Shelf Life

Rumbling Hearts and Grumbling Tummies

With this being my first exposure to the series, I was pleasantly surprised. Short story first: I liked what I saw and I want to see more. The series is unlike any other shonen romance I've ever seen before, with its frank portrayal of human tragedy and pain, and it's a refreshing break from your typical boy-meets-girl-gets-slapped-the-end fare. If there was just one aspect I personally didn't like about it, it would be the characters. None of them are particularly likeable, so for me, it was a bit hard to sympathize with any of them.

Takayuki finds himself dating a meek girl named Haruka, who has obviously never picked up an issue of Cosmo in her life, for she is neither Fun nor Fearless. Rather, she's the type of gal to constantly burst into tears without provocation, so it's a bit of a wonder that she's one of the main love interests in the story. The other love interest is Mitsuki, a spunky, sporty girl who's been in love with Takayuki for as long as she's known him. Things take a tragic turn for the dramatic when Haruka gets into an accident and falls into a coma. Flash forward three years later—Mitsuki is dating a listless Takayuki, whose life is ripped apart when his former girlfriend finally regains her consciousness, ready to pick things up where she left off. Straight-up drama.

Seldom are there series that deliver so much human emotion in such a short amount of time. With Rumbling Hearts, the pain that the characters experience as they struggle to continue living their lives gives the story a rawness that's hard to pull away from. It barrels through each episode with reckless emotion and plenty of heart, and if you love drama and heartache, then you'll find yourself drawn to this series like snow to our runways.[TOP]

Though… that's kind of all that Air Gear is. Straight-up cool. There's not a lot of substance and there's not a whole lot of character development. In fact, take out the extreme wickedness of the Air Treks, and all you're left with is a silly show about kids trying to diss each other in skate-offs by taking each other's personalized posse stickers. It's nice that these kids are taking their Xtreme Sport so seriously, rather than selling Xtreme Drugs on the street corner, but it really doesn't make for a deep anime series.

Really though, Air Gear is all about brainless pleasure, and it doesn't bother hiding it. From the insane (and unrealistic, but I totally want a pair) abilities of the Air Treks, to the bright and bold artwork, to all the fanservice (of which there is an excess of), this series is all about making the little kid in you happy. I can't in good conscience say that this is a good show, because the characters are one-dimensional and the story is silly and trivial, but I had a great time watching it. Chances are, if you're in the 14-24 age demographic, you'll probably get a kick out of it too.[TOP]

The first four episodes are pretty straightforward and episodic. It's not entirely clear who Train's evil boss is, or why Train is sent out to cap certain people, other than providing convenient excuses to run into Sven's targets. That, and who doesn't want a show where the ruthless killer slowly has his heart melted and his emotions muddled by a girl? (In this case, the girl is a kimono-clad bounty hunter also of questionable age, whose claim to fame is an unhealthy obsession with milk and a predilection for singing terrible songs atop roofs.)

Truthfully, there's not much that can be said about Black Cat. Besides the story, there's really nothing else there yet. The characters have yet to really be developed, there doesn't seem to be any exposition for anything other than the fact that everyone lives in corrupt times, and really, besides finding people and shooting them, there's not too much else going on right now. I didn't really expect anything mind shattering in the first volume, and as far as Shonen Jump-type shows go, Black Cat is entertaining enough to watch. Just don't be expecting anything too spectacular right now.[TOP]

Oh my gosh.

I was speechless for a good two hours after watching it. This is either one of the worst things I've seen this year, or… vaguely brilliant in a disturbing way. These movies are essentially a ruse to introduce Japan's prettiest ladies by dropping them into ninja stories and (not so) subtly surrounding them with uglies, to hide the fact that you just bought a softcore porno.

This particular one follows a band of ninja trainees who are training to be the best warriors they can be. Unfortunately, they're some of the saddest fighters to live in Japan. One of them is a colossal mannish fatass, one of them swallows her own blowgun darts… one of them is constantly horny all the time and takes off her clothes whenever she can. Guess who's the star of this particular adventure? Hint: not the fat one. Together, the girls try to prove their worth, all while spending some quality TLC time in the river, rubbing each other's bosoms. Oh, and the horny one strips and licks her lips a few times. Altogether, not quality entertainment, but hey, what can you expect from something called Ninja Vixens? The point is, Geneon has some weird, weird stuff. You should really check out their catalogue sometime.[TOP]

I attribute this mainly to the characters. While the actual main characters aren't too fascinating as of yet (drab boy who wants to be a champion of justice, business-as-usual girl who has a surprising nurturing streak, etc), the Servants are pretty sweet. For whatever reason, every decade or so, seven Masters are chosen. With the ability to use magic, these folks can also summon a Servant, a historic hero who will fight on his or her behalf. Picking each other off one by one in a battle royale, the winner and his Servant can then obtain the Holy Grail, which will grant them their deepest desire. What's interesting about the Servants, though, is that their actual identities are rarely revealed, because that exposes their weaknesses to the enemies. Call me easily entertained, but I find that kind of silly hook just enough to keep me watching—that, and wanting to know what all of them look like.

Having never played the original game, I'm not certain at which point in the story you got to see breasts, but I've always been somewhat impressed by the ability of anime creators to take an erotic game and turn it into a respectable series. Fate/Stay Night doesn't have the immediate darkness and morbidity of Tsukihime, but it's interesting enough to keep watching, at least for now. Once the novelty of the premise wears off, it'll be neat to see just how far the series can carry itself.[TOP]