There’s nothing like a parody show to get my smile working. Although I can appreciate the comedies of Rumiko Takahashi and romantic silliness like Child’s Toy, the best belly laughs are usually found when anime makes fun of itself. Assemble Insert is just such a show, with two episodes released on a single DVD [...]
Anime based on video games are notoriously awful. It’s not a sin to say this before every single review of one because it’s universally true. Video games just don’t have the plot, character development, and stories necessary to make a good film. Actually, a few do, like PC titles “The Longest Journey” and “Anachronox”…but nobody’s [...]
As a reviewer, there are some shows that you are more than happy to see finally come to an end. There are simply too many television series that look and sound great, yet have no heart or soul to keep you interested. I expected that with Votoms, a series dating back to 1983 that has [...]
Cyberpunk is what most Americans think of when they hear the word “anime”, primarily due to the institution known as Akira, as well as Ghost in the Shell and series like Bubblegum Crisis and A.D. Police. It’s easy, therefore, to also dismiss other cyber entries as being derivative. However, Armitage III: Poly-Matrix is [...]
After the success of Armitage III: Poly-Matrix with its star-filled dub and heavy promotion by Pioneer several years ago, it’s not a surprise that a follow-up would be on the way. Like another big film this summer, Men In Black II, it took 5 years for the sequel to actually be released. But unlike its [...]
I’ve always been fascinated with Greek mythology, spending many a day in my youth watching and rewatching a tattered VHS copy of Clash of the Titans and reading various compilations of the famous tales. Those days are long past, however, and although you occasionally see a “movie of the week” on TV that’s based on [...]
I’m afraid we’ve seen the last of Area 88. Admittedly, that’s what I thought many years ago when the Area 88 comic book was unceremoniously dumped during its American run by Viz. Though I enjoyed the OVA series, I never expected that the title would be resurrected into a 12-episode television show. So why the [...]
Expectations make or break everything. When I recently went to see the new Narnia movie, I was bursting at the seams. A fan of the book since early childhood, I had portions of the text memorized. On first viewing, I enjoyed the film, but I couldn’t get past a few of my own beliefs about [...]
Although resurrecting and remaking popular franchises is nothing new, it’s pretty rare to see a remake of a series that hasn’t been touched in nearly 20 years. Area 88 came into existence as a long-running manga in the late-70s, producing 23 collections before it finished. In 1985, we saw an animated version in three separate [...]
Buena Vista Home Entertainment will release Studio Ghibli’s anime film Ponyo on American DVD and Blu-ray on March 2nd, 2010 in three iterations. A Standard Edition DVD will retail at $29.99. A 2-disc Special Edition will retail at $34.99 and include a limited edition Ponyo plush doll. The $39.99 BD release will contain all of [...]
