Is This a Zombie?

If I had to think of a word describing Is This a Zombie? it would be ridiculous. I don't mean that in a entirely bad sense either. The show is a unhinged mess..it feels like the writer's approach to the series was to throw has many  cliches and half baked ideas into a giant blender and push the on switch. We have magical girls, a zombie cross dressing has a magical girl wielding a pink chainsaw, vampire ninja (!) clans, necromancers, a serial killer plot line, harem antics and so on. I'll tell you right now Is This a Zombie is never boring. The wild plot focuses on teen boy who falls prey to a sword wielding serial killer. Fortunately for him he is resurrected by a stoic (mostly) mute necromancer who ends up taking residence at his house. They are soon joined by a loud mouthed magical girl whose attire he ends up dawning and a ludicrously busty vampire ninja. While hunting for his illusive killer our cross dressing hero must also slay various monsters who appear regularly. From the get go the series struggles with establishing a proper mood. Fan service and all sorts of silliness clash with some heavy handed violence and dark story lines making for a uneven, rather bizarre final product. It's all rather amusing and despite it's short run time the character's grew on me; I enjoyed their interactions and became somewhat invested in their welfare. In conclusion Is This a Zombie? is a likeable oddball of an anime. It's nothing great mind you but viewers could certainly do a lot worse. 

Grade: B- . English Dub. DVD.

Summer Wars

I have been anxiously awaiting the release of Summer Wars for some time now and seeing Hosoda's excellent The Girl Who Lept through Time only increased my unwisely high expectations. After finally being able to sit down and view Summer Wars, I am happy to announce it has met my outlandish expectations and then some.

The story concerns Kenji, a math nerd who (suspension of belief required) is asked by cute popular girl Natsuki attend her Grandmothers birthday celebration posing as her boyfriend(!). The farce is going swimmingly with the event bringing together Natsuki's lively and eccentric extended family. Things go to shit when the online virtual world "Oz" (which the world more or less runs on, think of it has a advanced version of the internet) is taken over by a particularly malicious hacker who used Kenji's account to do the deed. With the world in chaos and the authorities after him, Kenji teams up with Natsuki's computer wiz cousin in an attempt to destroy the virus like avatar in Oz through virtual battle and set the world back to normal.

Summer Wars is a family dramady with a strong sci-fi component. The characters we are given, even the bit players, are immensely likable and well characterized, they feel very real and down to earth. The film as a whole is beautifully animated, but its the scenes in Oz, a kind of digital wonderland, are the scenes that really stick out and the several action sequences the film has are exhilarating. Summer War's biggest triumph is being able to combine the sci-fi bits flawlessly with the rest of the film which is essentially about family and budding romance. Summer Wars is thoroughly entertaining, thought provoking, funny and at times rather poignant. In short it's one of the best amine feature films to come out in a decade; right up there with Spirited Away...(and hopefully Eva 2.22...which is next on my must see list.)

Grade: A

Reviewed: Feature Film Format: DVD, English Dub

Eden Of the East

Eden of the East begins with a scene involving a frustrated female Japanese tourist throwing pennies at the White House(not the best idea), understandably she is accosted by the secret service but saved by the appearance of Takizawa, a young and very naked man holding a hi-tech cell phone in one hand and a handgun in the other. Fate (and a lost passport) brings the two together again and we learn Takizawa posses infinite funds through his mysterious phone and can make just about anything possible; and he belongs to a clandestine group of operatives who also posses such phones called cellasates. The problem is Takizawa has had is own memory erased prior to the escapade in D.C. The two return to japan, a country on edge due to a recent string of anonymous missile strikes and the disappearance of twenty thousands neets(shut ins). Has Takizawa and his new companion try to dig up information about his former life; its becomes clearer and clearer that the celasates, the missile strikes and the missing neets and even Takizawa himself are all connected.

Eden of the East is a interesting take on conspiracy thrillers with its political intrigue, well developed characters and a plot full of twists and turns. Unfortunately the strong plot is also the series greatest weakness; there are more than several major events that occur and are crucial to the story that require a hefty suspension of disbelief and in the end these moments come over as to far fetched and under explained, which is frustrating. Those looking for high octane action sequences are advised to look elsewhere, but viewers looking for an intelligent, fast paced, well written (despite some eyebrow raising occurrences) and often thought provoking thriller should look no further than Eden of the East.

Grade: B+

Reviewed: episodes 11/11 (complete) Format: English Dub, DVD.

Sekirei

Sekirei is true guilty pleasure. The whole things jam packed with gratuitous nudity and fan service, the plot and characters are derivative and oh so cliched; and did I mention it's a harem anime?Yet it works despite all this; a true sign of the impending zombie apocalypse me thinks. So basically the plot centers around the typical harem genre staple nice guy who seems to be suffering from dangerously low levels of testosterone. One day he crosses paths with beautiful, well-endowed (the breast proportions in this show are udderly ridiculous ) girl who claims to be a Sekirei, a female fighter with extraterrestrial origins and unique powers. But you see every Sekirei needs a partner/master if you will in order to fully realize their potential, so before you can say Negima! the bond is sealed between them via a kiss. Soon he finds himself cast into a deadly city wide tournament where Sekireis beat the stuffing out of one another with an evil corporation(no way!) pulling the strings. Maybe I'm a closet harem devotee, or maybe Sekirei really is a good show despite itself. I ended up not merely enjoying the harem hi jinks and quality nudity but I found myself becoming genuinely invested in the characters and the plot. It's was refreshing and frightening in the sense that I got much more out of the show than I expected although when scrutinized with a critical eye the show shouldn't be good at all. I'll chalk Seikrei up to being the anime equivalent of a fun B-movie and move on with my life. If you got some brain cells/time to kill and are in the market for a fan service comedy with plentiful boobs and brawling, you owe it to yourself to check out Sekirei.

Garde:B-

Reviewed: Episodes 12/12 (complete) Format DVD, English Dub.

Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki

Watching the entirety of Ryo-Ohki is the equivalent of watching a former classmate you have fond memories of making a drunken ass of themselves at a class reunion. Nine years have passed since the events of the mangificant OVA's that spawned the rocky TM franchise, yup the gangs all back and looking incredibly worse for it thanks to the atrocious character designs that turn Ryoko into what resembles a grotesque space chimp/human hybrid! Speaking of Ryoko(who is by far the best character in the whole damn series) she gets absolutely shafted here; her personality and character getting warped by the writers, who would rather spend much more time with the titular Ryo-Ohki; one of the most annoying and useless characters you'll come across. Oh, I almost forgot theres a plot to; the standard cosmic evil endangering the universe mumbo jumbo that's just a poor excuse to milk this cash cow one more time so suckers (myself included) will shell out to see Ryoko...um I mean Tenchi and the gang again. My advice to Tenchi fans, avoid this and watch the original OVA's again.

Grade: D

Reviewed: OVA's 6/6(complete) Format: DVD, English Dub.

Boogiepop Phantom

I'll say this right now; much as the case was with Lain, Boogiepop Phantom is not for all tastes. Some viewers will be unable to make heads or tails of overarching plot or be able to distinguish just what the hell is going on. To say BP is complex is the understatement of the year and the episodic series structure, with a new characters every episode, makes things a beast to keep track of. This is an anime that requires your full, alert and undivided attention throughout its twelve episode running time. Ok, with that disclaimer out of the way the answer is yes, you need to drop everything your doing and watch this anime, it's that damn good. It's nearly impossible to give a description of the plot without giving away spoilers so here's the basic jest of things: After a night of severe electrical disturbances; children and teens from a highly populated urban area start disappearing; the culprit is rumored to be Boogiepop; a malevolent being who prowels the night. Along with the disappearances are a rash of gruesome murders that plague the city and in the middle of everything are the students of the high school where the largest electrical disturbance was spotted. The story follows the teens as they are slowly drawn into a dark new reality were their lives affect the fates of those around them and death as well as Boogiepop are only a few steps away. Is she a friend or foe? Boogiepop Phantom is a masterfully plotted, gruelingly intense mindbender wrapped in the packaging of a sci-fi horror film. There are plenty of jaw dropping, mind blowing moments as you see events play out from different characters perspectives and unlike most horror themed anime, there are some genuinely terrifying moments. Seeing BP once is probably not enough; it stays lodged in your head demanding to be seen again so it can be scrutinized further. If your in the mood for a cerebral, scary anime; Boogiepop Phantom is at the top of it's class.

Grade: A

Reviewed: episodes 12/12(complete) Format: DVD, English Dub.

Sola

Yorito, our somewhat melancholic protagonist is fixated on the sky; choosing to opt out of class in favor of taking pictures of the heavens. He lives alone, his only family being his stoic, ill sister who's on an extended stay at the hospital. Everything changes one summer night when he crosses paths with Matsuri, a supernatural being known as a Yaka; a creature who can only roam freely during the night (sunlight is bad for her health, not unlike a vampire) and soon shes taking refuge at our protagonists home. In the tradition of Air, some truly tragic complications ensue and shocking truths will be revealed (the big twist near end is a whammy). Sola is an all around solid title; the characters, while unimpressive at first grow in stock and are surprisingly well developed for a series as short as this one. Starting off as a supernatural tinged romantic comedy, Sola gradually moves to into darker territory and does a commendable job of unveiling its twist filled, tragic storyline at just the right pace. It is also one of the rare series that has no crucial flaws and succeeds in every category, yet ends up being simply a good series instead of a great one. Still, this is a must see for fans of tragi-drama and studio Key.

Grade: B/B+

Reviewed: episodes 15/15 (complete) Format: DVD, English Sub