Reviews (29)

The best alternate universe Gundam
Many, many people will pass up this series beacause of the goofy looking mobile fighters, almost DBZ-type antics, and because of the fact that it's a Super Robot show. Well those people are missing out on yet another great Gundam series. The plot goes way beyond the "Gundam Fight" tournament. And so what if it's a Super Robot show? I like super robots. Like a lot of the more recent, non-Universal Century Gundam shows, the first few episodes of this series are pretty so-so, until you get to the main plot, which centers around Domom Kasshu (the fighter for Neo-Japan and the Shining Gundam's pilot)'s search for his brother, who has stolen the evil Devil (Dark) Gundam. Once the plot picks up, this series can get very, very engrossing. Also, while the initial fights aren't that exiting, the ones later on in the series are VERY exiting.

At the very least, it's better than Gundam Wing. (You can say that about every other Gundam series, too, as well as most other anime in general.)

o yeah
This is actually one of the better gundam series. It has an incredible storyline where the main charcaters all over come a barrier. The ending was superb and everything i expected it to be. The only flaws in this series were that the Shining/burning finger got repetitive and Domon used this move OVER AND OVER. The other flaw i found was some of the mech designs were a joke. Look at the Nobel Gundam from Neo Sweden. Thats just pathetic. Although its pilot Allenby was pretty cool, this gundam was just stupid. The dialoge got a bit corny at times, but that really isnt the shows fault. I felt embaressed for the voice actors when Chibodee's cheerleaders were chanting his name. Now on to its good points. It is full of plot turns near the end. The music is amazing. It isnt just some crappy rock hybrid like in New Report G Wing. (nothing against rock or the series as i love them both). The music truly has an asian feel to it. Its also quite entertaining to see what Japan thinks of other countries. Look at Chibodee. He's a punk! This also has the best love story in the whole series. The main chars arent just Newtypes who magically understand each other. Rain and Domons relationship grows throughout the gundam saga. All in all, it truly lives up to the gundam name. If all the worlds problems could be solved with giant mechs......

GUNDAM FIGHT READY, GO!

Ludicrous, but carried off with a certain panache
G Gundam premiered in 1994. It was the first "Gundam" show to abandon the main, serious "Universal Century" (UC) continuity that had linked all previous Gundam series and movies. While UC series like Gundam 0083, Zeta Gundam, and Char's Counterattack all take place in historical relation to one another, with recurring characters and reference to past events, G Gundam, like Gundam Wing after it, is off in its own little universe.

G Gundam was also a big fat commercial ploy by Bandai to goose Gundam model kit and paraphernalia sales, which had been slipping since the lukewarm reception of Victory Gundam (1993-94).

The result is something like Gundam meets Street Fighter by way of Dragonball Z. Dozens of over-the-top Gundams representing the different space "nations" come together in the Gundam Fight. These "mobile fighters" all have ludicrous traits that represent their nations. E.g., the "Neo-Canada" entrant is called "Grizzly Gundam" (Lumber Gundam in Japan), and is built like a ... well, a lumberjack, with a big old mecha chainsaw on its back. Seriously. If you think that's wild, you need to check out the Mummy Gundam and the Mermaid Gundam, which transforms into a fish. Mermaid is actually an elegant design, in a psychedelic sort of way.

Each pilot has a finishing move with his Gundam, and in the best PlayStation style, yells out the move as he does it. "Shining Finger!!" The main characters are a bunch of top Gundam fighters who come together in a playing-card-motif kind of club called (ahem) The Shuffle Alliance.

All of this is obviously a long way from the semi-realistic, gritty military drama of the UC Gundam shows. For that reason a lot of older fans despise G Gundam. They figure, with some justice, that it gives potential fans the wrong impression of what the other, more serious Gundam shows are like. (Gundam Wing's popularity with preteens likewise misled lots of people to think Gundam is about pretty-faced misanthropic boys riding invincible uber-Gundams and giving incomprehensible speeches about war and peace. Actually, most of the good UC shows are about military men and women piloting all-too-mortal mobile suits, and they contain some genuinely moving scenes.)

Me, I wouldn't buy G Gundam on DVD or go out of my way to watch it, but I gotta admit it played out on TV somewhat better than it sounds. The fight choreography is excellent, if liberally laced with drama/cheese. Several cool technological tricks are unveiled, like the skintight movement-sensitive suits that the pilots wear inside their cockpits to direct the machines. The final God Gundam piloted by hero Domon Kasshu (Burning Gundam in the US) is a gorgeous mecha. Schwarz Bruder's "Neo-German" Gundam Spiegel (Shadow Gundam) is also sweet. The actors manage to invest the campy mecha fights with passion. Rain Mikamura is a babe.

In sum, while there are a lot of more nutritious Gundam series out there (Zeta Gundam is FINALLY coming on domestic DVD, in fall 2004!), G Gundam offers decent brain and eye candy for fans.

Waste of money...
I know the title of this review seems like im just insulting the show in general. But, I'm not. This is a waste of money because i bought the entire series (all 49 episodes) in an entire dvd set BRAND NEW on ebay from a guy named lilyswaterfall for $35. He seems to have many for sale. And even if he has none there are others with the same item for sale. Okay the features of this set are...
Original Japanese/English Audio (English dubs the same as cartoon networks)
English Subtitles
Beatiful Display case showing off the 6 dvd set.
All 49 episodes uncut.

Do yourself or the person your buying this for a favor and buy the entire set instead of this on ebay BRAND NEW! i received mine its in perfect condition with everything i wanted. Its the entire set for less than one of these box sets. Hope i helped.

Gundam?
This is called Gundam, but it's not Gundam at all and it's the worst Gundam series ever, the biggest miatake.

This series is just for kids. If you're expecting something like the first Gundam, or other Universal century Gundam series, you'd be very disappointed with this childish animation. This is created for selling their toys to kids, doesn't even have a realistic story line that the first Gundam has.

About 20 years ago, the creater of Gundam wanted to make a totally different animation series, which wasn't exactly for kids, but rather for mature audiences by giving it a believable future wars of human based on science and also made a great story line , instead of making 'good guy always wins' kind of story. But looks like the creaters just forgot their first purpose of making Gundam. This animation just doesn't have the heart of Gundam series, which makes Gundam series stand out from all other robots animation. Again, this is created only for making money by using the name of Gundam. Even Gundam looking robots are not Gundam or mobile suits.

Don't be fooled by its name, it's not Gundam you want to see. Maybe a good choice for kids under 10 years old. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Wow
I am still impressed with this whole series, this set contains episodes that are some of my favorites. it has some extended death scenes and misc other tidbits removed from Robotech. I still am amazed at the quality of the restored animation here. it is truly vibrant! there are still flaws, after all its an 80s show. I had never seen Macross until these sets were released I stuck to my guns claiming that Robotech was the Ultimate, but this is the Ultimate companion to Robotech, or the other way around. the Robotech and Macross sets are must haves if you are a fan.

"Will expand when unwrapped"?!
Like most American folks (and some non-American folks to be sure) who grew up watching 80s-era 'toonage, my first look at the Macross series was in the form of the first chapter of Robotech. And even though I still hold a certain degree of sentimental nostalgia for the latter show, I gotta admit I like the original uncut Japanese version a fair bit more. Well, except for the background score-- the music used for Robotech seemed a better fit in my opinion, and wasn't quite as melodramatic as the original score. Sorry if this offends you anime purists out there, but-- no wait, actually I'm not the least bit sorry. I could give less than two doots what'cha all think...

Naturally, the biggest attraction of the original Macross is the chance to see all the stuff that Harmony Gold (the show's North American producers) changed and edited out of the series to conform to the various kidvid standards of the day. You know, excess violence, naughty bits, a smattering of mature situations and language situated somewhere in PG & PG-13 territory, and stuff that might not have translated well to audiences on the opposite side of the Pacific and elsewhere. I saw a smattering of such scenes and situations (a few examples include slight extensions of the deaths of Roy Focker & Kakizaki ("Ben Dixon" to you RoboPhiles out there), allusions to Roy's battles with the bottle, and a few naughty thoughts from Max during his first encounter with Milia in the video arcade), but they made up a rather miniscule part of the "restored" bits. The vast majority of no-longer-missing moments were rather innocuous (mostly incidental or "slice-of-life" scenes), and led me to wonder why they'd been shortened or removed from Robotech in the first place. Probably to help the networks airing the series cram in another toy commercial or two between the mid-show eyecatches...

I was also curious to see the results of AnimEigo's extensive restoration efforts that I'd been reading about so much on Robotech.com and other anime news sites for months before its debut on North American DVD. Although I still saw a few ever-so-slight flaws here 'n' there, I thought they did a really good job making the show as clean and pristine as it likely was when it was initially broadcast. Just compare any of the restored eppies to their Robotech counterparts, and you'll see a fairly significant difference between the two in terms of picture clarity!

Although the platters in this set lack any real special bonus features aside from show production and restoration credits, the liner notes, which look sorta like mini file folders (one even has a subject tabs) come close to making up for it:

- Disc four's mini-file includes brief character profiles of Captain Bruno J. Global ("Henry Gloval" to all you Robotech freakos out there), Zentradi Commander Britai Kridanik, Kamjin Kravshera "The Ally-Killer" (Khyron "The Backstabber"), and Exedol Folmo (Exedore). The basic info given for each character includes age, height and weight (in metric measurements, natch), occupation, the episode each debuted in, the person who voiced the character, and... blood type??? Hey, that's kinda personal don'cha think? Seriously, I've never understood the deal with anime characters having blood types (shouldn't it be ink types? Heh, get it? Hee hee...). But then, I've never really delved into the technical world of anime, or the culture it reflects, all that much. And why the hey does almost every Japanese anime character I've ever seen not look even remotely Japanese? What's up with all the honky-envy in animeland??? If there's anybody out there who can give me the 411 on these bits o' strangeness to me, please do so, willya? Thanks...

Anyway, let's get on with the review. Also included with disc four's files are production notes on episodes 13 to 20. Brief synopses of each eppie's evolution from concept to production are given, as well as the disclosure of various in-gags and sci-fi references one can find in each show, if one looks hard enough.

- Disc five's file includes technical specs and descriptions of various mecha seen in the series, including the SDF-1 Macross super-fortress, the VF-1 Valkyrie fighter/battroid flown by Roy Focker, the RoiQuomni Glaug (AKA Kamjin's battle pod), and the much-more-common Zentradi Reguld battle pod.

- The sixth platter includes production notes on episodes 21 to 28 of the show, and the lyrics to two Minmei (Ijima Mari) songs. Both the English translation and the anglicized Japanese pronunciation of each song's lyrics are given.

- The only real disappointment I have with this collection is that they weren't able to put Macross and Robotech together into an all-in-one presentation, like Harmony Gold did a few years back when they put out the Robotech: Perfect Collection VHS series, featuring two Robotech eppies and their corresponding Japanese (Macross, Southern Cross, Mospeada) counterparts. It would've been nice to have something that appealed to both the RoboPhile and the anime purist in me, without havin' to take up quite as much shelf space in my video cabinet. No such luck, I'm afear'd; the licensing & rights situations just didn't pan out between the companies involved in the show's production & distribution. Them's the breaks in life...

'Late ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Can't wait for it to come out!
Comic Party is one of those anime about anime, and thus it makes a good parody work. This artist gets sucked into the world of anime by his friend Taishi (who is a bit wired). His girlfriend Mizuki, still concerned about him tries to pull him out of his obsession, before he becoming a foaming addict and she dumps him. Meanwhile, his friend Taishi has some insane plan to dominate the world through anime, and gets him a job. Between the two, his grades begin to drop, and he has to choose between school and his hobby. Then, Mizuki tries to be supportive of him, and enters herself (trying to take him to the beach afterward but I serious doubt this will happen). ... Read more

Description

Three junior high school girls hear a voice pleading for them to save Cephiro, a magical world where belief is power. It is Princess Emeraude, the Pillar, whose will maintains the peace of Cephiro. When the peace is threatened, she uses her last bit of strength to summon forth the three destined to become Magic Knights and save her world. ... Read more

Description

When the Curse Breaks the Seal of a Rampaging Ancient God, the Mightiest Onmyoji Returns! Mysterious and bloody incidents ensue after a solar eclipse in the capital of Heian (794-1185 AD). Devils rampage through the capital at night and attack members of the nobility, each of whom has a body part is bitten off.Abe no Seimei (Mansai Nomura), the mightiest onmyoji, suspects that something will happen when the eighth victim is killed and the seal breaks off of a legendary sword.However secrets behind the incident reveal the bottomless darkness which even Seimei cannot foresee!When he faces an astonishing fact relating to the Imperial Court and the Izumo tribe, he has to risk his own life to save the capital and fight a man who had sold his soul to a rampaging god to avenge his people. Following the success of the original release, Onmyoji II enchants viewers with its dark yet spellbinding and mystical visual story! 'DVD BONUS: Apprx. 50 minutes of Extras including "Making of Onmyoji II", Trailers & TV spots, filmographies ... Read more

Description

At the peak of the Heian Era, famine and disease tear the country apart. Deadly assassins fill the court, and wild bandits infest the countryside. The legendary samurai Minamoto is sent on an Imperial quest for an artifact that can restore the world. But his skill with the bow cannot save him from illness, and his young sister is forced to take his place. Hikaru Minamoto and her companions embark on a quest to find the Magatama to bring new life to Japan. Her survival in the emperor's court depends on one thing, she must keep her true identity hidden. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A very Japanese Anime
This is one of the most Japanese Animes I've seen in a long time. This sounds like an oxymoron and it is but Otogi Zoshi is based in Japan's historical past not a fantasy or science fiction past but the stuff of history texts.The events take place in the Heian perod; A time of great strife in Japan and a time when Japanese culture was starting to define itself from China.
Otogi Zoshi has a historical sense of realism, the producers have really done their homework (A lecture by a Tokyo University Prof is included). Its plot is well developed and the charaters are well defined making Otogi Zoshi a great viewing experience.
And ofcourse the animation and music are first rate.
NOTE: You must watch this anime with it's original audio!

Great new anime...
Full of story and substance. This has to be the best new anime of this genre in recent memory (yes better then peacemaker kurogane AND samurai champloo). Its got a very unique background animation style. I can't wait for part 2. Production IG is THE anime company.

A superb and thrilling story; the artwork is tremendous!
I first encountered this series by accident as a fansub, and was hooked immediately. Equal parts historical drama, love story, action/adventure, and visual masterpiece, this is a compelling and enthralling story of dedication, bravery, heroism, and the discovery of love. The soundtrack and the artwork are lush, the writing is strong, and the animation is superb.

My DVD just arrived in the mail today, so I have yet to check out the English voice talent...but be brave! It's not that hard to read the subtitles, and the Japanese voice work is excellent.

It's going on my shelf right next to the Miyazaki collection. An excellent anime for people who like animation but don't like giant robots, magical girls, or painfully cute fuzzy animals. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Autumn comes to the rundown rooming house of the title, bringing not elegiac poetry, but confusion, misunderstanding, and chaos--just like every other season. Relatives play unusually important roles in the third collection of Rumiko Takahashi's popular romantic comedy. Godai's wizened grandmother arrives for a visit and immediately begins meddling in his relationships with Kyoko and Kozue. Kyoko is haunted by memories of her late husband when she receives the diary he kept during his student years, and when Soichiro, the dog they once owned together, runs away.To everyone's surprise, the long-lost husband of the hard-drinking Mrs. Ichinose suddenly appears to attend a school festival with their son, Kentaro. An unemployed little blob of a man, he manages to come through at the last minute. But after seeing his parents together, Kentaro must be hoping he got some recessive genes.

The rest of the stories unfold with the special mixture of insanity and sentiment that's made Maison Ikoku a long-running favorite in Japan and America. A series of miscommunications causes Godai to move out and find a supposedly vacant room over a pachinko parlor, with disastrous results. If the other tenants would mind their own business, life would go much more smoothly at Maison Ikoku. But if the other tenants could mind their own business, they wouldn't be living there. (Unrated, suitable for ages 13 and older: risqué humor, brief nudity, alcohol and tobacco use, slapstick violence) --Charles Solomon ... Read more

Reviews (2)

great
This series is great. I will not go into great detail about why, because other people, in other reviews, have done a much better job. I'll just say that the box set is a good buy in the first place, seeing as its 12 eps for 45 dollars, where a normal anime dvd would get you 3-4 epsodes for 25. Then, theres the anime. It's...wonderful, for lack of a better word. This IS romance-comedy, and one of the best examples of the genre I've ever seen. If you're worried about the sitcom-misunderstandings being the entire plot, don't worry, it doesn't work like that. It starts with a lot of misunderstandings, and a Love Hina-like theme, but as the show goes on it becomes more serious. The focus shifts to the competition between Godai and Mitaka. And while the "misunderstandings" still happen at the end of the show, the tone is completely different and it avoids being a stereotypical rehash of what came before. This anime is excellent, one of the few where I have given in and bought on dvd. The dubs are sound fine to me, but I usually watch it subbed so, I'll leave dub critiques to someone else. The subtitling is excellent. The video quality is excellent. It is completely worth it, the anime is great, the dvd's are high-quality. All the box sets are definitely worth it.
Now, anyone with a connection to Viz know when the next set is coming out?

Part 3 of a great anime series!
The episodes 25-36 of Maison Ikkoku, placed in this DVD boxed set, has a lot of significance. A lot of this is due to the fact that the last episode shown in this boxed set is the last dubbed episode that Viz has previously released (on VHS) -- the rest of the episodes were subtitled only. While the first 24 episodes did have a great blend of romance and comedy, I believe that these episodes are the beginning shift to perfecting that combination, as it will be seen in later episodes. Plus, as it's easily seen throughout the entire series, these episodes continue to build the relationships (and misunderstandings) between people that fans of this series have come to enjoy.

I will admit, I have just recently acquired the rest of the series (subtitled) and while there are newer series out with better quality animation, Maison Ikkoku has now made itself the base anime, that I would compare others to. This year, Maison Ikkoku reaches 18 years since its original airing dates, and still this series continues to attract new fans. I would definitely recommend this DVD set, as well as the rest of the series, to any anime fan that likes romantic comedies. ... Read more

Reviews (28)

Cheesy, Fun, And Entertaining...
Final Fantasy Unlimited has great qualities one may look for in an animated series. First of all, the story is pretty decent and captivating. It starts off a little slow, but once things pick up, it really is hard to be pulled from.
The story is basically about two children looking for their parents who have mysteriously disappeared in the world of Wonderland. The two find their way into Wonderland, beginning their adventure of mystery and exotic lands.
There is a combination of animations. One animation type looks hand drawn and simplistic. The artwork is not very detailed, but still done nice. The second type of animation is 3D computer generated. It sounds like the two and two wouldn't work together, but they blend well nicely.
It's a great series to watch for a Final Fantasy fan because it has qualities from the games.
1.) There are summons such as Phoenix.
2.) Fanfare Victory music is played: just like the games. (maybe cheesy, but it's there)
3.) There are chocobos. (chocobo music is even played)
4.) In all Final Fantasy games, there's a man named Cid. In FF: Unlimited, there is also a man named Cid.

For a start, FF: Unlimited (Phase 1) is well done. The first episode may be a little slow, but it's great when it picks up. The lead characters have great personalities. However, I find the little girl a little obnoxious at times. The chocobo is cute, as it likes to yank on the little girl's hair and yell out, "KWEH!" from time to time. The enemies in this series are a little corny, but all in all not bad.

I give Phase 1 a 4 stars because of the slow start. I also didn't like feeling like FF: Unlimited was a rip from Alice in Wonderland. I wish they would've named the world something a little more creative, but that's just me being picky.

Best Final Fantasy Animation so far
Rather than review all the phases, I figure it's best to do the first since you'll be starting off with this one anyway :)

The 'Final Fantasy' direct game series (meaning 1-11) has always been the basis and the best. The spin-off games have always been recieved with mixed opinions, since they can be quite different.

However, the Final Fantasy Animation have always been recieved very poorly. The first anime called "Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals" was in 4 parts and took place after the FF5 video game...the translation of names was inconsistance w/ the later released US video game, needless to say it was pretty bad. We all remeber Sony's attempt to show off the PS2 CG movie...which was terrible.

However, FFU is actually the 3rd and best atempt for an animated FF series. As the games it is a completely new story, but with classic FF elements (Chocobos, Summon Spells, Charcters leave & join the party) so in this aspect it is pretty good.

The English dubbing is also pretty good, though Yu's voice actor always sounds like he reading his lines and they should have used someone else in my opinion (that's quite annoying!).

The story will be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys the games, I would base the character types (like Fungus and other weird one) on a FF6 & 9 level = NOT for everyone as some are silly, I do not believe Amano created them, but that's the overall flavor.

This is somewhat like Xenogears animation (mix of CG & Cartoon) but overall not quite that much...but again you get the idea. 90% is animated with only a few scenes and small fractions with some CG special effects like Kaze's Demon Gun (AKA Magun in US).

Overall don't expect this to be based directly on a FF game. I reccomend it for die-hard Squaresoft/FF fans.

The Japanese version would fir nicely in the "Teen" rating, but sadly the US version is slightly toned down and thus younger children would enjoy it :(

Different but good
The animation is odd... the hand-drawn is good, the computer animation is mostly good, but together it's not so good. So be prepared.

It's also not entirely for kids... the Magun is so blatantly phallic it's funny.

But you have all the things that make Final Fantasy: chocobos, summoning, a huge plot, and Cid. The four episodes on disc 1 make you wanting more, just to learn what you don't know yet.

Could've done better
In episode 22 they could've made a little more sense otherwise this one is excellent! This one is a must-have although there's some sad parts.

Best so far...
Perfectly in synch with the rest of this series, FFU Phase 5 still leaves some questions unanswered, but are not meant to be answered until later. An awesome series. If your a FF fan, there is no reason not to get this series. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The Todo Academy, the setting for the broadcast series Tenjho Tenge (2004), was created to revive Tokugawa era martial arts: it's a high school of brawling thugs, ruled by a student "executive council." But instead of the stylized duels of Revolutionary Girl Utena or the slapstick chaos of Real Bout High, Tenjho Tenge offers sadistic violence. When two-bit toughs Souichiro and Bob enter Todo Academy, they plan on taking over, but they're way out of their league. They're forced to join the Juken Club, run by the Natsume sisters. Aya disguises her voluptuous figure to appear as a midget; Maya flaunts her Grand Canyon-esque cleavage. The filmmakers throw in hip-hop music, breakdance moves, and lip service to martial arts philosophy, but Tenjho Tenge depicts brutality and sexism, not bushido. (Rated 16 and older: nudity, risqué humor, sexual situations, violence, violence against women, ethnic stereotyping) --Charles Solomon ... Read more