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Mar 1, 2024
Hoo boy, I love when a series breaks my own rating system for anime. I don’t usually hand out fairly positive scores and recommendations to what might be typically considered lousy storytelling. However, this is a unique case where an overall work is ‘greater than the sum of its parts.’ Gundam Wing still holds up in terms of presentation, audio, designs, animation, action, and the list goes on; where it falters and falters extremely hard is the story and characters, which are strangely complementary to the whole experience.
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THE SONIC ADVENTURE 2 OF GUNDAM?
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I couldn’t help but think of other ‘so bad it’s good’ examples of
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media when I was even early into Gundam Wing, and it became evident quickly precisely what I was in for. I am a big fan of Sonic Adventure 2, but I could also pick apart its plot all day. I still love that game, but it’s clearly written for entertainment first. What’s strange is that Gundam Wing is, well, a Gundam series. There are few Gundams I’ve seen that ever get as silly as this one does regularly. I think around the time when the infamous “I’ll kill you” scene happens, where Heero abruptly threatens Relena for no reason, it struck me that this is just going to be a ridiculous ride. It gets way more dumb than that scene, though, by several magnitudes. Heero is probably one of the more reasonable protagonists, and there are five. And in no way is it justified.
So the major problem with this anime is that the plot is completely ridiculous and an excuse to have action scenes where the characters fight with their needlessly flashy mechs. I lost count of the exact number of Gundams present unique to individual characters, but all five main characters have one, and then there are at least two more. The Tallgeese is a progenitor to the Gundam in this series, so 7-8 Gundams. Many of them get lost in the shuffle, and that’s just sad. However, they are all pretty cool and memorable, and every character feels like their personality is reflected pretty strongly in the Gundam. For example, Duo’s “Deathscythe” is just as edgy and over-the-top as it sounds, a black mech with a gigantic scythe weapon. The Shenlong Gundam has these giant extended claws that instantly grab things and crumple them into little fireballs of debris. It’s cool, but it’s massive overkill and trying too hard. Still, it’s entertaining; a common thread with many of these issues.
The logic behind scenes and how they transition from one to another is equally ridiculous to the designs and characters. It feels like characters only need an excuse to go to the next battle. They change sides all the time; they don’t have good reasons to justify why they do things. It seems like every fight has a shift in character in their current philosophy, and it becomes confusing who is even meant to be the good/evil side anymore. It’s not like there’s any profound meaning to this, either. What the story is trying to tell you is legitimately confusing beyond “look at the cool explosions happening.” Not to say it’s a deep plot, but there’s nothing to it beyond the visuals.
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UNLIKABLE CHARACTERS, OR JUST FUNNY?
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So, the second big issue with Gundam Wing is that its characters are largely unlikable. Firstly, Heero is really a massive douchebag to just about everyone. Relena immediately has a crush on him despite him literally threatening and trying to kill her on numerous occasions. Heero really doesn’t have a personality beyond being an edge lord who is following a vague ‘mission’ in a series where people’s missions change constantly, as often as the weather.
Trowa is a circus performer, and you see him doing some of his flips and such at times, too. Trowa is the most serious character of the five. There’s nothing exactly wrong with Trowa, but it’s pretty funny when it cuts back to him as more or less a clown in the circus.
Duo is the comic relief of the five and meant to be the likable one. A defining early plot point is Duo hating and wanting to kill Heero, and considering what Heero does, it’s just a legitimate and heroic thing for him to be doing. I don’t know if that was the point, but I think this was likely poor writing. In any case, Duo is also largely inoffensive and the only one of the five who tries to be funny.
Quatre is the most tedious and pointless by a large margin. He’s annoying and the ‘smart one.’ Definitely the worst, I hate this character and his whining.
Wufei is endlessly hilarious. His character is outwardly misogynistic and ages like milk. Not only does he literally hate women and say they shouldn’t fight, period, but the plot continuously proves him right, doubling down on the 90s edgy writing. Wufei is also by far the edgiest character, and considering the five protagonists, it was not easy for him to get there. You could argue the conflict and second half of the series is because of Wufei refusing to listen to reason. He is completely obsessed with a common theme in the series: Fighjting Are Bad, You Are Bad. Except, you know, Wufei is also fighting and killing tons of people, assumably, but he is a massive hypocrite. Later in the series, he goes out of his way to fight some characters who are outright tellign him he's causing awar all around him to happen, screaming at him to stop because he is being manipulated. He refuses to listen, and it starts a massive intergalactic conflict. Oops.
Wufei also has some of the funniest scenes of anyone, some even funnier than the “I’ll kill you scene.” I really wanted to hate this character, but he’s a real highlight for how badly written he is. I also want to shout out the voice actor for playing this entirely straight at all times because I don’t think I could do it with the lines he was given.
Besides the protagonists, Zechs, Relena, the doctors, and Treize all deserve special mention. Zechs is your Char clone for the day. He outperforms Char in a much shorter time, especially considering the movie; he gets zero punishment for causing as much damage as he does. It’s probably the most obvious Char wannabe ever. Relena is so ideologically pacifist that it makes her inept, and she is constantly surrendering and only manages to not get killed so many times due to the stupidity of others in this series. The doctors… wow, it’s just so dumb. Every Gundam has an individual ‘doctor’ who designed them, and then they also got together to develop some other super Gundams. Each doctor’s design is pretty ridiculous, cartoonishly so. Their interactions and the fact they exist at all is hilarious when the series is trying to wax poetic about war, peace, etc. Treize might be the best character of anyone. This character epitomizes the RIDICULOUS revolving door morality of characters. He is endlessly changing sides, changing philosophies, throwing himself to the wolves, actively making himself lose for no reason, and saying the most insane dialogue ever. It’s highly reminiscent of The Major in Hellsing: a character who unironically wants to lose, to “be a loser,” in his own words, and he is the main villain for a vast majority of the plot, even if the plot is very confused over it.
I almost forgot Lady Une, who carries the anime for a solid chunk. Treize’s second-in-command steals several scenes with her ridiculous personality. I think my favourite line of hers is when she laughs and says “if he’s ugly, don’t kill him,” and then says it was a joke. Her dual personality was entertaining, and she was a great early antagonist. The scene where she dumps someone off a plane, waits 10 seconds to stay a witty one-liner, then shoots him mid-fall was also Kino.
As an aside, it was definitely a thing they chose to make a lot of the enemy mechs computer-controlled so that the protagonists could slice through them like butter without having to think about morality. These things are basically SW prequel droids, but the plot revolves around their use as if they’re an immovable force.
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ACTUALLY VERY GOOD VISUALS, PRESENTATION LESS SO OVERALL
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I will say that despite how dumb the plot is, the visuals stand up well. For the 90s, this series was always a good looker, but it still has some pretty pleasant scenes. The Gundams all look quite unique and have creative elements in their weapons and how they fight, and they look reasonably distinctive from one another. It doesn’t make a tremendous amount of sense sometimes, like a Gundam with angel wings, but it kinda goes along with the funny bad vibe of the series anyway. The animation, at times, is still outstanding, especially for the 90s, and carries the action.
There are some great designs for the Zeon replacements. This series has a different conflict from the typical Fed vs Zeon war, with the space faction having some memorable designs for their mechs. The Tallgeese is excellent; the Taurus, the aforementioned CPU-controlled mechs, are also a fantastic design. The Zero and Epyon are superb, and most of the ‘five’ Gundams are a great selection. There’s a big focus on action in Gundam Wing, and with the protagonists’ Gundams, the enemies manage to have entertaining conflicts, even if there’s just no meaning to it.
The audio overall is good, with solid music, but the voice acting, at least the dub, is very subjective. It’s funny how blunt and direct it is, and it definitely contributes to the overall funny bad feeling, but I could see someone really dislike it or prefer the sub if the viewer didn’t want to hear it at times; it just has weird line delivery. This was the Ocean dub group, with Vegeta’s Ocean dub actor doing Zechs’ voice, and you can somewhat tell at times. Truth be told, Zechs is such a simplistic antagonist and doesn’t steal scenes like Lady Une or Treize, let alone Wufei, so I didn’t get as much out of the connection as I had hoped going into the series. The music and the openings are still outstanding, honestly. The opening little jingle for each episode is so over-the-top, dramatic, and profound that it made me want to laugh every time I heard it.
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PACING AND STRUCTURE, OR LACK THEREOF
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The series is paced very wonky. It begins promising enough, and honestly, this series could’ve been a lot better if it had kept up with its early attempts at structuring an overall story. The initial story is that Heero is on a mission to… I don’t even know, but you’d think he was sent to kill Relena, even if I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. I believe he was trying to stop the war from happening, but that is literally every character at one point or another. But still, the early story of characters trying to prevent the war from happening or ending it early was fine.
Fatigue was setting in around the midway point, and I had no idea what was happening. It really goes to hell when everyone goes to space, and then all the characters change sides, and the evil space faction changes leaders multiple times. Some of these lesser characters were fun, like Tsubarov. I might as well mention that Dorothy was also a decent side character and villain, even if not standout, making the middle period less painful. I would not be able to recommend or rate the series that highly if it ended here if we didn’t get the great last episodes. And great they are! Really did not disappoint in giving a fun final battle between the characters; even if it doesn’t feel like everyone gets to do something, it comes down to a satisfying Heero vs. Zechs and Gundam Zero vs. Epyon struggle.
The ending is pretty bad and abrupt; they fixed it with the movie later, which is much better. I can live with it overall. It feels like a redo of Char’s Counter Attack, but worse. The movie also undoes a lot of the deaths, but this is a thing that happens all the time anyway. No one dies; the series only kills off the ‘evil generals’ on both sides, with maybe 1-2 major deaths in the entire series. Many people try to sacrifice themselves for peace, but it rarely works. It’s hard to believe anyone is in danger, which is one of the worst parts of the story. When it’s not entertaining, for good or bad reasons, it’s just blah and unbelievable; these parts would be atrocious without their quality presentation.
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FUN (and flawed) TIMES
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So overall, I could see someone rank this a lot lower, but I can’t say I wasn’t engaged in this for much of it, and laughing out loud at quite a bit more than I would have expected. It’s not meant to be a comedy, but it’s still consistently amusing, and at the end, wraps around to being good, period. Obviously, I wouldn’t bundle the movie up into this review or perspective, though it does feel very obligatory if you did watch this, and it helps to expand out characters (pretty much all of them fail to get any backstory in this beyond the basics). I had a lot of fun with this one, and while it’s undoubtedly bad in parts, it goes all in on what it wants to be: absurd, edgy, and dumb fun. I can see why it was a massive success at the time and has a big fanbase, but there are way better Gundams out there that are less of a mess than this. However, if you want an easy-going time and plenty of laughs, I'd recommend this strongly. Gundam Wing brought me much enjoyment at a not particularly wonderful time, so I give it a giant, mechanical thumbs up.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 23, 2024
Appleseed is a good but not particularly memorable and short OVA about a dystopian police state, but one that has a strangely compelling subtext for what it is. The story, taken at face value, is very basic. However, it manages to have a little subtlety and moral ambiguity that makes it pretty interesting and a villain with a legitimate point. Overall, it’s easy to recommend this OVA, even if it’s nothing stellar.
To get it out of the way, yes, the story is nothing to write home about and has been done many times before and better. It’s a typical buddy cop deal with Deunan, the
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plucky young female cop, and Briareos, the hard-edged, in this case robotic or ‘biodroid,’ partner. They have a hard-ass boss, Athena, who I grew to like pretty well despite being really cruel at times, which was, I think, a sign of some decent writing. The plot revolves around a resistance movement against a mega corporation trying to take over Earth’s defence system.
It’s a little convoluted, but the main villain, Calon, has a legitimate point. He is also a cop but turns coat because of his experiences with the unethical corporation trying to take over the planet. He is revealed as a traitor immediately, and the story uses this conceit very well to explore his thoughts, feelings, motivations, and inner struggle as he has to betray his friends and colleagues. While the corporation, I believe named Gaia, is not cartoonishly evil, they are benign and uncaring. They are also exceedingly cruel and unsympathetic to people's needs, as demonstrated with how callously they treated Calon when his wife died. Even Gaia's police force is full of, not evil, but cold bureacrats who simply follow orders. Calon is by contrast a highly morally-driven and broken man who thinks he's doing the right thing. It's a great little conflict. As said at the jump, it’s oddly engaging and fascinating, and I wish it was explored more, but a deep villain like this was not something I would’ve expected from Appleseed. I also liked how, in juxtaposition, Athena is your typical hardliner, quasi-authoritarian who just follows orders and has no regard for biodroid life or ethics despite being on the good team. All of this is really intriguing stuff; it’s only a shame the OVA is quite short, so it’s not explored that much to elevate the whole story beyond merely serviceable overall. Beyond this specific conflict, there's stuff like the funny hijinx with Briareos, Deunan and Hitomi being dumb, nothing compelling. Despite being very important, Sebastian does not steal his scenes compared to Calon and the overall plot is not great.
The characters are, on the whole, solid, though not always very good. I liked Briareos (excellent design), Athena, and especially Calon, a surprisingly decent villain. On the other end of the spectrum, I found that the main character, Deunan, Hitomi, and even Sebastian, the other major villain, were on the dull side. It’s definitely a mixed bag. There are no characters who are outright annoying or ruin things, but it’s carried hard by the good characters. I will say that as a fan of buddy cop movies, Briareos stood out as a likable character who I did end up wanting to root for by the end. It was one of those things stepping back and being surprised how much I genuinely cared about this Astaroth 2P costume looking robot cop. The voice cast for this was pretty decent, not great, but the dub had some overlap with other 80s and 90s shlock I have watched, like Mad Bull. The range of Calon’s voice actor from this, to the Brooklyn accent of Mad Bull, is genuinely impressive. The sound overall is another thing that’s just okay at best.
The comedy and character interactions range from alright to a bit cringe-worthy. I think the dub helps out here as the characters feel pretty realistic and have a bit of an edge to them, and it feels like a sci-fi version of New York or Chicago. So that’s an easy fit for everything there, and it’s less awkward. It’s too short to explore futuristic culture too much, but it’s okay.
The visuals are good, but nothing stands out. It doesn’t look bad, considering it’s from 1988, but you can definitely tell the era it’s from, and it has a few pretty bad sequences. It does not look exactly theatrical; there is a very much made-for-TV quality standard going on here, and it does have a cheap finish in some areas. I did like the action. It's slow, but competent and has some fun set pieces. Nothing to drag it down; it looks fine, but I was surprised Gainax, of all people, made this. You would never know other than the story having some kinda out there ideas. The designs are also somewhat forgettable sci-fi fare. Briareos is cool, but the mechs are some of the most generic ones I’ve seen in an anime, like something Iron Man would’ve rejected as an early draft for his bulkier suits. Sebastian’s design and augmentations are somewhat cool, but that’s all. The final giant mech that resembles a squid a little bit is very underwhelming, honestly, and I pretty much rolled my eyes when it appeared like, that’s it? This was the big threat being built up all this time. Its stilted and low-budget animation was also pretty disappointing. Narratively it’s fine, it just did nothing for me visually.
The length is a blessing and a curse. It definitely never overstays its welcome, making it easy to recommend. On the other hand, it could only get so far in just over an hour of screen time. Even then, it definitely could’ve been better with a more refined script and story or a higher budget. Considering the low budget, length, and release date, it’s a workman-like production.
Overall, this is definitely a mixed bag, but still good. I was dithering on how much I liked it, but I came out of it engaged with the parts I liked. There’s plenty of bad and mediocre, but it’s also short enough that it’s easier to overlook. In short, if you just want a fun sci-fi buddy cop movie with some ideas that might appeal to you beyond that and mostly inoffensive anyway, you might as well check this out.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 2, 2024
Grave of the Fireflies is a solid, though depressing World War II film depicting a brother and sister trying to survive the aftermath of the US bombing of Japan. Overall, I can see why some people see the story as frustrating, but I think there’s more to it with some fans and some of the minority who dislike it not getting the real point of the plot.
I don’t think I need to go over the plot or production side of things, as many people have gone over that already, and it goes without saying. I’ll assume people reading this know the plot already. The art
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is good, as is generally always true with Studio Ghibli. The voice acting is also competent and fittingly low-key. I also think the music is generally quite well done, though definitely a bit over the top in spots with the orchestra tugging on heartstrings.
The most important thing about this film’s story is how It portrays grief and, most importantly, masculinity. As others have said many times, Seita is not a likable protagonist. He is exceptionally flawed and makes every possible mistake. At the same time, you never see him truly grieve for his mother or even really his sister. The film fails to be clear with this message because it can get lost in just how little is shown to the viewer, and that’s why this film didn’t hit as hard the last time I viewed it. I found the mother’s death to be impactful, but after watching the entire story again, I mostly just felt depressed by Seita’s stupidity and what he did to himself and his sister.
Seita refuses to apologise to his aunt, and destroys himself and his sister with his decision-making. In many ways, his decisions mirror the way Japan acted during the war, refusing to change course until they were obliterated by their enemies, but also blind to the harm done to Japanese people. I think Seita embodies that warped view of masculinity and privilege that many Japanese leaders and politicians had during this era, and it is why he also ultimately is another casualty of the war. He fails to adapt, but just as importantly, he fails to grieve.
I don’t think that not showing Seita’s grief was a mistake, but it was intentional. Seita becomes totally warped by his refusal to engage with his emotions and mourn for his mother and father. Instead, he relies on what he views as being independent, looking out for himself at any cost, and being a strong man like his father. It is why when he finds out his father was killed in the war, it’s one of the few times Seita seems devastated emotionally because the one principle he based his entire philosophy on was invalidated. Being a tough guy and not expressing any emotions really meant nothing. Holding out a desperate hope that everything is just going to turn out okay and that reality will bend to your will through sheer determination and grit is ultimately suicidal in this context.
By the end, Seita totally rejects reality. After his sister dies, you see how the initial ‘ghost’ Seita and Setsuko tie into the story. It’s Seita’s imagination of what life could be like without the pain he went through. That is simply not how life works, but Seita chose this path rather than dealing with his problems; as tragic as they were, how he decided to deal with them is more tragic.
So overall, this film is an interesting case study of how a young person caught in this tragic situation might destroy themselves and those they love because of their refusal to honestly deal with what’s happening around them. It’s bleak and depressing, and I wish it did a bit more to confirm what I have discussed because if you don’t see it that way, I can understand why it would hold little value. Seita makes many dumb, baffling choices, and every mistake he makes is frustrating if you don’t read a little into his motivations and emotional reactions. Still, I feel that analyzing the deeper meanings nonethless reveals a poignant moral story about grief, masculinity, and accepting reality.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 2, 2024
Pointless. I could end the review there. MD Geist has some extreme, mind-numbing blandness and is a total waste of Hironobu Kageyama's musical talents. MD Geist is a poor imitation of what would be fun in an anime set in a dystopia, and unfortunately, it is not even amusing in a "so bad it's good" way.
There is not one time in the 50 minutes of the "director's cut" that there is any reason to care about what's happening other than some decent action scenes that carry little meaning. The characters are non-existent. The story seems like a tech demo or music video with how poorly
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it gets across any themes or ideas, just an excuse to go from one set piece to another. The main character is a bog standard edge lord without a personality. Who else is there? His love interest is brain-dead. The nude scene was unnecessary and pathetic. Every other character is more-or-less cannon fodder.
While the action and visuals are neat, they are not impressive. For 1986, this certainly looks good but is not artistically pleasing or particularly imaginative. It has not aged well. Also, the designs seem random due to the poor fleshing out of the lore and plot. It's a strange mixture of futuristic mechs and pre-technology barbarians. Once again, it seems like someone's misconception making this about what would be entertaining without any idea how to execute it well.
The one notable thing in the story is the twist ending that comes out of nowhere. However, where it ends, it's another pointless aspect of the whole production. Nothing fun comes out of it as it happens right at the end of the story before it can have any effect.
While it is short, besides some excellent music from Kageyama (though very much wasted here) and some okay action, I cannot recommend watching this movie. The story might be among the worst I have seen in an anime, which is saying something with all I have seen. Importantly, no, it is not funny. Either nobody cared or knew what they were doing when producing this to make it coherent. I had much more fun writing this scathing review than watching this trash.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Nov 30, 2023
Bio Hunter is a fun and pretty nonsensical little OVA about a couple of scientists taking on a “demon virus” spread like a zombie infection, but it also has elements of vampirism and werewolves. The main two characters are two professors and scientists, one is a pervy guy with a porn stache, and the other is himself “infected” and trying to hold back his urges. Frankly, I am not sure why the one scientist who isn’t a werewolf-demon is even in this story. He does nothing other than be a friend to the werewolf-demon professor, who is the real focal point of the entire plot.
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The werewolf-demon professor’s love interest is as bland as they come, but gives him something to fight for against a very stereotypical evil politician werewolf-demon guy. The werewolf-demon scientist does have a really fun transformation that is well designed and animated, and gives the OVA one notable memorable positive.
If you have seen Wicked City, this feels somewhat of a poor imitation. There are entire characters and plot segments that practically seem like they’re lifted from it, but it might also be because Bio Hunter is hugely predictable. In contrast, Wicked City knew where to have some intriguing twists, although it was also flawed. This one, by comparison, while having very competent art by Madhouse and okay-if cheesy music at times, really does not rise above the level of pure shlock. Even when it’s trying to be violent or sexual, it does not feel like it’s doing anything particularly creative or new with the concepts it’s using. The voice acting in the dub I watched was also nothing special and had some pretty dry and phoned-in lines, but not enough to stand out and be especially funny. The art and some fantastic scenes, such as the werewolf-demon professor main character fighting against other demons, decent action like car chases, and a few likable side characters like the main big bad besides the major antagonist, make it a fun watch. However, it has little worth remembering because of its blandness and predictable story. Still, at under an hour, it's a good time if you want something entertaining and easygoing with some neat action.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Oct 17, 2023
Terrible and transparent copy of DragonBall. Every idea has been lifted from some part of DragonBall prior to 1996. The main character is a (horribly designed) version of Goku. There's a Piccolo, a Krillin, a Roshi, a Yamcha, etcetera. It is surface-level theft, but every character is infinitely worse than what was copied. Goku now has bright orange hair that, for some reason, becomes straight like Paul Phoenix when he's angry. Krillin is obese, has a bald, flat head, and is obsessed with trying to get women. Their personalities are beyond a parody of themselves, and in the dub I watched, they were unimaginably annoying.
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While the "Super Kids" are about eight strong, only Goku, Krillin, Piccolo, and a rock golem do anything of consequence. The others are introduced and then decide to sit out the entire plot. The villains are all atrocious and share similar, lazy powers like infinitely stretching limbs despite being a giant elephant, a tentacle monster, and an orange gargoyle-looking demon.
The worthwhile ideas to take, that might have made sense if you wanted to take some inspiration from DragonBall without stealiing, are mangled beyond recognition, but also every negative cliché is magnified. Every fight drags on way too long and is full of terrible jokes. The movie knows it's awful and thinks the answer is to poke fun at its characters constantly, but it just makes it even more annoying to watch. Super Child (or Super Kids in the dub I watched) also goes on too long. It would be painful enough at forty minutes, but it is an hour and forty minutes of excruciating pain. While it is entertainingly bad sometimes, I do not understand how anyone thought this was a good idea. The most frustrating part might have been the music, a complete rip-off of DragonBall. It's one area that could have easily tried, but it didn't, which is a good description for the entire movie.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Oct 4, 2023
This anime has a lot of heart, though it's a big shame how poorly it's presented and written. I got into this thinking it was a story about a war between dogs and bears, which is a fascinating concept. In actuality, the story revolves almost entirely around the dogs, with the bears merely being an evil group of monsters who are barely more intelligent than regular animals. There are many plot holes and every cliché imaginable within the plot, and if not for some strong characters, I would probably not even give this a pass. Overall, it's highly flawed, but charming, and a mercifully short
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story.
The story can be broken down into three arcs:
1. The human hunters and dogs versus Akakabuto, which lasts 7 episodes
2. Silver recruiting dogs, which lasts until about episode 18
3. The last four episodes, which is the final battle, episode 18-21
I really liked the first arc. It had a nice blend of realism and the feeling that it could lead to something extraordinary. It's quite measured and consistent with its logic. In episode 7, Silver spontaneously begins talking with the other dogs, and then no humans are ever heard from again for a long time. Most of the series is Silver recruiting other dogs. A big problem with this section is that new dogs are introduced without developing the existing ones enough. Canonically, there are hundreds of dogs, but in terms of named ones, there are easily dozens of them by the end. I liked many of them, with solid characters like Silver, Ben, Cross, Moss, and Benizakura, but there are too many. As another reviewer pointed out, many of them just disappear for the final battle completely.
The logic also goes entirely out the window in this section. It's ridiculous how dogs will bite each other's necks and somehow not kill each other constantly. Also, if I knew this series was primarily dogs trying to kill each other, I probably wouldn't have wanted to watch it! What makes it not so uncomfortable is that the dogs seldom die, even in situations where they really should die, which happens basically every episode. Dogs do this strange judo flip and drill into one another with their mouths, which wouldn't be so silly, but the series spent the first 7 episodes building up a pretty realistic setting. It would've helped if they established any "rules" for why dogs act so much like humans, but it's taken for granted. In any case, by the end of every episode, you know that the new dogs, or some of them, will join Silver's group, and they'll just continue to the next area.
This whole segment got tiring when you consider the bears do not even speak and seem like barely intelligent monsters. Silver goes to all this trouble to gather hundreds of sentient super dogs from all over the region to fight maybe a dozen bears and Akakabuto, who begins "building a fortress" in the first arc. How does a bear that's not even sentient do that anyway? This conflict could've been realistically handled by just the core group of about thirty dogs and not stretched disbelief to its breaking point for so many logical reasons. I would also have liked that version much better as it could've developed them all more and shown anything about the bears. What was funny to me is when you finally see this "fortress," later called a "castle," it's just a big pile of snowy rocks. One has to assume the dogs instinctively knew terrible shit was about to go down that is never shown after Akakabuto succeeds, as his building a fortress in one Japanese mountain pass is treated like the end of the world. I had to get this thought off my chest because it's infuriating how little thought went into this story while watching and slowly realising there will never be a satisfying explanation.
The final battle is pretty good overall and raises the stakes. The showdown with Akakabuto does not disappoint, even if he's not much of a character. Though frankly, the series needed a strong ending after the middle went so off-the-rails.
After all that, the presentation, visuals, and music are lacking. A few instances of obvious reused animation or still shots are quite cheap. Sometimes it can be very well done, though. The music tends to reuse the same melodramatic songs all the time. It's pretty bad: cheesy, but not in a fun way.
Overall, this series started strong, had a weak middle, and a decent end. At only 21 episodes, it could both be much shorter by cutting a lot of repetition in the middle and much longer if it added more development. It's hard to dislike it with how many good characters and memorable moments it has, but it could've been much better.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Sep 25, 2023
Flying Phantom Ship is an interesting bit of animation film history as one of Miyazaki's earliest works but a little half-baked. It begins weak with a flimsy plot that seems a little worrying in how plain it is, strongly resembling Scooby Doo with the haunted house and dog. It rapidly changes later with an intriguing, underdeveloped plot and several big twists, almost reminiscent of Studio Ghibli's films decades later with how much it surprises the viewer, but not anywhere near as earned. The run time is only an hour, so there's little time to develop anything, and scenes transition without much weight given to any
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actions. However, it has solid characters and themes, if somewhat boilerplate by today's standards, feeling quite engaging with the always surprising way the narrative changes over time. I liked the Phantom Ship Captain, Kurosio, the "Boa Juice" subplot, and the idea of "Boa" later in the plot. Despite its shortness, it's almost two or three film's worth of ideas crammed into the hour.
As said at the top, it's a worthwhile bit of animation history, particularly for anime. You see glimpses of what the famous team behind this film would do later. The animation varies heavily in quality, starting very weak, but there are some solid moments later where it does have some genuinely good stuff. However, the animation shows its age and has many obvious cheaper bits of animation. Considering it's a 1969 film, it's hard to blame them for these shortcomings, but it's pretty hard to ignore. The music is also decent, but nothing memorable. For an hour of your time, it's worth it for the experience, especially when it's free on YouTube. However, it is no gem and has many apparent issues probably stemming from when it was made; frankly, it's impressive that it's as good as it is.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 16, 2023
Saint Oniisan is simply not a very funny comedy. That's what ultimately matters most, and while there were some good moments, overall, this was a dull and unstructured film.
Jesus and Buddha are vacationing in Japan. That's all that really needs to be said about the plot.
Firstly, there were some good jokes and moments. There are some jokes about Buddha's spot, 'parting the seas,' and the bit with the mafia was genuinely really great. I wish the entire story pivoted around these arcs because they were easily the best jokes. I also found that Jesus and Buddha were mostly likable. The art style is good, though
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overly cute at times, with some designs that stuck out as oddly cartoonish and out-of-place like the kids. Overall, the presentation and the first two acts were tolerable to good.
There is quite a lot of negative to unpack. The plot of the film never really begins or ends. Jesus and Buddha are already vacationing at the start, and the concept does carry Saint Oniisan for a good while at the beginning. It does get old over the course of the story. It feels like three episodes, maybe of an OVA, haphazardly put together without much of a point. There's some connecting threads with the kids and mafia characters, but they could easily be placed anywhere. The pacing is nonexistent.
The film starts to overstay its welcome hard in the final act. There are much fewer jokes nearer the end for some reason. It really peaks with a moment where Buddha interacts with the kids one final time. That is a good segment, but it comes a good ten or twenty minutes before the end. I would probably give this a point or two higher if not for how much the ending sucks. It becomes almost unbearable and ruins what goodwill it had built up with the solid jokes it was telling.
Another significant issue is tone. No one reacts to Jesus and Buddha, even to comment on their bizarre behaviour. It's just odd, and while it contributes to some jokes alright, it's a strangely dry approach that only makes the film harder to stomach when it does start missing with the jokes or outright not trying. The ending especially tries to be semi-serious with some of the flattest material when it is not really earned, and the film has had almost no development for any characters.
Overall, this film was a letdown and just isn't funny enough or structured well for a film. It feels like a montage of jokes or events put together as a "movie." I cannot say I recommend it, and you are better off just seeing the few funny scenes or moments because they aren't used effectively in the overall story.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Sep 11, 2023
Captain Herlock: Arcadia of My Youth strips down sci-fi into a dramatic and somewhat dull affair. Unfortunately, after watching what felt like an incredibly long and meandering film, I didn't get much out of this particular story. It's an extraordinarily self-serious and dramatic film, but it does not really justify this feeling with how dull it is at the same time. Overall, Captain Herlock was a letdown, and simply far too long for what is a pretty shallow plot, while having some decent moments.
A quick synopsis: Captain Herlock is a dark and depressing take on a dystopian sci-fi future where Earth has been occupied by
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an alien force. These aliens, the Illumidus, are manipulative and malevolent leaders. The Illumidus' plan has already succeeded by the time the story happens, but Herlock has to stop them from further destroying everything he holds dear, travelling to different planets to fight them every step of the way.
Firstly, the positives. The orchestral score is gorgeous; it complements the seriousness of the story and characters, and is usually the highlight of most scenes. The character designs can also be pretty neat, with some genuinely remarkable characters like Herlock alongside some goofier ones, although some of them fell a bit short. The art and style also tended to be quite solid and impressive, particularly seeing the Arcadia ship later in the story.
While the plot and story is the number one issue, there were times when it was good. I enjoyed it for the most part until about the midway point. While it starts slow and doesn't get to the real meat of the story until later, it's at least interesting. You see Herlock's history and get a sense of how he is following somewhat of a doomed path. The movie plays with the idea of using flashbacks, and I thought maybe we would get a story about how these different generations of Herlock have all paved the way for our very flawed main character and his doomed mission. That would have been a much better movie, but there are many things I would have changed about this story.
Into the negative, the story is by far the biggest one. For starters, I just don't see what the central point is here. War is bad? That would not be enough to carry the movie, but even that isn't really it. Pride comes before the fall? No, Herlock seems to fall up in every scenario, and there's even a significant lack of tension because it's obvious these one-dimensional villains are far too incompetent to stop him. One who doesn't learn from history is doomed to repeat it? That one is interesting because despite literally being a Nazi pilot in World War II through a shared flashback with an ancestor, Herlock never references it or any of the other strange remembrances. I ended this story confused with what is meant to be the takeaway. Despite its self-seriousness, it never tries to tackle any exciting ideas. If Herlock was portrayed as a flawed anti-hero or straight-up antagonist, this would've been an interesting case study.
Another significant issue is tone. I have a soft spot for the goofier characters, who provide some of the only moments to breathe. But they really do not go with the extremely dark and grim tone. I would've preferred wholly serious or more goofiness, and probably the latter because it would not change the film much. Watching this film can be excruciating, with only a few moments of hit-or-miss comedy.
While it does take itself very seriously, the conflict is just confused. The Illumidus are not compelling antagonists, and their central leader figure is just disappointing. Herlock seems to steamroll through them. While there are stakes and losses, it's an incredibly black-and-white, simplistic battle that doesn't have much, if any, weight.
One odd thing about the film is the feeling of repetition. I felt like I saw the same panning shot of the Arcadia several times, and there was a lot of waiting around. I don't usually feel like an animation like this one with such high quality needs to be edited down. It's a rare case where I would have preferred significant cutting to make it more digestible because there just isn't enough to justify two hours of run time.
In conclusion, Captain Herlock was a letdown, although it had some okay elements and was an interesting film to dissect. The animation and music are great, and it has some promise early. However, it really goes downhill later on and fails to say anything meaningful while also not being entertaining. Overall, despite high hopes, I thought it was pretty close to forgettable, with the few moments of intrigue and good presentation barely keeping it from being outright bad. Captain Herlock ultimately squanders most of its potential and is a surprisingly pointless space adventure.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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