As the year starts to wind down, I wanted to do a quick and easy review, so that means covering the Takeshi Koike visual feast that is Redline!
So… yeah, that’s all I need to say. It’s fucking Redline, folks. Wacky Races to the nth degree.
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– Penguin Truth
(2018)
I thought I’d take on an anime comedy, which I don’t normally review. This one, Azumanga Daioh is based on a four panel comic, so naturally it’s very episodic even within individual episodes, adapting little jokes into larger pictures. In other words, the basic plot is kind of basic (mostly just high school girls and their daily lives). However, it’s anime comfort food. It makes you feel warm and lightens your spirit for a bit, like a fresh oatmeal cookie. It also helps that English dub is reasonably good, not their best, but better than the average.
So, yeah, Lupin III: The Fuma Conspiracy is a noteworthy feature. A single, long-formed OVA, basically a movie, it follows the Lupin gang’s scramble to get to a family’s hidden treasure before a group of ninjas do, all while Zenigata pursues them. Not very unlike your average Lupin feature in that regard, but very well constructed in terms of production values, settings, the chase scenes, and some of the action and comedy. I call it a spiritual successor to Castle of Cagliostro, because it shares a few of the same visual and emotional touchstones. Too bad the English dub is substandard, but I’ll get into that at the end of the year. Just enjoy a short rundown and some highlights that illustrate why I think so highly of this title.
It’s time again for my annual Halloween video! This time I took a page out of my first year’s Halloween fare, Hellsing, with a review of Hellsing Ultimate, the 10-episode more-accurate-to-the-manga adaptation of Kouta Hirano’s manga. It’s big, it’s loud, it’s kind of silly, but it’s oh so compelling, a monster mash with an operatic flair. So pour a bowl of mini Kit Kats, open a pumpkin beer, and let’s watch an OP mega-vampire fight Nazis! Hey, if you’re going to be a denizen of a undead horde, don’t also be a bigot!
Ahhh… damn it. Action Channel Month is supposed to, you know, be in one month. September. But for some reason, this one took longer than usual. Well, it’s not like I have enough of a following (or any) to dash expectations. If I do this again next year (though I may replace it with another kind of theme month), I’ll try to get three videos done on time. I’m only doing a few more videos this year because of personal reasons, but I’ll try my best.
Anyway, Bubblegum Crisis is a one of those anime that got popular back before I was an anime fan, video tapes passed around college campuses, the classic Usenet newsgroup, the 40 second clips that took 90 minutes to download on a dial-up modem, etc. I’d heard the title, but it sounded a little too bizarre. Even when I learned the premise, I let it pass me by. When I started watching anime on The Action Channel, however, I finally got a chance to see what the fuss was about, and I was pretty impressed. Badass beauties battling bots in breastplates with bit rates? Brilliant!
My second Action Channel Month video for this year is on 3×3 Eyes, an OVA based on a 40 volume manga, told in 7 episodes. So, yeah, obviously not all of it is adapted. But it does have an interesting twist in its set up and use of Hindu lore. Plus I got to break out a short montage, an Indiana Jones clip, and reference Iron Fist. Oh, and it’s pronounced “Sazan Eyes”, apparently, though next episode previews for the dub always say “three by three eyes”. Hm.
It’s time once again for Action Channel Month, and this year’s first subject is the two episode OVA, Sol Bianca, from the early 90s. It features a crew of female space pirates, an orbital sniper rifle, a human trophy room, a BGM track used in wrestling, and perhaps the coolest ship in anime. I don’t know what’s weirder, though, that it never had any more episodes after the second, or that ADV didn’t even bother dubbing the second. It’s a fun little romp, regardless, and I’ve been meaning to cover it for a while.
Time to exorcise another evil spirit from my anime fandom and shove Gundam 0083 in the wood chipper where it belongs. Sure, it’s pretty, but it’s also as dumb as a sack of knobs. It’s quite possibly the worst entry into the Universal Century timeline in terms of characters and plot. The characters? Most of them are insufferable. The plot? Goes further than it needs to. Maybe it’s best to watch this by fast forwarding through most of the dialogue to the action bits. Or, you know, watch War in the Pocket or 08th MS Team instead.
Hm, maybe I should have timed this better so it could be the 120th episode. 20th anniversary of the show, 120th episode, get it? Well, whatever, 119 will have to do.
Cowboy Bebop is an unvarnished work of genius, an exquisite blending of genres set to a multitude of rhythms. It’s not defined by its genres, though, but by ingenuity in execution and emotional gravity. There’s plenty of other reasons why it remains my favorite anime after so long. So for my 35th birthday (what the fuck am I doing with my life?), I’ve decided to review this eternal classic of Japanese animation.
Ah, the middle of the year (was over a month ago!). A great time to go over the English dubs of anime I’ve covered thus far in 2018, so I don’t have to cover a year’s worth at the end of the year. This is also an opportunity to talk about the myriad of different ADR studios, specific dubs, and voice actors encountered in these videos.
And hey, only a pre-title bit, no after-credits bit! I’m actually going to retire those things until late October. It’s been taking me two or three weeks to do videos that should only take a single week, maybe a week and half, to finish, these days. I do love my leftover detritus from my old sprite comic, but I need to concentrate on the actual REVIEW part of each review video.
