“Dear Boys (Hoop Days)”
Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles
Length: 26 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2003
Currently in Print (as of writing): No
This shonnen sports anime is of course based on a manga, one which started in 1989 and continues to be published today. To a small degree I think this does date the show right from the beginning, though I think the staff have modernised the show a bit. The core plot of the show has teenage boy Aikawa Kazuhiko transferring to a new high school and immediately wanting to join the basketball club. While the school has a quite successful girls’ basketball club, the boy’s club exists in name only. The club’s captain Fujiwara Takumi had an altercation with a former teacher/coach and the club was suspended for a year. As a result only Fujiwara and three of his close friends remain in the club, one short to complete a team. Aikawa’s determination to get the club restarted again is met with some resistance, but soon the team is up and running again (in less than two episodes). There is nothing in this series which differentiates it from any other sports anime, let alone basketball anime. As you’d expect, it never reaches the heights of “Slam Dunk”. The character development and fleshing out of various relationships felt really incomplete and unsatisfying to me. I wonder if this is due to the fact that the original manga hasn’t yet run its course or if they could only fit in part of the main story. Certainly the ending seems like the conclusion of the first part of a longer story. I though the female teacher/coach of the boys and girls team was a bit absurd. She’s pure sex, wears crucifixes, drives and expensive sports car and certainly seems to do very little coaching. Apart from the rather disappointing and quite clichéd storyline, the animation is also quite mediocre. It’s quite limited animation with a number of very static action sequences and there’s some really horrible off model character designs in a couple of episodes. The rather tense climatic game almost made up for a lot of the substandard elements of the show, but not quite. Over all it’s an OK show, but not up to snuff when compared to similar shows in the genre. 5.5 out of 10.
“True Tears”
Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 13 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2008
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes
Yep, slice of life romantic dramas are pretty much dime a dozen in the last decade or so. Of course the most famous of them is the infamous Kyoto Animation/Key trilogy, none of which I enjoyed that much, except the first series of “Clannad”. Here the formula is pretty much the same; you have your disengaged with life lead (Shinichiro), his perverted friend (Miyokichi Nobuse) and three girls all needing some sort of help. However “True Tears”, has differs in a few ways, like romance which clearly develops during the course of the show, and the biggie, realistic depictions of women. Well, certainly the characters and relationships are certainly more realistic than anything Kyoto Animation or put out, and that’s despite the fact like those shows this one too is based off of a Visual Novel. Another major deference is there are no supernatural themes in the show. And even though the girls require some “help” and the main boy is there to help them, the girls aren’t nearly as pathetic or childlike as they are in shows like “Clannad” and “Kanon”. They’re really quite developed, believable, and likeable and sympathetic. Even Noe Isurugi, the girl who can’t cry and teats Shinichiro as a substitute for a dead pet chicken, is quite believable despite her quirks. The fact that the third girl, Aiko Endo (Miyokichi’s girlfriend), seemingly runs a pancake show entirely by herself while attending school during the day was a bit hard to swallow though. The idea that Shinichiro and his love interest, Hiromi, live in the same house (her only parent, her father died and the family took her in) could be cliché city, but it works really well. The tussle between the five main characters as they vie to capture the heart of their loved one worked really well. “True Tears” is probably the best in its genre I’ve seen over the last couple of years. 7 out of 10.
“Yukikaze”
Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles
Length: 2 Episodes x 48 minutes, 3 Episodes x 30 minutes
Production Date: 2002 - 2005
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes
I’ve ignored this show for quite a while, but eventually decided to buy it. Comparisons to “Macross Plus” are bound to happen with a show like this. However the only real similarities are the inclusion of planes (which of course don’t transform in this show). While I’ve read reviews that this show is depressing, I found it not to be. Sure the leads, Rei Fukai and James "Jack" Bukhar lives can be a bit on the nihilistic side, it’s certainly not really a depressing show. The plot involves an alien invasion by an entity called the JAM who have created a strange looking portal which look like a giant mushroom cloud over Antarctica. Some 33 years after the initial invasion, Earth has taken the battle to the JAM’s home world via the portal, dubbed “Fairy” by the earth government. Here the Earth forces launch fighters into battle including the AI craft Yukikaze piloted by the rather cold Rei Fukai. However the JAM seems to using strange techniques and perhaps psychological warfare on the Earth forces. Overall I think it’s quite an interesting show. Most of the concepts and designs are really good, especially the aliens which seems to be formless beings and no real reason is given for their aggression. All five episodes are bit episodic which I found a bit disappointing. There were some rather surreal sequences (presented as dreams of the main characters) which seem to be leading up to something but never did. The final episode was hard to make sense of at times, and the ending a bit underwhelming. Some of the problems in the storytelling are made up for in the fantastic action sequences. Though a few of the early sequences in the first OVA look a little rough. Overall I think it’s quite a good OVA series, but the last episode and a clear continuous story let it down a bit. 6.5 out of 10.
“Rescue Me: Mave-chan”
Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles
Length: 25 minutes
Production Date: 2005
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes
This is a very daft one shot spin off from “Yukikaze”. As I understand it, the guy who drew the mecha for the show did some drawings for the planes in the forms of girls for fun, somebody from the studio saw them and this blasted thing was born. The story follows otaku boy Rei Sugiyama which an extremely timid person but manages to a draw to go to a fan event. Once there opens the door to go to the loo, but magically ends up in a desert where girls are flying around fighting JAM craft from “Yukikaze”. Apparently the world he is in has been created by the desires of the anime fans who have come to the event. Rei has the choice of helping the girls or returning to his world. Unfortunately for him, the world will cease to exist when the fans disperse and forget about “Yukikaze” and follow the next hot anime show. Unlike “Yukikaze”, created by Gonzo, this OVA was produced by Studio Fantasia and it’s hilarious to note that Rei’s favourite anime is “Stratos 4”, a Studio Fantasia project. The fan event Rei goes to is a Bandai one which is pimping both “Yukikaze” and “Stratos 4”. The self-referential and blatant promotion stuff shat me. However I did like the concept of fans subconsciously creating these worlds and vanishing when they move on to the next anime, as well as the characters within them knowing this and being upset with the fans because of it. Overall it’s an OK piece, but it’s highly disposable really. 5 out of 10.
“Vampire Host (Bloodhound)”
Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 12 Episodes x 25 minutes
Production Date: 2004
Currently in Print (as of writing): No
I don’t usually watch Japanese dramas or comedies. However for some odd reason a couple of years back, I decided to get any Bandai stuff that was in danger of going out of print (hence the reason why all of the stuff here is Bandai stuff) and I added this series the cart. Well it was only a couple of bucks for each DVD, so what the hey. Believe it or not this show exceeded all expectations. High school girl Kanou Rion (Komukai Minako) receives a very strange call from her best friend. She says she’s been abducted by a real vampire. She eventually tracks down Suou (Matsuda Satoshi) who works at a host bar named Kranken Haus, in which women pay money to be seduced by men dressed as vampires. While she at first suspects Suou and manages to get a job at Kranken Haus to spy on him, it is soon revealed that he is not the culprit and indeed he is a real vampire and not acting. The series is divided into six sections over 12 episodes, each containing a new mystery for the pair to solve (much to Suou’s annoyance). The last four episode change up the format a bit with a rather good finale, which does fall at the last hurdle unfortunately. The cover of the DVD does make it look like a horror drama, it’s more of a comedy for the most part. Both leads are pretty good and surprisingly there’s not much in the way of overacting. Nobukawa Seijun who plays a police detective who visits the host club incognito is quite good, but does ham it up a bit too much. While a shot on video cheapie, the special effects are pretty damn effective, though some of the more involved ones such as bloodied limbs aren’t as impressive. In the end it was quite a fun show with quite a lot of laughs. There are some cringe worthy moments and some silliness, but the design and look of the show is stylish as hell. But the end was a little substandard and left a number of unresolved matters up in the air. I’ll give it 6 out of 10.
Remaining Backlog: 26 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).
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