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| Araiso Private High School Student Council Executive Committee (OAV) |
Good |
While all American buddy series since Starsky & Hutch have had to work hard to dispel the gay vibe, their Japanese counterparts can just make it into a running joke. Advantage, Nippon. Tokitoh and Kubota are definitely a classic cool-guys couple, and this little OVA makes the most of their quirky appeal. Let’s hope they adapt the entire “Wild Adapter” manga soon (yes, it should be a wild... fuggedit). |
| City Hunter (TV) |
Good |
Hammer time. It was kinda startling, in its day, a hero this bipolar and baaaaka. |
| Cowboy Bebop (TV) |
Excellent |
Coooool, from the music to the characters to the ships to the fight scenes. Spike is so damn cool I was expecting inspector Zenigata to try to arrest him at any time. |
| Cowboy Bebop: The Movie |
Very good |
I had forgotten how deep the death-wish theme runs in this series until I saw the movie. |
| End of the World (OAV) |
Excellent |
Exhilarating short by 4°C, with a rather scary and unsettling feel, and a satisfyingly well-rounded mini-plot. The very cool music helps. |
| Eureka Seven (TV) |
Excellent |
It’s official: BONES is THE family values studio. While playing on the surfer dude vibe for the sake of form, BONES creates one of the richest portrayals of family life and domesticity ever committed to cel and ink, to the degree that –in what may well be a first for an adventure series in any medium- the minutiae of domestic economy are central to the tale. There isn’t a single flat character in the lot –remarkable for an ensemble piece with quite so many pieces–, and their interaction is as fresh and sympathetic as you’re ever likely to see in something involving very large bio-mechanic anthropomorphic battlewagons. The animation and character design are a joy to behold (even if they have a wee bit of a problem staying in-model), and yup, the music is cooool. The setting does give you an unsettling feeling that Galactus will drop in at any minute. Winner of the Dr. Phil Award for Best Couple Dynamics. |
| Ghost in the Shell (movie) |
Very good |
The best part: Keanu Reeves is nowhere to be found. |
| Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (TV) |
Excellent |
Major, you sexy beast you. Less metaphysical thinkathon and more police procedural actioneer, which IMNAAHO is a change for the best. Mind you, expect lots of complicated exposition speeches anyhow, this IS part of the GITS franchise. Fluid animation (me truly digs the Tachikoma in motion), Kanno-sensei at her most tuneful, what else can you ask for? |
| Hellsing (TV) |
Very good |
Gonzo going, well, all gonzo on us. Alucard is one cool (feral) cat, for sure, and never has the sheer joy of the kill been so joyously portrayed. And who can but love cuddly Yan Valentine? Of course, it is also the archetype of the botched-up ending. The day I heard the news that they will REALLY complete the anime, a flock of Vietnamese Potbellies passed overhead, lazily gliding across the sky. |
| Lupin III: Part II (TV) |
Good |
Yeah, the red jacket. Definitely the red jacket. |
| Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (movie) |
Excellent |
No, no, the green. The green one. |
| Lupin the 3rd (TV) |
Good |
I'd say the red jacket |
| Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV) |
Very good |
Whiny, bitchy and gloomy study the Kabbalah. |
| Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (movie) |
Good |
"Saitei, ore tte." Truer words... |
| Noir (TV) |
Decent |
Kirika always looks as if she needs a strong cup of cafe au lait, and not to offend the fans, but the story kind of takes a while to actually, you know, start. As far as psycho lesbian knife-wielding skinny mamas, it certainly has the market cornered. Winner of the Best Music to Shoot People By award. |
| R.O.D -The TV- |
Very good |
The British Library as the creepiest baddies in anime? Eek! I shudder to think what they do to people with overdue books. |
| Read or Die (OAV) |
Very good |
Geekiness has never been cooler. You gotta love a show where the friggin' *British Library* deploys the most badass special forces! The Paper, you're the goddess of all of us bookworms. |
| Samurai Champloo (TV) |
Excellent |
A.k.a. "Ronin Hiphop." This series resembles its august ancestor in its enthusiastic use of syncopated rhythms in both score and the editing room. It also shares "Bebop's" rather harsh and sad worldview, tempered with wonderful anachronic farce. Great animation and fantastic fight scenes enliven up the already lively proceedings. Winner of the Bob Marley Memorial Award for Best Fight Scene in a Ganja Field. |
| Speed Grapher (TV) |
Good |
Gonzo takes on gonzo journalism – looks like someone has been reading “Transmetropolitan”, hm? The basic premise is an eternal classic: the pervy decadence of the aristocracy is always so… heartwarming (provided Tom Cruise is not anywhere near). Yet another wasted baddie, methinks, but that seems to be a Gonzo specialty. The Eighties boy in me digs the OP song –and the wizened old man in me prays to the eight million Kami that the photos of him dressed up like Simon never re-appear. Winner of the Bernanke Award for Silliest Way to Cause a Financial Crisis. |
| Tachikomatic Days (OAV) |
Good |
They are cute, they are cute, they are cuuuute. Just accept it. |
| Texhnolyze (TV) |
Very good |
It does not get any more desperately pessimistic than this. Watch this with a pitcher of Zoloft and a chaser of some really silly Takahashi Rumiko, or prepare to sink into the deepest gloom. Madhouse's animation, as usual, is interesting and visually deep. |
| Trigun (TV) |
Very good |
All together now: Love and Peace. Or, pacifism is great provided you have a supernatural ability to violently disable your enemies without actually, ahem, making them croak (a.k.a. Himura Havecakeandeatitis). But there is no doubt: Vash is unmatched as a Bakahero with bipolar syndrome. |
