Tag Archives: romance

Chopping The Log #2 Toradora part 1 premium edition

Posted on by pantsukudasai56

After the last set that I reviewed, I was glad to see that next on the list was a title I knew I was going to enjoy.  This release of Toradora memorable and special for a couple reasons.  First off, this was NIS America’s very first title that they released back in July of 2010 (yes, I’m just now getting to it, so now you know how bad my backlog is!).  July of 2010 is also the first time that site founder Arleigh and I attended Anime Expo together (but not the first time we met in person, that would be Anime Boston 2008).  It was my third Expo, but I believe it was his first.  NISA decided to really go all out and in order to promote this title the brought over two of the stars of the show, Yui Horie (Minori Kushieda) and Eri Kitamura (Ami Kawashima).  Getting to meet Yui Horie was a dream come true, so I’ll always remember this particular convention fondly.  And of course, they had their booth set up in the dealer’s room where they were selling this set, so when I saw it, the collector in me demanded that I pick it up.  These NISA sets are made with the collector in mind.  The giant artboxes definitely draw the eye to them, and although they’ll likely need special display space, it’s fully worth it if you are the collector type.

Toradora was a great choice for a newcomer in the market too.  From a star studded cast to nice visuals and an engaging story, there was no reason to expect anything but success from this.  I’ve seen sites list it as a comedy, and while that’s not wrong, it’s not entirely right either.  People that have watched a lot of anime might be familiar with the term “romcom” which is shorthand for romantic comedy.  That’s getting closer to the mark, but mixed in with the romance and the comedy is a good helping of drama too, so I dare say the proper term for this show is “draromcom”! 

In this first of two sets, we get the first 13 episodes of the show, plus two bonus shorts.  This set is largely setting things up with comedy and light drama for the more involved romance and heavier drama to come in later episodes.  So, we have our main protagonist, Ryuji, who is always mistaken for a delinquent because of his looks, and our other protagonist, Taiga (played to perfection by the legendary Rie Kugimiya), who looks like an adorable little doll but is actually short tempered and vicious, to the point that her nickname is the Palmtop Tiger, referring to her small stature and vicious nature.  Through a series of misunderstandings and other events, they come to find out that Ryuji has a crush on Taiga’s friend Minori, and Taiga has a crush on Ryuji’s friend Yusaku.  They decide to team up to help each other confess to their crushes, but while neither of them wants to admit to it, over the course of these 13 episodes it becomes apparent that they are falling for each other.  It’s pretty standard fare, but the execution of it is done extrememly well so it doesn’t feel old and tired like it very well could have.  Having a character like Ami come along to play an antagonistic role helps get the story moving, and provides a good bit of the comedy in this set.  And while this is lighter on the drama than future episodes, the last few start to build it up with Taiga’s deadbeat dad making an appearance. 

From a story and character standpoint, I think this show is in the upper tier, but this set does suffer from a few production problems.  This was NISA’s very first release as I mentioned before, and they definitely had some growing pains.  Once in awhile there are some spots where the video transfer was a little rough, resulting in some jagged images or blurred lines.  This seems to be most noticeable when the camera pans across a room where there is a lot going on.  I’m not a big technophile, so I don’t go through it frame by frame trying to find any sort of imperfection, but from those that do (seriously, how is that even enjoyable?) it’s said that there are several instances where it seemed like frames were overlapped on each other, hence the blur.  For those of us who are just watching on regular HDTVs without big fancy blu ray players beyond a PS3, while you will probably notice a couple janky areas, but nothing that will ruin the enjoyment of the set.

All in all, this is a show that I could easily have written an Anime You Should Be Watching column on, and only didn’t because I’m generally lazy.  If you can find this set, and you’re a collector, I say snap it up.  NISA has released a standard set, that doesn’t come in the fancy box with the nice hardbound episode guide, and this premium set is sold out at the distribution level, so it may not be possible to find it at a sane price anymore.

Also, I wanted to add, don’t let the fact that I’ve written 2 colums in 3 days fool you.  I don’t intend to be nearly as prolific as Lisa Marie is, and it’s completely dependent upon me finishing something from my backlog.  I have plenty of material to choose from, but some sets might take me a few days to finish, or I might take a break from watching anything for awhile.  But with my beloved New England Patriots out of the playoffs now, and me having very little interest in other sports, I should find myself with a lot more free time so who knows?  Maybe I can put a dent in this backlog after all.  Current backlog count: 847 discs.

Anime You Should Be Watching: Bakemonogatari

Posted on by pantsukudasai56

Honestly, I try to keep this column a surprise to Arleigh.  I hate when the owner of this site knows exactly what I’m going to post.  However, with the recent announcement from Aniplex USA that they will be releasing this title on BluRay, I can’t very well ignore this awesome title any longer.

The problem with this title is, it’s very hard to talk about without spoiling things.  Every girl here has a very important story to tell.  The overarching story here is how our protagonist, Koyomi Araragi, interacts with the various girls in the series.  The thing is, every girl has her own problem that he must solve.  Since I hate spoilers as much as the next guy or girl I’ll refrain from going too in depth to what everyone has to overcome.  The best parts would have to be Mayoi Hachikuji and Suruga Kanbaru.  Luckily for all, the BluRay of this series will be available later on this year from Aniplex America.  Really, nothing else could do this series justice than a BluRay release, so I cannot help but be thrilled for this.  What I can say about this is that you need to be prepared to do a lot of reading.  People say that this is a very wordy title, and while I don’t necessarily agree with them in the fact that they think the dialog comes fast and furious, I do agree that the dialog is the most important aspect of the show.  There is a lot of Japanese puns and wordplay involved, and this title is not for the newly initiated to the anime scene.  Those that are used to reading subtitles won’t have too much trouble keeping up, but this is certainly not a title one can passively watch and expect to fully understand.

The thing to keep in mind is that if this show seems strange, by anime standards, it probably has a lot to do with the director.  It’s directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, who also directed the very unconventional Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and his influence is easily seen in both.  There’s not a lot of action in Bakemonogatari but the visual imagery is classic Shinbo.  He makes full use of a lot of surreal backgrounds during long conversations, so instead of letting things get stale with long stretches of just the characters standing around talking, which as I said before they do a lot, he’ll at least have the background flashing by and changing often during those times.  On one hand, it’s certainly a cost saving measure since they didn’t have to animate the characters, but more importantly it makes it seem like something is actually happening, even when it’s really not.  In a visual medium like anime, nothing bores people more than just staring at the same thing for long periods of time, so this helps keep any feelings of boredom from setting in.  For a show without a lot of action, to be able to keep it from feeling dull is where you need a talented director, and Shinbo truly shines in this case.

So what worked with this anime?  Well, it has attractive and interesting characters.  Each story draws you in and makes you want to see what happens next.  While you assume that each girl will have her problem solved, this is a Shinbo show, so there are no guarantees that the problem will be solved, or even if it is that it won’t create further problems.  And that’s part of the fun of this series, expecting the unexpected.

What didn’t work?  Well, if you want lots of action and explosions in your anime, you’ll find little to none of that here.  This is a very character driven show, so if you find you dislike or don’t care about some or even all of the characters, then you won’t find much here of value.

All in all this was a pleasant surprise to me when I watched it.  The light novels it was based on have been very popular, but since I don’t follow the light novel scene very closely, this was unexpectedly good.  If you want an anime that draws you in and keeps you hooked with a compelling story, then look no further than Bakemonogatari.

Review: Three Sisters Island Trilogy (by Nora Roberts)

Posted on by Arleigh

                                                           

[guilty pleasure]

My taste in entertainment tends to be on the darker, violent and existential side of things. Horror, action and sci-fi tend to perk up my attention when looking for something to read, watch and/or play. This particular guilty pleasure I came across by accident. I think most people’s guilty pleasure were discovered by accident or happenstance. I would be the first to admit that romance novels would be the last thing I would consider my type of entertainment. Not saying romance novels have no place, but it definitely doesn’t fill the criteria of what I like and listed above.

Ten or so years ago I would never have picked up these books, but I have since found them to be much to my liking. I’m still not sold on a majority of romance-themed novels, but I have been sold on the one’s written by that queen of the romance novels: Nora Roberts (and to a larger degree the one’s she writes under the pseudonym J.D Robb). The novels which sold me on her type of writing was her Three Sisters Island Trilogy.

1. Dance Upon the Air

Dance Upon the Air was a surprise find for me as a reader. My initial introduction to Nora Roberts’ writing was through a mystery-romance series of hers written by her under the pseudonym, J.D. Robb. Her In Death series had just the right balance of mystery, police procedural, humor and romance to make this male not feel all weird reading was really was a romance novel. On the prodding of a friend who is a voracious reader of all things Nora Roberts, I picked up Dance Upon the Air. From the moment I began to read the exciting introduction of the Three Sisters Island being born, I was hooked line and sinker on this book.

The Three Sisters Island is a small and quaint little island community off the coast of Massachusetts whose origins, legend has it, was due to a powerful spell weaved by three sister witches. Their spell ripped a portion of the Massachusetts coastline from the earth and floated off to just off the coast to form a sort of haven for their descendants. A haven from the puritanical witchhunts which have taken the lives of both real witches and those falsely accused as one. It’s through the later generations and their descendants that the story for this trilogy is played out through.

Dance Upon the Air deals with one of the descendants of the Three Sisters. The books tale concentrates on the trials and tribulations of one Nell Channing whose a direct descendant of the Sister whose powers were of the element of Air. A delicate woman whose life has been a living hell due to a very abusive and powerfully connected husband, Nell finally escapes her abusive relationship through guile and trickery, but as the story progresses its not long before the husband she left behind finds out the truth about his wife’s apparent “death”. Nell makes it to Three Sisters Island and upon setting foot on its soil feels as if she’s returned home. Whether by fate or providence, Nell soon meets two other women on the island whose destinies have been preordained to entwine with hers.

Dance Upon the Air sounds a bit like the Julia Roberts thriller Sleeping with the Enemy. The similarities are pretty close, but Roberts’ tale of magic, fate and self-reliance was the better of the two. Nell’s experiences as she learns to live and love again on Three Sisters Island has a sense of hope and self-reawakening which the Julia Roberts film lacked. This book shares some of the thriller aspect of the film, but doesn’t rely on it to weave a beautiful tale. Instead, Dance Upon the Air reads more like the journey of a damaged woman whose realization that the place she has now decided to call home and those friends and lovers she’s met will be the anchor in finally realizing the life she’s always thought she should have lived.

2. Heaven and Earth

Heaven and Earth marks the middle installment in Nora Roberts’ Three Sisters Island Trilogy. The first book in the series, Dance Upon the Air, started off the trilogy on a magical note with Ms. Roberts deftly combining romance, abit of the supernatural, and a nice thriller into an exciting tale of intertwined destinies and pasts, strong female characters, and passionate romance.

Heaven and Earth starts with the wedding and honeymoon of Nell Channing and Zack Todd (island town’s sheriff). This helps cement Nell’s full acceptance into the island town’s fabric. Her trials and tribulations which led her to Three Sisters Island and the test she had to pass to finally begin her life anew seem less of a coincidence and more fate and predestiny. Nell is very open to such a possibility and helps explain to her just why she felt so at home upon her arrival on the island. She thinks its the magic in her past and blood that she now has learned she has. Her new sister-in-law and fellow “sister witch” Ripley Todd thinks its all crapola and would rather not dwell on such things. Ripley Todd knows of the island’s magical history and her own role in it, but her fear and stubborn reluctance to accept her magical heritage makes up the meat of the novel.

Ripley’s attitude towards the magic that permeates the island and the two other women supposedly tied to her, Nell Channing and Mia Devlin (the resident island witch and seemingly its most desired woman on the island), run from tolerance to outright restrained hostility. Ripley’s willing to tolerate her new sister-in-law’s acceptance of her magical heritage. Mia Devlin on the other hand she avoids and ridicules in equal amount. Mia takes it all in stride but at the same time drops comments in an attempt to remind Ripley of her past and future. Ripley doesn’t like this at all and does all she can to avoid the fire-haired Mia. But soon a new factor drops into her life which would lead to her finally confronting her fear of her heritage and her role in what could be the survival of Three Sisters Island.

This factor comes in the guise of Dr. MacAllister Brooke. Mac, as he likes to be called, is a professor whose main call in life is the hunt of the so-called supernatural. His travels and research leads him to the island. He plans on researching the island and determining as to the veracity of the island’s supernatural past and origins. For some reason he and Ripley are set on a course to deal with each other. Mac sees Ripley as a challenge and an attraction forms. Ripley on the other hand sees Mac’s research and choice of profession as being something close to being worthless, but as they continue to stay in close proximity she too cannot deny the growing attraction between them.

As the story moves along, Ripley and Mac must contend not just with each other’s prickly and stubborn natures, but an outside force threatens to destroy the peaceful lives of the original Three Sisters’ descendants and the idyllic island home they and the other townspeople call home. Ripley will have to decide in the end whether to accept that which she has feared for so long, or close herself off from it forever and thus dooming her and everyone close to her. In the end, Ripley will not be alone in her own confrontation with the darkness looming over the Three Sisters Island, Mac, Nell, Mia, Zack and many others will be there to help and support her.

All in all, Heaven and Earth is a great continuation of the epic tale began with Dance Upon the Air. Ripley and Mac’s relationship is a source of both humor and heat. It’s amusing to see polar opposites, yet with so much in common personality-wise, fight tooth and nail not to give in to what is definitely two halves of the same coin finally finding each other.

3. Face the Fire

Face the Fire is the third and climactic installment to Nora Roberts’ entertaining and fun Three Sisters Island Trilogy. The first two books dealt with the first two “sisters” whose powers were tied with the elements of Air and Earth. In this third book, Mia Devlin, the third so-called sister of the title takes her power from the element of Fire. Like the element itself, Mia mirrors it in her stunning look, with her flowing fiery-red hair and even fiery demeanor. In the previous two books in the trilogy it was always Mia who guided and helped both Nell and Ripley to finding their true path in life and in finally accepting their magical heritage.

Face the Fire now has Mia becoming the center of all the magical happenings on the titular Three Sisters Island. The previous two books gradually gave its readers more and more information concerning the original Three Sisters and the prophecy/curse which befall them and which still hangs over their descendants and the island refuge their created. Nell and Ripley have done their part in trying to prevent the darkness about to descend on their island home, but its all up to Mia and her own intertwined destiny with a man who broke her heart many years past that must find a way to head off disaster and break the curse that has plagued their line through the generations. Will Mia succeed in breaking the chain of heartache which started with her ancestor? No matter what, Mia has her two “sisters” to help and assist her in her own trials.

Of the three books in the trilogy this one would lean heaviest on the supernatural aspect of the series. We learn even more of the back story of the Three Sisters Island which Mia has called home all her life and one she’s protected by herself against the evil her ancestors (also Nell’s and Ripley’s). Of all the three “sisters” who form the core of the trilogy it’s Mia who has fully embraced her heritage and her story also show’s that she is the most powerful of the three but no less damaged by a past relationship that she must acknowledge and repair if she, Nell and Ripley will succeed in preventing the age’s-old evil from returning to Three Sisters Island and finishing what it was preventing from doing so by the original three sisters.

In the end, Face the Fire is a worthy conclusion to what has been a magical trilogy. The novel continues where Dance Upon the Air and Heaven and Earth left off. It was nice to have Mia becoming the center of the story. In the previous two books she’s always been like the omnipresent powerful white witch who knew all. This time around we got to see her human side and know that she’s as damaged as her other sisters. Ms. Roberts did a great job with this trilogy and as great as the three books has been and why it continues to be a guilty pleasure of mine.

AMV of the Day: Kobato – Ring a Bell

Posted on by Arleigh

Been awhile since I was able to find and post a new AMV (anime music video) which means the pickings have been slim. But as I was writing up the post commemorating the site’s 1000th post milestone I was listening to some J-Pop as background music and one particular song came on. It was BONNIE PINK’s “Ring a Bell” which was used as the opening song for the very fun and beautiful JRPG Tales of Vesperia. As soon as I finished writing up the milestone post I searched YouTube for AMV’s which used this song and after finding a couple AMV’s which used it I settled on the best one I was able to find.

The latest AMV is from YouTube user XValkyrieAngelX and it was titled Kobato – Ring a Bell. I knew of the song, but the anime used was one I’ve heard about but never had the opportunity to watch: Kobato.

First off, the editing work by XValkyrieAngelX was very good. She didn’t make the video too cluttered and confusing with massive amounts of quick edits and cuts. Her use of particular video effects was timed well with the song that they weren’t distracting. One thing she was also able to do was keep the AMV relatively spoiler-free. The anime itself has been called one of the many romance-comedy that continues to be quite popular in Japan and pretty much with most anime fans so the video shows of the romance side of the anime but not enough to ruin the whole story.

The song “Ring a Bell” is one of those catchy J-Pop ballads which just sticks to one’s mind and won’t let go. Using this song really matches up well with the visuals used from Kobato. One of the best compliments I could ever give an AMV creator is that they were able to convince me to watch an anime I’ve only remotely heard of just based on watching them use it in one of their videos. Kobato – Ring a Bell is one such AMV and as soon as I finished watching it I went over to Amazon and, lo and behold, the DVD was up for pre-ordering and I went ahead and pre-ordered it.

XValkyrieAngelX has more AMV’s uploaded in her YouTube account and this one has given me reason to watch the rest of her work.

Song: “Ring a Bell” – BONNIE PINK

Anime: Kobato

Creator: XValkyrieAngelX

Review: Summer Wars (dir. by Hosada Mamoru)

Posted on by Arleigh

Anime films have been the type to make a major crossover from Japan to the United States when it comes to the US mainstream audience. While anime series typically still remain the realm of the hardcore fans of the genre the stand-alone films get much more love from mainstream critics and audiences in addition to the hardcore. One such film which looks to have made a successful mainstream crossover to the United States was the anime film Summer Wars which was originally released in Japan in August 1, 2009. The film saw it’s American debut at film festivals around the country in 2010, but since I saw it in late May 2011 I consider it a 2011 release for me thus qualifying it as one of the best films of 2011.

Summer Wars was the project of director Hosada Mamoru whose previous stand-alone anime film, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, was well-received by fans and critics alike. Working from a screenplay by Okudera Satoko (adapted from a story written by Hosada himself), Summer Wars was a nice blend of science-fiction, romance and Japanese slice-of-life. The story begins with the introduction and explanation of the OZ on-line community which becomes a major focal point to the film’s story and the many characters in it. OZ was explained as an on-line, social networking community which has become so ingrained in the world community that everything anyone does was done through it’s portals. Think of OZ was an amalgamation of Facebook, Second Life, iTunes, Netflix and every other social networking site all working under one umbrella. It’s a virtual world where people just don’t socially interact through games and chat lobbies, but also a place where every real-world store has a portal where people could purchase things online. It’s also become a palce where governments from local cities to whole countries have set-up their own areas that would control their cities and countries’ infrastructures. It’s Facebook on steroids.

One of the film’s main characters happens to work as a part-time moderator for OZ. Koiso Keiji also happens to be a 17-year old math whiz who would become instrumental in the story to come. The bulk of the story has Keiji being invited by a high school friend in Shinohara Natsuki (explained to him as a job she needs for him to do) to come with her to her family estate where he ends up meeting the rest of Natsuki’s very extended family and also it’s soon-to-be 90-year old matriarch in Jinnouich Sakae. This part of the film makes up the romance and it’s comedic aspect as Keiji gets introduced by Natsuki to her great grandmother Sakae as her boyfriend and future fiance much to Keiji’s surprise. As Keiji tries to awkwardly play along with Natsuki’s plan the second part of the film’s story kick’s in as he inadvertently assist someone or something into hacking into OZ and begin a sequence of events which threatens every account in OZ, but later on even threaten the world.

This part of the story actually worked quite well due to the recent major hacking of Sony’s Playstation and Qriocity networks which gave hackers access to tens of millions of account users’ info. It was hard not to think about this real-life event as something similar (albeit much more massive and danegrous in scope) occurred in Summer Wars. The fact that the film was completed in 2009 and the Sony hack happened just a month ago was real life copying fiction instead of the other way around. It’s this part of the story’s plot which added to the thrilling aspect of the film as Keiji and others (mostly the extended Jinnouichi Clan he meets) try to take on the cause of the OZ hack (which we quickly learn wasn’t a person but an advanced A.I. program released by the U.S. Army into OZ to test it’s capabilities not knowing it would become self-aware and hard to control).

Weaving in and around this science-fiction are some of what makes some Japanese anime so easily accessible to those outside of Japan. We see a slice-of-life that, at first looks to be typical Japanese daily life, but as the story moves along becomes something that everyone would recognize and have some sort of kinship with no matter their race or culture. It’s the theme of family togetherness even through adversity and the occassional disagreements between family members. It’s here we see Natsuki’s great grandmother Sakae show the need for the family to always find time to sit down and eat dinner together no matter what problems each and everyone may be having. It’s these very serene, at times quite hilarious, scenes of family life with the Jinnouichi Clan that Summer Wars will tug at audiences’ heartstrings and cause more than just a few to tear up. Some have said these scenes were too maudlin and corny, but I look at that complaint as people trying to project their own cynical nature on what was really an honest look at family life and how keeping a family together through adversity (both big and small) becomes a reward unto itself.

The Japanese voice cast did quite a good job bringing their animated characters to life from the main leads in Keiji, Natsuki and Sakae right up to the little children who added some levity to the situation. While I try to always watch anime with the Japanese language on with English subtitles for Summer Wars I also watched it with the English-voice dubbing. I was surprised to hear that the English-dubbed version was not as bad as most anime dubs and was actually quite good. Summer Wars looks to boast a who’s-who of English dub voice actors which probably lent itself to a quality dubbing in the end.

Summer Wars was produced by one of Japan’s major animation studios with Madhouse and the look of the film bears this out. The virtual world which made up OZ looked beautiful and made great use of CGI-animation. The avatars used by OZ account members were inventive and a menagerie of characters that all looked to be very distinct each and everytime a new one came on the screen. The animation for the real-world aspect of the film used traditional hand-drawn animation. While it didn’t have the sheen and flash of most anime series the flat-look and natural color scheme used for scenes when outside OZ lent a sense of realism and the natural that made it easier to get into the film. These two contrasting animation styles really helped in pointing out just how different OZ was to everything else.

Hosada Mamoru’s direction keeps everything from becoming a jumbled mess as the film juggles not just two major plot threads concurrently but smaller subplots involving certain individual family members of the Jinnouichi Clan. It’s a testament to his handling of the film that we’re never lost as the film’s story unfolds. Whether it’s the fake relationship between Keiji and Natsuki becoming something more real to the prodigal son coming back to the family after a self-imposed exile of ten years right up to a high school baseball tournament involving one of the family’s younger members who also happens to be a star pitcher.

In the end, Summer Wars should be seen as a landmark film that officially heralds the arrival of one of anime’s great filmmakers. With the untimely passing of Satoshi Kon there’s been a scramble within the anime community to find his heir apparent. Hayao Miyazaki will continue to be one of anime’s godfathers and pillar of quality work, but amongst the younger generation there was really no one stepping up the way Satoshi Kon did in so short a time. I think with Summer Wars it wouldn’t be too farfetched to say that Hosada Mamoru has also stepped up to join Miyazaki as one of the creative geniuses in the anime world. It also shows younger anime filmmakers that there is success to be had doing anime outside the usual mecha, mahou shoujo and shonen series which remains the backbone and meal-ticket for animation studios in Japan.

Summer Wars is an anime film that I’d highly recommend to all whether they’re fans of anime or have no idea what an anime was. This anime is that good and one that deserves to be called just film without the anime tag. It will be interesting to see what Hosada Mamoru comes up with next. I, for one, can’t wait to see what it is. Also, I recommend people watch this on Blu-Ray. The difference in how the animation comes across between Blu-Ray and DVD is leagues apart.

Original Japanese Trailer

AMV of the Day: A Thousand Miles (Macross Frontier)

Posted on by Arleigh

I think this is the second time I’ve chosen an AMV which uses the same song. The first time was an earlier “AMV of the Day” which starred the two leads of the anime series Toradora!. This time around the latest “AMV of the Day” goes from romantic-comedy to the mecha-action genre.

This latest AMV also uses the same title. “A Thousand Miles” is not just the name of the AMV but the title of the song used in the video. Yes, it would seem Vanessa Carlton’s hit ballad from several years ago is quite popular with AMV creators who plan on creating a romance-themed video. I must admit that this video was quite good. It’s not everytime that one can create a romance AMV out of the mecha-series Macross Frontier.

Looking back on the video after several viewings I will say that the song fits the romance between the character of Ranka Lee (green-haired girl) and Alto (the Veritech pilot). While the video only shows the Ranka/Alto romance (Alto also catches the eye of another beauty in the series to create a love triangle subplot) the song seems more appropriate in giving voice to Ranka Lee as a character and how she feels about Alto.

It is a shame that Macross Frontier still hasn’t been licensed for an American release. This video just shows how great this anime really is.

Anime: Macross Frontier

Song: “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton

Creator: whispersreloaded

AMV of the Day: Toradora! Rough Love (Grow A Pear)

Posted on by Arleigh

So, finally back from a near week of anime and manga festivities at this year’s Anime Boston. One of the things I’ve enjoyed while attending these anime conventions have been the creative AMV’s which come out during the the event’s AMV contests. This year the crop of AMVs which won the different categories were very unique and inventive. One such AMV which seem to think outside the box was in the Best Romance category. This AMV combined the Ke$ha song, “Grow A Pear”, with the romantic comedy anime series Toradora! with an end result that was quite funny and charming.

The video took the give-and-take and very hostile early relationship between the two main characters in the series, Taiga and Ryuji. The song matches up pretty well with these early scenes of tsudere hostility from Taiga towards Ryuji but it does finally build-up towards the inevitable admittance from both characters of their true feelings for each other. This video had won the Best Romance category and could easily have won the Best Comedy category as well, but with the quality of romance AMVs being quite lacking during this year’s Anime Boston it wasn’t a surprise that this particular AMV won.

Song: Grow A Pear – Ke$ha

Anime: Toradora!

Creator: l33tmeatwad

Quickie Review: Return of the Living Dead 3 (dir. by Brian Yuzna)

Posted on by Arleigh

In 1993 horror fans were greeted with the release of Return of the Living Dead 3. This third film in the Return of the Living Dead series produced by John Russo ends up being a very good zombie movie and actually has genuine horror that the second film lacked. What ROTLDIII, its writers and directors seem to have left behind was the comedy side of the series which made them cult-classics to begin with.

Taking up directing duty this time around was genre-veteran Brian Yuzna (Beyond Re-Animator) who films this third entry purely on a horror standpoint. This film is serious horror from start to finish. This time around the military is still trying to find a way to use 2-4-5 Trioxin as a way to create zombie soldiers, but ones that could be easily controlled by them. To say that this project hasn’t met with success is an understatement. But it’s the story of the son of the military project director and his girlfriend who dominate the film’s plot. As portrayed by J. Trevor Edmond and Melinda Clarke, these two star-crossed lovers find themselves enmeshed with the dark secret of the project being held in secret. Son soon uses the Trioxin gas to try and ressurect his girlfriend who gets killed early on during an accident. What he gets instead is an undead girlfriend whose hunger for live brains (for some reason the zombies in this ROTLD sequel also feed on other bodily parts) can only be controlled when she causes herself bodily pain through extreme forms of piercing. The rest of the film deals with the father trying to save his son not just from himself and his undead girlfriend but from the hordes of escaped zombies in the facility.

The horror in the film was actually pretty good and this was helped a lot by the gore effects work which surpasses anything the first two films in the series had. The acting was decent enough with Melinda Clarke as the zombified girlfriend putting on a sexy, albeit creepy performance. If it wasn’t for the brain and flesh-eating she sure would’ve made for quite a poster girl for teenage boys.

In the end, Return of the Living Dead 3 continues the series admirably. Despite not having much humor and comedy in the film, this third film in the series more than makes up for it with high levels of gore and a definite sense of horror the first two didn’t much have not to mention a bit of romance which seemed to work.

Anime of the Day: Toradora!

Posted on by Arleigh

The latest entry for Anime of the Day is the romantic comedy from Japanese animation studio J.C. Staff. I am talking about the quite popular anime series which had a 25-episode run in Japan’s TV Tokyo from October 2008 and March 2009. The series is Toradora! and is based on the light novel and manga by Takemiya Yuyuko.

This series is a romantic comedy and also one that is full of well-done drama. It’s an anime about relationships and stars two very atypical leads in Takasu Ryuji and Aisaka Taiga. Ryuji is the misunderstood highschool boy whose squinty eyes has labeled him a thuggish, criminal-type which causes some hilarious reactions from classmates and teachers both. Taiga is the doll-like tsudere-type who manages to scare everyone in her school due to her quick temper and improbable strong attacks. The two end up accidentally bumping into each other in the first day of classes and hilarity ensues from there.

Other characters such as Taiga’s friend Minorin (the weird, ditzy girl) and Ryuji’s best friend Kitamura Yusaku also lend their own personalities and relationship issues to the mix which ends up complication everyone else’s hook-ups. There’s also the kyuugere character in Kawashima Ami who is Yusaku’s very beautiful childhood friend whose attempt to hook-up with Ryuji causes other relationship complications which doesn’t untangle itself until very close to the end of the series.

Toradora! looks like the typical romantic comedy at first glance, but as one gets deeper into the series deeper layers in how the characters behave and their motivations for their earlier behaviors shine through. The comedy in the series actually begins to take a backseat to the complex romances in the show. We know from the beginning who should end up with who, but the journey the characters take to finally get to where they need to be in the end is the high point in the show.

For people new to anime this series is actually a very good starting point in the romantic-comedy genre as it takes the subject matter seriously and doesn’t pander to the usual easy hook of ecchi scenes and over-the-top comedy.