.:My 2 Yen:.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2004
Cartoon Network October Agenda
Hamtaro and the Ham-Hams embark on new adventures but this time dressed in attire rejoicing Halloween
On Saturday, October 23rd, Rurouni Kenshin will substitute Gundam Seed at 10:30pm.
New installments of Rave Master will air each Saturday at 7:30 PM.
New installments of Inu Yasha will be skipped on October 23rd and 30th. In its place, The Animatrix will be twice shown on Saturday, October 30th, once at Midnight and once more at 3:00am (early Sunday Morning), and on October 23rd Read or Die will be transmitted in the same time slots.
Rurouni Kenshin is drawn in a simple, nearly standard manga method, and as such the characters frequently turn “super-deformed” when the mood is suitable.
In spite of incorporating such gifted voice performers as David Lucas and Wendee Lee, one way or another it all sounds flat and bland, as if the players were not capable of understanding the inherent Japanese-ness of the tale.
Fire Requiem’s last installment gives us an acceptable end to Kenshin’s adventures, and the few loose ends hanging about were tied up in the outstanding OVA prequel freed stateside as “Samurai X” (by ADV Films).
The Gundam license is frequently respected as a true masterpiece that helped to redefine our insight of what a mech anime can do. Since the first appearance of the first Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979, many follow-ups and side tales have been shaped, the bulk of which listened carefully on increasing the Universal Century (UC) almanac set up in the first sequence. But, opening in the mid-1990s, Studio Sunrise started to deviate from this classic story and concentrate on reinventing Gundam with fresh, new tales set in other timelines. The newest of these other actualities, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, premiered in Japan in October of 2002 and hit North American airwaves in April as part of Cartoon Network’s new Saturday assemblage. Spectators were in for a real treat, as Gundam SEED is not merely hands down the best of the other timelines, but stands as one of the best Gundam names in an era.
Set in the center of a war flanked by the Earth Alliance and the space settlement cluster PLANT, the sequence centers on adolescent youth Kira Yamato, who, at the onset, is existing quietly with his friends on the unbiased space settlement Heliopolis. Next, following a strange young girl, in place of emptying the colony during an emergency, Kira finds himself caught in the center of the brawling and comes head to head with close friend Athrun Zala, who is now a warrior laboring for ZAFT. Captivating four of the five movable suits, Athrun and his teammates leave, while Kira follows them in the fifth suit, Strike. Battle results, which sees the settlement fatally injured, and Kira and his friends breezed keen on repair on board the space battleship Archangel.
From there, the sequence goes after the uses of Kira and the rest of the Archangel’s crew as they effort to reply the Alliance services, all the while being determinedly followed and situated by Athrun and his team.
Visually, Gundam SEED is an extremely good-looking parcel.
The cast of seiyuu that lend their ability to speak to Gundam SEED incorporates a figure of well-liked names that are sure to catch the ear of just about all fans who’ve been surveying their anime in Japanese for some length of time. Such aptitudes incorporate Kotono Mitsuishi as Archangel head Murrue Ramias, Rie Tanaka as Lacus Clyne, Tomokazu Seki as Gundam director Yzak Jule, Houko Kuwashima straining twice as much responsibility as both Fllay Allster and vice lead Natarle Badgiruel, and even Nishikawa Takanori of T.M. Revolution relating a mid-series recapitulate installment.
T.M. Revolution gave more than just a narration though, in the end contributing two assortments to SEED’s in general astral disc. “Invoke,” “Meteor,” and additional verbal aid by such players as SeeSaw and Nami Tamaki interrupt a melodic compilation that skins both unforgettable themes and a stirring score.
With its April first appearance on Cartoon Network and following DVDs released in the fall, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED is indeed a hit with the North American anime community. In making a unique tale, which uses constituents from preceding hits of the license, Studio Sunrise has come up with a show that takes a wide plea, being comprehensible to Gundam novices, obstinate UC veterans, and bishounen-crazed Wing extremists similarly. One of the best Gundam headings in years, SEED is an excellent construction well meriting of praise, and is something that is truthfully not to be missed.
Appearing on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim is characteristically a reliable formula for success, and Rumiko Takahashi’s newest fancy oeuvre is nearly made to measure for American-style fame and chance.
If you dig this sort of thing (planning, if you enjoyed Dragonball, Rurouni Kenshin, or a few of the many further shows like this), then InuYasha is intended to be your preference.
Rumiko Takahashi has a long times gone by of inscribing sequence that run forever and attribute bitchy girls spanking approximately inept guys.
The show just isn’t extremely important to look at—at least not as much as Urusei Yatsura was.
Pray you don’t get exhausted of observing some devil steal a piece of the Shikon no Tama and run off with it merely to later on fight with and lose to Inu-Yasha, since that’s the basic hearsay of near each event.
Sesshomaru statistics in greatly in the anime sequence and arrives in limitless events, and degree 2 is his first emergence, so that’ll make it a big deal for anybody gripped with mink stole-wearing dudes with Sailor Moon secret language on their foreheads.
It’s hard to confess it, but with part seven of Rumiko Takahashi’s boundless feudal fairy tale Inu Yasha, things are starting to get improved. Inu Yasha has yet to reach the high class storytelling principles set by additional long-running action sequence like Rurouni Kenshin, but it’s clear with this seventh part that at least they’re attempting harder to tell a forceful story.
Typically, bishounen villains like Sesshomaru are given at least two sides: a really, really evil side and a soft, mushy, vulnerable side that the fangirls just love to exploit. Here’s hoping the series doesn’t decide to waste episodes showing how Sesshomaru was abused as a child or forced to watch a hundred episodes of Dr. Slump or some other equally ridiculous thing that would have turned him into such a rotten-hearted nogoodnik.
The story itself, technically, focuses around the Jewel of Four Souls, which can give any demon ultimate power, and Yasha’s/Kagome ongoing, relentless quest to find it and keep it out of the hands of malicious, power hungry demons. The people/demons around Yasha and Kagome, whether they be friend or enemy, are often a treat within themselves too. Yasha’s elder, placid, confident full demon brother, Lord Shessho Maru. And Naraku, a mysterious demon with a huge hatred for Yasha.
It’s a good thing Yasha is part demon; if he were fully human, he’d NEVER survive most of the fights that he takes part in. Fortunately, the characters and story DO NOT take a back seat to the fighting, so it’s not like watching “DragonBall Z” with demons.
She has a smooth, clean shonen artwork style; it could be viewed as a bit cartoonish because of the lack of details, but it’s simple, and pleasing to the eye; very similar to the later works of Kosuke Fujishima (creator of “Oh My Goddess!” and “You’re Under Arrest!”).
For those who don’t want to wait for that all-important Viz or Bandai announcement, the Manga is available in comic book and graphic novel format, and is easily accessible mail order/online from Viz or any comic store/retailer.
Here we have a DVD that’s being given a gigantic marketing push and is advertising the fact that some of the shorts are from the same people responsible for such fan favorites as Cowboy Bebop and Ninja Scroll.
The fate of the Osiris and Captain Thaddeus are mentioned several times by Jada Pinkett-Smith’s character Niboe in The Matrix Reloaded and in the video game, Enter the Matrix. The action picks up from there, playing out like a montage of cut scenes from Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, complete with voiceover work from someone who either is, or sounds a lot like, Steve Buscemi. The Final Flight of the Osiris is important if you want to be clued in to the rather nebulous references to it in The Matrix Reloaded, but as a standalone short, it ultimately fails to please.
The next two shorts, directed by Mahiro Maeda and written by the Wachowski brothers, are the shining gems of the Animatrix and should not be missed by anyone interested in science-fiction, anime, cyberpunk or merely decent storytelling.
Written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Program is, next to Peter Chung’s Matriculated, the low point of the disc. Kawajiri is responsible for Ninja Scroll, which, like marijuana, is considered a ‘gateway drug’ (marijuana leading people to harder drugs, Ninja Scroll leading people to anime that doesn’t stink.). The characters look like they were yanked straight out of Ninja Scroll. His Ninja Scroll TV series is a few big steps ahead of this junk; perhaps he took a screenwriting class between this production and that one.
Animated by the ever-famous Studio Madhouse, responsible for such fan favorites as Card Captor Sakura and X, World Record is probably the least visually appealing short on the disc. Again written by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, it’s also the short with the least tie-in to the whole Matrix concept.
Utilizing the visual style found predominantly in Gainax’s beloved oddity FLCL, Beyond is yet another high point of The Animatrix. The main character, who shares many of the same design sensibilities as FLCL’s chaotic mistress Haruko, shines on screen as a sympathetic, if understandably underdeveloped, heroine.
Clocking in right behind The Second Renaissance is A Detective Story, a short by Shinichiro Watanabe, the man behind Sunrise’s beloved anime classic Cowboy Bebop. Told in grainy black and white to invoke a noir-ish feel, the short tells the story of a PI on the trail of Trinity, the girl we all know is destined to fall in love with Neo (a dubious fate by anyone’s measure; Keanu Reeves can’t be that exciting to talk to after a few years).
Like him or hate him, enough production companies seem to love Aeon Flux auteur Peter Chung enough to give him work until the end of time. Eventually the short turns into a kind of bad CG funhouse, with psychedelic colors and crazy characters coming in left and right (Strong Bad fans, feel free to title this short ‘Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes’; it makes about as much sense. An ‘Eh, Steve!’ appearance would have helped, though).
This is, perhaps, the most significant anime event since Spirited Away won the Oscar; 2005 is turning out to be a banner year for anime fans.
This is grand anime camp in the Giant Robo tradition, but it falls short of living up to its full potential. This top-notch animation and music, exciting action setpieces, and likable (but distant) characters must be weight against a rushed and ridiculously half-baked storyline riddled with enough plotholes to make Evangelion look downright coherent.
Taku Iwasaki’s music is also an enormous boon to the production. Perhaps best known for Samurai X’s hauntingly melodies, Iwasaki goes in the opposite direction here and produces a rockin’ score in the tradition of James Bond and other spy movies.
Both Reiko Miura and Kimberly Yates convincingly portray Yomiko’s naiveté and obsessive nature. As Amanda Winn-Lee deadpans, “Miss Deep’ – sounds like a porn star.”