised, this week I review Abenoboshi Magic Shopping District (or Arcade, as I've seen it someplaces), and also, Tamala 2010: Punk Cat in Space. So here we go.


Abenobashi Magical Shopping District (Spoilers=light)


Here we are, at another kickin’ anime from our friends at GAINAX. And an amazing show it is. The show starts out with two friends, Satoshi and Arumi, who live in a shopping district that is currently in the process of being torn down. The show starts off relatively normal, but near the end of the first episode, it becomes incredibly weird. Our two main characters begin to jump to different “realities” of shopping districts in an almost Sliders-like style. So in a way, you can kind of think of most of this show as a cross between Sliders and Excel Saga. Each Abenobashi Shopping District that they jump to has a distinct theme, and the show parodies just about anything that it can within that theme. For instance, when they arrive in the movie-themed Abenobashi they arrive exactly like Arnold Schwarzenegger did in the first Terminator film. And during the martial arts Abenobashi, Satoshi goes through training for a martial arts tournament in the 36 chambers of Shao-Lin, and then gets Bruce Lee’s yellow jump suit from Game of Death, which gives him that cool swooshing sound when he punches.

So this is how most of the series progresses, with Satoshi and Arumi going from different Abenobashi to different Abenobashi trying to get back to their original world. And trust me, all of it is very awesome, and absolutely hilarious. The animation in the show is sweet (I especially like the computer generated effects for when they transfer to a different world), and I definitely enjoy the opening and ending theme songs. They both have an interesting style, and the ending them song I found to be very calm and relaxing to listen to. Although speaking of the opening theme song, I felt almost gypped by the animation that went along with it. Almost all the animation is just from the first episode. I know, it’s a minor thing, but I thought that it was rather weak, as GAINAX is capable of a bit more than that. Other than that I really don’t have any complaints about the show, except that some of the dialogue didn’t seem to properly sync up right with the characters mouths. Some of the dialogue seemed to start a decent amount of time before the character’s mouth even started to move (although that might just be me).

I definitely recommend this series to everyone, especially if you dig that goofy Excel Saga-style parody and action. So I give Abenobashi Magical Shopping District 4.5 out of 5 stars, as it’s imaginative and thoroughly entertaining.





Tamala 2010: Punk Cat in Space (spoiler level = Nothing I say can actually spoil this crazy-ass movie)



First things first. This is easily one of the strangest and bizarre things that I have ever seen, if not THE strangest and bizarre thing I have ever seen (and I’ve seen a decent bit of weird things). Throughout the entire movie I had the almost constant feeling of WTF is going on?! Yes, it’s just that weird. I have also never seen so many different plots and themes (movies, books, shows or otherwise) brought up and not finish or explain a single freakin’ one of them. And yes I’m dead serious. The movie continually has strange things happen, or brings up parallel plots (if this even had a plot or story to begin with), and a variety of themes come up throughout it, but none of them matter. And although some of the things that happen are thoroughly amusing (Tamala says some weird stuff like “^*&$ing strike!” and “*&%$ing goodbye!”. Also at one point she just kicks some person in the head while walking down the street for no reason), most of them just continue to be insane (like the gay police-dog who keeps a mouse in a cage and has some strange S&M stuff going on with it).

Now, even the animation in the show is odd, as most of it is very drab and mainly in black and white, while some of it is some really good CG (the CG moments practically have nothing to do with anything though). It even opens with some really nice CG of scenes of “Cat Earth,” but once again, it’s ultimately pointless.

So, now you’re probably saying, “What the hell is this show even about?” And the main answer to that is Tamala, who’s a cat that travels through space and is trying to find her home planet which may or may not be in the Cat Galaxy. She eventually comes to this a different planet where there’s a bunch of different cats and dogs, and she meets a male cat (she meets him when she flies into his car with her rocket pack while he’s driving), who she just begins to tag along with. She even begins living with him. And the movie justs keeps getting stranger (like when Tamala begins appearing in advertising that’s centuries old).

And one thing I have to tell you, is about the time when my friends and I saw this movie at NDK 7. Several times we all felt like walking out of the viewing room (and many people did), as this film just keeps going on, and on, and on . . . in fact, there’s probably at least 3 different points in Tamala 2010 where it just could have ended, and nothing would have been missed. It would have remained just as incoherent and whack as it is when you’ve seen the whole thing. In fact, this movie would have been pure genious if they had cut out an hour of it and left it at a nice 30 minutes. But me and my friends toughed it out to the very end. And let me tell you, we were pretty damn proud that we remained throughout its entirety, mainly just so that we wouldn’t have ended up wondering WTF happened, and if it would all come together right at the end (and, as we found out, it doesn’t. It just gets stranger).

This is what it comes down to. Would I, recommend Tamala 2010, to you? And yes, yes I will. Despite the insanity of it (or maybe because of it), I will recommend this . . . this thing to everyone possible. This movie will change your life. It’s horrible, wonderful, and just down-right outlandish. Unfortunately, I really can’t give it a solid rating. So the best thing I can come up with is this. I give Tamala 2010: Punk Cat in Space ?/5 stars. My feelings are just way to mixed about it. So please, go out, find and watch Tamala for yourself!

(This review has been brought to you by Katty Co.)

See you all next week!

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Post by Tsunami Jones » Thu Mar 11, 2004 4:14 pm

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm trying to finish up my latest amv by saturday or so, so my reviews this week will more than likely end up being late. I apologize for this inconvenience, and look for the reviews to be up around sunday or monday. Thanks for your understanding.

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Post by ansem'skitty » Fri Mar 12, 2004 3:27 pm

Wow! You're a good journalist....Do you work for a magazine or something?
This is my current mood: Saddish.

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Post by Tsunami Jones » Sat Mar 13, 2004 8:46 am

ansem'skitty wrote:Wow! You're a good journalist....Do you work for a magazine or something?

You think I'm good?! You rock! I personally think that most of these reviews are kinda crappy, but hey, that's probably just me . . . but, anyways, thanks for some feedback, it's very appreciated. And no, I don't work for a magazine or anything (although I wish I did, as it would mean that I would have a job then, as being out of work really blows).

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Post by Tsunami Jones » Mon Mar 15, 2004 3:48 pm

Well, i've been slacking pretty hard on this the past week or so (mainly finshing up a vid, that i'm still havin' some problems with, but it'll probably be up around the weekend). But anyways, here's the review for last week, and like I just said between my new vid and some other stuff, only one review is getting put up today. I'll try to make up for it sometime though :).

Also a few things before the review. I've been thinking about what day to actually post the reviews up. Either friday or monday. Does anyone have an opinion/suggestion about this? Does anyone actually care?

And also, remember, i'm always up for discussing whatever I review. If you have any questions/comments, feel free to post.

So anyways, the review this time is of one of my favorites, The Fist of the North Star TV series.



Fist of the North Star TV (spoilers = light)


This is the story of Kenshiro, who is the inheritor of the most deadly martial art known to mankind, Hokuto Shinken, or Fist of the North Star. Ken travels the post-apocalyptic Earth, in search of Julia, his one true love that was captured by his best friend, Shin! But that’s not all! Shin attempted to kill Kenshiro, and left him for dead! (The details of which are rather gruesome) So there’s the basic story for the show. Each episode shows Kenshiro in his travels as he attempts to find Julia, and along the way he meets a variety of other characters, many of whom are just normal people who he ends up saving. And how does he save them you ask? By using Hokuto Shinken of course! Because Hokuto Shinken is invincible!

Speaking of Hokuto Shinken, I would say that this is THE most ridiculous martial art to ever appear in anything (well, maybe not anything, the films Lord of the Wu Tang and Ricky-Oh: The Story of Ricky come to mind). Why is it so ridiculous? Well, part of the reason is that is has a technique for everything (including a technique specifically for defeating opponents who can breath fire), and can make an opponent do just about anything from exploding to breaking their own back, which is all acomplished by hitting hidden nerves on the human body. And Kenshiro shows no mercy to any of the villains that plague the Earth while using it. There are two phrases I have to point out that describe this show (and both appear on the DVD case). The first one is, “Wherever he goes, chaos follows!” and the other one being, “Witness a world where violence isn’t the problem - it’s the solution!”

So yes, the show is incredible absurd, but it’s a good type of insanity. There are a few problems with the show that I have to point out here. One (and this isn’t a problem at all for me, but it might be for some) thing is that the show is old, and the animation isn’t exactly stellar. The biggest problem for me with the show is the writing and dialogue. It can go from mediocre, to poor, to cheesy and then to down right bad all in the same conversation. There is some dailogue though that I find awesome, and that mainly comes from Kenshiro in his trademark catch phrase, “Fool! You are already dead!” And of course a few moments later, his opponent generally explodes or somthing along those lines (a few times he tells them how many seconds they have to live, and a timer will actually come up on screen and count down). The other thing wrong with the show is the english version. Manga did a pretty poor job on it. I find the dubbing to be awful (but then again, that’s my opinion on a large sum of english dubbing), and like some of the other things that they’ve done (Street Fighter II V, and The Guyver), they decided to replace the original opening theme songs with crappy techo-sounding music. Also the translation is rather weak on it, with a few words being changed (such things as the word crush in a certain technique got changed to crack, and one of the character’s names got changed from Bat to Bart).

The one thing that I do like that Manga did with the show, is make it a good, reasonable price. Each DVD is around $22, and comes with around seven episodes, with the whole series being on five DVDs. Not bad at all if I do say so myself.

So in the end, this is one of my favorite series, but the highest rating that I can give Fist of the North Star TV is 3/5 stars. But if you have the chance I do suggest trying to see it (or at least the movie, which I’ll probably end up reviewing some time in the future).

So there you go. Talk to you all later!

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