Anime Backlog: Who Ya Gonna Call? The Ranga Ghosbuster!

"Ghost Sweeper Mikami"
 Publisher: Sentai Filmworks (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 45 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 1993 – 1994
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

I first came across this series in 1997 when I got a VHS fansub copy of the first part of “Megazone 23”, which had the first two episodes stuck on the end of the tape. Yeah, like those two shows go together. I was kind of only mildly impressed with the show and almost forgot about it until Manga, for some unknown reason, decided to release the movie version of the show about a decade ago (Wikiipedia says that Manga in the UK released “only the last few episodes of the series”, but that’s just a load of horse shit. Manga UK released the movie, same as the US). I couldn’t be bothered with the film as the TV series hadn’t been released. That was until Sentai took the very strange decision to licence the TV series. I mean it really is the oldest title in their catalogue, a couple years shy of two decades old. Anyway, whatever, I’m always up for some old stuff.

The show is based on a manga which ran in Shonen Sunday for pretty much the entire length of the 1990’s. The show and manga follows the exploits of Reiko Mikami who is a Ghost Sweeper, a relatively modern occupation that is essentially all about exorcism. Mikami only really cares about money. She charges in the millions of yen for her services. She has a male teenage assistant in the final year of senior high school, Tadao Yokoshima, who is a lecherous idiot. He’s sort of like Ryo Saeba with all the good qualities taken out in the body of Ataru Moroboshi. The first episode also adds Okinu as Mikami’s second assistant, a young a female ghost who was a sacrifice to a mountain god several hundred years ago. A couple of other Sweepers pop up from time to time; Meiko Rokudou, a vacant and meek rich girl who has 12 Shikigami (monsters) hiding in her shadow whom she can control, and Emi Ogasawara, Mikami’s main business rival. There are a number of other infrequent characters like Dr Chaos, a old mad genius who has a female robot. There’s also a catholic priest, Father Karasu and his offsider Pete, whom Emi has the hots for, but the feelings aren’t mutual. Rounding out the regulars is occult store owner Yakuchin, who is just as perverted as Yokoshima.

The typical set of almost any “Ghost Sweeper Mikami” episode will have the fiery and leggy redhead (that’d be Mikami) about to perform and exorcism for a client, usually for an astronomical fee. Yokoshima, who is nothing more than a dogsbody, will try to get a look at Mikami’s body or make some lecherous remark and will get smashed in the face or beat up by Mikami. Repeat by 45 times. Well OK, it’s not that bad, but the show is rather formulaic at its core. I could not really get into the show for the first few episodes. Once you get used to the characters, it’s not too bad. To a large degree the whole Mikami abusing Yokoshima thing as a plot device does fade a bit into the background. However Mikami’s obsession with making money and her cold heartiness towards just about everyone around here does get a bit tiresome. There’s also that weird humour to do with poverty that seems to crop up a bit with anime. Here it has to do with Mikami only paying Yokoshima around 250 yen an hour while she rakes in billions of yen from her clients.

The thing which stuck me watching this show for the first time since I last watched my fansub more than a decade ago, was how it looks so horribly aged. If it wasn’t for the main character designs and the copyright date, I think it could easily be mistaken for a show that is at least two to five years older. The animation is pretty shocking a fair bit of the time. Talk about limited animation. At least once during an episode there will be a “comedic moment” where someone says something stupid, and the cast freezes on the spot with their jaws wide open in disbelief. Usually these moments go on for at least a long five or ten seconds. Essentially it’s a blatant and very obvious cel saving technique. I mean sure, this is a Toei Animation production and some of their animation is rather low budget to say the least, but this money saving technique takes the cake. It just looks so cheap and nasty. Add in rather simplistic backgrounds and some rather simplistic designs, and, well, this is show looks rather bland. In conclusion, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. There’s a lot subpar elements, but a lot of laugh out loud humour as well. 6 out of 10.

"Ghost Sweeper Mikami - Gokuraku Daisuken!"
Publisher: Manga Entertainment (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles
Length: 60 minutes
Production Date: 1994
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

The movie version of “Ghost Sweeper Mikami” involves the resurrection of the legendary vampire Nosferatu, who has naturally been living (or is that unliving?) in Japan for a few hundred years. He is temporarily defeated by Oda Nobunaga (whom very few outside of Japanese history buffs would know) in the 1500’s using a special sprit stone tipped spear. Oda then sends the spirit stone tipped spear through time and space to the office of Reiko Mikami. She is then informed that Nosferatu is about to be resurrected again and is asked to defeat him. Along with Yokoshima, Okina, Father Karasu and Pete (annoyingly subtitled as Peat on this DVD), they arrive at his lair, which seems to be in some sort of subspace underneath the Tokyo Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Mikami inadvertently resurrects the vampire in the general chaos of battling his minions. Nosferatu and his underling then set about enslaving Tokyo as their first step in taking over the world by turning most of its inhabitants into zombies. While Mikiami and the rest of her offsiders rest up the hospital from their first encounter with Nosferatu, the remainder of the usual cast that has yet to make an appearance head off to defeat him.

A few months after the TV series finished its broadcast, this film was released in cinemas in a triple feature with the obscure “Heisei Period Dog Tale Bow” and the more familiar “Ranma ½: One Flew Over the Kuno's Nest (Ranma ½: Decisive Battle! Team Ranma vs. The Legendary Phoenix)”. Oddly enough, the flyers and poster give this film top billing. At least with the movie version, the animation is quite good. The story is absurd as anything in any of the TV episodes. For me in general, the series falters on the edge of hilarity and utter crapness. There are really funny moments in the film and certainly a lot of times when it was to teeter off the edge into the lost of world of shite. All of the regular characters appear throughout the film. It’s kind of predictable really. I also note that there is that same comedic moment in the film where some says something silly or shocking and everyone just freezes. It’s overused, unfunny and really awkward. To say something nice about the film, I’ll make mention of some of the familiar voices in the movie and TV series that I enjoyed. In particular Mariko Kouda (Miki from “Marmalade Boy”, Yuri from “Dirty Pair Flash”) as Okinu and Shigeru Chiba as Dr Chaos were fun. Another famous voice actress of the period, Michie Tomizawa, plays Emi Ogasawara.

Just to reiterate, no, the UK DVD isn’t the last couple of TV episodes. It’s identical to the US disc which is the movie (see here for a review of the UK disc. The UK DVD cover artwork is more interesting too, in my opinion). However not only is this film 4:3 letterboxed, the video is just horrendous. I’m sure an LD copy would look a million time better. It’s possibly one of the worst looking DVDs I’ve ever seen. At the very least Manga have placed the subtitles so when you zoom in to get the fake 16:9 view, the subs are readable and in picture. The translation is OK, but at points subs don’t appear when a fair wack of dialogue is spoken, and some liberties are taken with translation. None of the songs are subbed. The dub apparently has all new music, but I didn’t watch it. Manga's extras are as as shit as they've always been. One can only wonder why Manga decided to pick this up. You really need to see the TV series to get what is going on at times. Overall it the fun bits managed to overshadow the crap bits. Still it’s all a bit mediocre. 6 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 24 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: "Sound of the Sky (So Ra No Wo To)"

Publisher: Nozomi Entertainment (Right Stuf, USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 14 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2010
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Yes, I know moe isn’t a genre but a personal feeling for a character (as such), but hell, some shows, like this one, deliberately play that aspect up. Certainly the character designs of “Sora no Woto” are slightly pudgy looking and are almost dead ringers for some of the characters in “K-ON!” (there is a little bit of tea drinking this show as well...). However I did let this aspect of the show slide into the background and tried to enjoy the show for what it is. The show’s setting is a post apocalyptic world which has recovered significantly on the surface (though a lot of the complex technology is lost), but just out of frame, the world is coming to an end. The show is set around a small town which has a fort built up on the hillside. It is inhabited by the most unlikeliest soldiers; three bubbly teenage girls, one a complete klutz and dreamer who wants to become a bugler, another a shy child genius and the last a slightly naive gunner, and the two rather feminie commanding officers, only a few years older than their subordinates and barely at the legal drinking age.

I’ll readily admit, it was really, really hard to accept that any sort of military would let a fort , regardless of how important it was, be manned by five girls, four of which are under 18. They’re so bubbly and cute it’s pretty much impossible to imagine any of them would have gone through any kind of basic military training. The first two thirds of the show are pretty harmless. It’s very much a slice of life show in which not a great deal happens that is all that threatening. There are some plot seeds (as I like to call them) sown the first episode which lead you to believe that the ending might be much more tragic than what it really is. There’s also little hints about the histories of the five main cast along the way.

At about the seventh or eighth episode, things change up a gear or two. It is revealed that the fort is running an illegitimate business on the side (which the fort’s isolation gives a little credibility to, but the ages of those living in the fort undoes that a bit). Then we get to the meat of the plot with a lot of action in the last couple of episodes. It’s a really nice slow build up that really pays off in the end. I think the show really is otaku bait as such, as it is a slice of life show with cute “moe” girls, with a smattering of mecha towards the end and an insanely poppy and fun end theme song and animation. However it is extremely well produced and animated. Once you get past some of the more implausible elements, it’s really entertaining and possibly very accessible to non fans. The scripts and plot are pretty damn good too. The big downfall of this show for me was the utter lack of believability of the military assigning five girls under 18, three of them barely out of puberty to run a fort that’s out on the frontier. I found that aspect of the show a bit of a stretch.

The Right Stuf have done a very good job on the set (like they always do). Maybe if it was just three discs in a keepcase like how Sentai do their titles I wouldn’t mind. However the extra touches such as the full colour booklet and bonus postcards are very welcome additions, especially for a series of this calibre. Overall this was a very entertaining series. A classic? Well no, not really, but this another show that is really solid entertainment. Yep, it is made for otaku, but it’s not junk. I’ll give it 7.5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 24 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: "Angel Beats!"

Publisher: Sentai Filmworks (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles
Length: 14 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2010
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Even though I have been watching anime for well over 15 years now, I’m only just beginning to recognise some of the familiar (and overused) plot and setting patterns used in many anime. One that has just been brought to my attention is that supposedly the Japanese consider high school to be the best part of life. From where I sit it seems rather an oppressive environment with a culture that forces children to conform rather than to develop any sense of individuality, even more so than western schools. And with teenagers being teenagers, bullying and pecking orders develop. I really can’t see why Japanese otaku want to see this over and over again as their kind is not well liked in that environment. Maybe they want to relive it with better memories of it or where characters they can relate to are the winners as such.

Anyway this show is yet another based in a high school with a focus on the students. I was also dreading watching it because the story and character designs were from Key/Visual Art’s with the guy who wrote the scenarios for the evil three, “Kanon”, “Air”, and “Clannad”, also writing this one. However what is different with this show is that unlike those three and almost every other high school drama or comedy, the core plot really sets it apart. Dead teenagers mysteriously end up at some sort of high school where they wait to be “obliterated” and sent to the next world by a strange girl dubbed “Angel” who is also the president of the student council. While most of the students are quite passive and are in fact not actually humans who have passed over but are seemingly there to make the place “comfortable” (non-player characters or NPCs as the Battlefront calls them), a few have decided to rail against the order of this world. The Battlefront, headed by Yuri Nakamura are out to destroy Angel (or at least disrupt her activities) and to fight against God, whom they assume is behind all of this.

While I found some of the elements initially annoying, such as the rather unfunny humour and the characters really seemed to be caricatures, it really won me over. The animation, which I thought was Kyoto Animation, is actually by P.A. Works (“True Tears”, “Canaan”, “Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva”) who certainly gives them a run for their money. Rather than the run of the mill Key show, there is a lot more action here with the Battlefront confronting the seemingly cyborg-like Angel with a cache of weapons created by an underground (literally) secondary group. There’s also a female rock band called Girls Dead Monster whom the Battlefront use to distract Angel, mostly so they can steal meal vouchers so they can eat (there’s a certain lack of logic to this as none of the other students need to do this, plus they seemingly always have money to buy drinks out of vending machines). Both elements are damn fun and are used to great effect.

But taking away the glossy and fantastic looking animation, girl rock band and gun fights, a great story is being told here. Though like a lot of modern anime, it doesn’t truly start until the half way mark where the newest member of the Battlefront, Yuzuru Otonashi (whom the show focuses on mostly), realises what this world is all about and how to help people in the world complete what they are meant to do in this world and move on. Also like a number of modern anime, little hints are dropped along the way which leads to this revelation. While there were some really schmaltzy and emotionally manipulative scenes, especially towards the back end of the show and in regards to the backstories of the characters, I mostly forgave a lot of this. At least in this show the audience is not treated like they were dullards and subtlety didn’t take a back seat like it did in Key’s “Kanon”, “Air”, and “Clannad”. While most wouldn’t agree with me, I find this show to be overwhelmingly better plotted and written and the dialogue is natural not infantile like those other three shows. Summing up, this is a very surprising show with a very unusual idea for anime of this nature. There are some lapses in logic, but I could easily suspend disbelief for the greater majority of the show. Not the best thing ever made, that’s for sure, but it is exceptionally well made and really solid entertainment. 7.5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 24 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: "Space Battleship Yamato"

Publisher: Panorama (Hong Kong)
Format: Region 3 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional Cantonese dub and English and Chinese Traditional Subtitles
Length: 139 minutes
Production Date: 2010
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

About 15 or more years ago Disney bought the rights to make a live action “Star Blazers (Yamato)”, but for whatever reason the film was never made. For some reason the Japanese thought a live action remake was need for this classic anime series. The director at the helm was Takashi Yamazaki, who has a bit of a chequered career. I did enjoy his kids adventure film “Juvenile” from 2000 (his debut film), but his follow up “Returner” was bloody dreadful. I can’t remember reading a good review of the film. After watching the crap 2006 remake of “Japan Sinks” I was a little wary of watching another big budget Japanese special effects blockbuster.

While the basic plot, the Yamato and crews itself, some pieces from the original score and few other designs are similar to the original 1974 anime, everything else is different. The first 15 or so minutes reveal Susumu Kodai (Takuya Kimura) as an ex solider now working as scavenger, Yuki Mori (Meisa Kuroki) as part of the Black Tiger Squadron, Dr Sado (Reiko Takashima) as a seemingly sober woman and Analyser (Kenichi Ogata) as some sort of artificially intelligent smart phone device with an auto tuned voice (well, that’s not quite true in the end…). I felt a bit ripped off really. However the opening battle sequence is pretty amazing. The action and plot just draw you in. It’s pretty damn entertaining for most of its length, and it is a pretty long film. There are a number of problems with a story epic as “Yamato”. There is just too much plot to cover in the time frame allotted. Kodai’s relationships with his brother and Daisuke Shima (Naoto Ogata) are glossed over or non-existent. I also question why Kodai’s role was changed to be a metal scavenger. There was no point to it. If the same exact sequence of events has happened in the anime where the capsule is discovered, that would have made a lot more sense and his relationship with Daisuke would have been strengthened and made clearer to the audience.

One of the best things about the original story was the humanity of the Gamilas. Sure they were evil sods, but they respected their enemy. Here they’re just strange looking aliens. I think a lot heart and soul has been ripped out the story because of the changes. The other big problem is the message and capsule sent for Iscandar. The way it’s presented in this film is a little daft. It doesn’t have the emotional impact the original series had. There’s also the issue of Kodai’s brother in regards to Iscandar. That plot line is just gone. I also thought the whole Gamilus/Iscandar thing was handled really badly in this film. Sure the special effects and battle sequences are fantastic in this part (as they are during the whole film), but it’ hard to suspended my disbelief of the whole situation on that planet. The big problem is the end of the film. Sure, it’s “Yamato”, you got to expect a lot of death of the crew, but I really thought it was a bit crap. Plus I thought Gamilus would have already destroyed the earth while Kodai and the rest of the crew where yapping away with their long speeches and figuring out what to do.

It’s funny, the film ends exactly like the 2006 remake of “Japan Sinks”, but I didn’t feel as ripped off with this film. I’ll even forgive the Steve Tyler (Aerosmith) song during the closing credits. While it does look a bit like a rip off of the designs from the 2004 “Battlestar Galactica” remake, I’ll forgive that too. With a budget of around $23 million, it puts to shame a lot of recent Hollywood sci-fi films. I think that’s quite an achievement. The special effects are bloody fantastic and the acting isn’t too bad either (much better than a number of big budget Japanese films of the last few years). The plot is rather good, but a lot of the changes to the original are bit daft and are illogical. Still there was enough to keep me entertained on a Saturday afternoon. Actually I expected the film to be a lot worse. 6 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 24 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: "Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl"

Publisher: Anime Works (Media Blasters, USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles
Length: 13 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2006
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

“Kannazuki no Miko” piqued my interest in the Yuri genre a couple years back so I bought up as much as I could. This title isn’t typical of the genre though. Hazumu Osaragi is quite feminine male high schooler who ends up being reconstructed into a girl when he is accidently killed by a passing alien craft. While naturally there is some interest in the media about his/her predicament, things soon settle down. However things hot up between yamato neadesiko Yasuna Kamiizumi, who previously rejected Hazumu when she was a boy, and Tomari Kurusu, Hazumu’s athletic tomboy childhood friend, who has always had an interest in him and made a promise to be his bride.

The major problem I had with this show is that for the first few episodes it really didn’t seem to know if it wanted to be screwball high school comedy or a melodramatic yuri drama. In the end it was the latter with a little sprinkling of the former. Natually I preferred melodramatic yuri drama. It was the much more satisfying element of the show. The inclusion of the aliens, a man named Hitoshi, becomes a teacher at the school and doesn’t add much at all, but his whole reason for being is explained away by the fact he’s researching the girl’s relationships to save his home planet’s people. The alien ship’s computer, an annoyingly energetic bimbo called Jan Puu adds nothing at all to the show. Neither does the inclusion of a teacher, Namiko Tsuki, who does nothing except try to woo Hitoshi and fall over a lot. Hazumu’s male friend, Asuta Soro, is a great inclusion providing a lot of humour as he is a bit confused if he should seduce her or keep the friendship before he became a she.

It was rather interesting that immediately after Hazumu became a girl, she was told to behave like a girl. The anime glossed over this but I think it was a real wasted opportunity to explore some gender issues. Yeah right, like that stuff would be explored in a show like this… As I understand it, the original manga’s ending was much more dramatic. The ending OVA (episode 13) is a bit of a cop out, but ends quite nicely. It’s probably not the best the genre has to offer, but it mostly a fun ride. I do wish the focus had been entirely on the girl’s relationships only, and the slapstick humour removed. 6.5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 24 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: “I''s”/”I''s Pure”

Publisher: Viz Media (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 2 Episodes x 29 mins (I''s), 6 Episodes x 29 mins (I''s Pure)
Production Date: 2002 - 2003 (I''s), 2005 - 2006 (I''s Pure)
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Prior to watching this show, I had seen two other anime based upon Masakazu Katsura’s manga; “Video Girl Ai” and “DNA²”, which is probably the two titles of his that most people are familiar with. Both shows are really fun and I even started reading enjoying the “Video Girl Ai” manga for a while. Certainly his material is shonen fantasy and not exactly the most original, however what set those two shows apart was the humour and the sci-fi elements. Unfortunately “I”s” has neither of those elements.

This release from Viz contains two separate OVA series. The latter is a six part adaption of the manga called “I''s Pure”. The first is a two part story unrelated to the latter series and the story is a completely new one and not derived from the manga. It was released as an exclusive to Lawson convenience stores in Japan. If you hadn’t read the manga like I did, then it’s really hard to make head or tail of the show for at least half the first episode. The opening sequences are presented mostly without dialogue in a music video like fashion and made no sense to me whatsoever. Then we get to the story where two characters which are part of the love triangle of the show, Ichitaka and Itsuki are meant to be meeting up with Yosuke (a character unrelated to the original manga) at a certain spot due to a childhood promise. Naturally Itsuki is the only one who remembers and the two boys don’t. But all three are there to due to various circumstances. To cut a long and very stupid story short, in the space of two episodes we have a biker gang, attempted rape, murder, a broken rope bridge over a raging river, an impossible rescue, a near drowning and supernatural themes. It is possibly one of the stupidest anime I have seen in a long time. Just mind numbingly insulting to the intelligence of the audience. It’s also rather averagely animated and poorly scripted. At one point where a character is stabbed in the chest, we hear him immediately after commenting on the fact that the lake wasn’t there a decade ago. Seriously what the fuck? If I was stabbed, the scenery around me would be the last thing I’d be thinking about. The script writers could have written that line in easily before those events (as it’s a key part of the story) but chose to add it awkwardly there for some reason.

The second OVA series made a couple of years latter only fairs a bit better. This OVA is based upon I suppose if you take away the sci-fi elements of “Video Girl Ai” and “DNA²” all you are left with is a pretty bog standard fanservice heavy shonen romance. But surely neither would be as bad as this show. Not only are the sci-fi elements gone, but seemingly the humour as well. Instead the show is made up of some of the most cliché ridden shonen romance tropes ever. Early on in the show there is also a ton of exploitative material such as a stupid side plot where girls are tricked into entering a beauty contest and photographed in the nude by hidden cameras while changing. It is pretty much impossible to suspend disbelief with this one. Teenage girls wouldn’t stupid enough to swallow the line about getting into a swimsuit to be photographed for some school beauty contest.

You also have the main storyline which is pretty silly cringe worthy. You have the implausibility of average boy Ichitaka Seto catching the eye of super alpha girl Iori Yoshizuki, hottest girl at the school, who dioesn’t have a boyfriend (now that’s implausible). You then have the arrival of long lost childhood friend Itsuki Akiba who wishes to make her childhood promise of marrying Ichitaka. Wow, how original! Naturally Ichitaka dumps the bubbly and interesting Itsuki for the dull doormat that is Iori. But because Iori is a superstar in the making, her overbearing manager asks Ichitaka to dump her, just after he had the courage to make Iori his girlfriend. Naturally he fold like a complete wimp and dumps her. Hurrah for original storylines! Then amazingly, he practically becomes a stalker, as he “protects” her from some loony guy who is out to attack her. Does it all work out in the end? Of course it fucking does, but not without a horrible, blatantly emotionally manipulative ending. And let’s not forget the five bonus shorts where Ichitaka has fantasies about girls. It’s boring teenage wankfest crap. I don’t hate fanservice, but there is a line between incidental fanservice and pure gratuitous exploitation, and this has jumped over the line by a mile.

I just could not wait until this show was over. It’s just so dreadful on so many levels. It almost redeemed itself during the fifth OVA, but then it went back to shitsville soon after. Also the character designs were quite nice, so that’s two positives. To makes things even more annoying, Viz have printed the wrong labels on the discs, so the “I''s” disc contains the “I''s Pure” OVA series and vice versa. In short, the first series was quite bad. The second had its moments but these were very, very rare. I don’t know if this is the worst time I’ve had with an anime for a couple of years, but I think it must be close. This show shouldn’t have narked me off so much, but there was just something about it that really pissed off and made my blood boil (besides the awful elements that made up the show). 3 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 24 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: "First Squad: The Moment of Truth"

Publisher: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (ERA Home Entertainment, Hong Kong)
Format: Region 3 DVD, NTSC, Russian Dialogue with optional English, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai dubs and English, Chinese Traditional, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai Subtitles
Length: 60 minutes
Production Date: 2009
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

I think what anime really needs is quality films to keep people (i.e. westerners who aren’t hardcore fans) interested. Luckily Japanese studios have come up trumps in the last couple of years; “Summer Wars”, “Redline” etc. Here’s another one. Again Studio 4°C has collaborated with non-Japanese to produce a pretty good film. Written by Russians Aljosha Klimov and Misha Sprits, the plot is quite absurd. It involves a squad of teenage Russian soldiers specially formed in WWII. All are killed in a German air raid prior to the beginning of the film, with the exception of a 14 year old girl with psychic powers, Nadya. The Nazi’s have decided to raise from the dead a supernatural army of crusaders from the 12th-century Order of the Sacred Cross in order to beat the Russians. However the Russians find and send Nadya “to the other side” to recruit back her dead comrades to fight off the Nazi’s undead.

Silly? You bet it is. Incredibly entertaining? You bet it is. A large chunk of the movie is focused on Nadya and her struggles. What has happened to her and the chronology of events isn’t all that clear. We see through a flashback she was a circus performer and then joined the elite squad which is wiped out. Then it seems she joined a group of who entertained the troops, but she lost her memory. Why the Russian army didn’t keep her in their ranks is not explained. There’s also a Gandalf type character that helps her, though his role is never quite defined. On the opposing side we have a lot of rather strange Nazi characters. My favourite is the two blonde female assassin twins who wear way too much eye shadow. The action and events, despite implausibility and silliness of them, keep propelling the story along. I think probably too much time was spent on Nadya’s struggles and her search for her comrades, but overall it was paced rather well. Nadya’s way of bringing her dead comrades into the world of the living was just a little too much to swallow.

Compared to the original Russian version, this film and seemingly every video release outside of Russia seems to be cut. The original version includes an additional 13 minutes of live action mockumentary footage where interviews of actors posing as Soviet and German war veterans, historians and psychologists are inserted at various points, where they comment on the story of the film as if it was based on real historical events. I think it is a real shame that these segments have been cut from not only this video version, but also the Japanese version. The version I have seems to be one manufactured by Sony for all Asian markets outside Japan. There’s no place of manufacture and the Hong Kong distributor has stuck a sticker over the shrink wrap with the relevant info for the region. Summing up, it’s not a brilliant film, however it is a load of fun. The Japanese dub is not included, which doesn’t matter as the original language here is Russian. I think the English subtitles are dubtitles, but I haven’t checked yet. A couple of Russian lines aren’t subbed. I might rebuy the film again if there is an English friendly DVD version with the live action mockumentary segments in place, but I think that’s not going to happen. And that is damn annoying, as the crew and the cast of the mockumentary are credited in the closing credits of this DVD version of the film (and presumably all non-Russian video versions of this film). 7 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 24 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: "Allison & Lillia"

Publisher: Sentai Filmworks (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 26 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2008
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Light novels seem to be the basis for the better anime series released in the last five years so. This series is based upon the “Allison” and “Lillia and Treize” series of light novels by Keiichi Sigsawa. He’s the guy behind “Kino’s Journey”, the anime series of which everyone seems to adore but me. I got really narked off at its ham fisted attempts at showing irony in the world it was portraying. The worst example of this is when Kino comes across a man dismantling a railway line and later comes across another man constructing the line a few miles further up the track. I was surprised there wasn’t a neon sign telling the audience it was ironic flashing on screen. The simplicity of the stories also shat me (it was as if the creators though the audience was a bit thick) and the “scan lines” imbedded into the video was pretty awful. Plus it had a damn talking bike. What was up with that?

With all that in mind, I wasn’t really looking forward to this show, especially with some of the less than stellar reviews. I should have realised by now that anime reviews, especially from the supposed commercial anime media (i.e. ANN and the like) and essentially worthless and aren’t to be trusted. Trying not to be cynical here, but I can help but feel some reviews are designed to be “controversial” in order to gain hits to impress the advertisers. Anyway back to this show. The most interesting aspect here is that two generations are represented over 26 episodes. The first begins in alternate world which seems very much like post WWI, however the war is still going and has been for over 130 years with no end in sight (though an armistice has been in effect for a decade). Our two young heroes, Allison Whittington and Wilhelm Schultz, though many circumstances, manage to suddenly end the war through an ancient discovery and bring back a lost heir to the throne. There are four arcs in this generation spread over 13 episodes. It does all feel a bit simplistic and rather silly at times. The animation does dip a bit too rather early on. While the writing isn’t too crash hot, the sense of adventure kept me interested. It’s really exciting and feels really fresh. There’s not many series like this out in today’s market.

The last half of the show introduces us to the next generation; Lillia and Treize (hence the title of the anime). While the adventure like atmosphere has been toned down a lot, I really felt that this half of the show was written a lot better. The four arcs in these 13 episodes flowed more easily and everything a lot more natural. The first half did feel a bit forced and segmented, like the four arcs where separate books. However there were a lot of rather clichéd moments in this half. But it didn’t distract too much from the enjoyment of the show. Overall while rather silly in some parts and a little trite in others, this is a fun action adventure anime that is a free from a lot of modern day anime tropes and interestingly devoid of fan service. Plus the vintage planes where just so damn cool. 7 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 24 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).