Or AKA the longer title: Luffy and His Four Crewmates' Great Adventure!

Oh man... the feels in this one! Even though it's a very compact flashback they get through quite a few of those! And yes, two hours is compact for a flashback on this scale! Considering how many weeks worth of episode content they tried to pack in and summarize in just one episode it sometimes doesn't seem nearly enough.

It's more than just a flashback too. Everything's re-drawn. It feels cleaner, and flashier, and yet some of the 'charm' of the older episodes is no longer. Expressions are more ruthless. The action is violent. I'm impressed by how well they manage to bring it all together, and impressed with the quality, yet I miss some of the warmth and lightheartedness of the earliest episodes, and how some vital details (like the importance of Luffy's hat) are left out.

All in all though an appreciated summary, and I hope they make one like it later on for all the adventures that follow, and all the friends and foes they stumble into along the way! It's been one wild ride so far, and though it's far from over it's never wrong to get back to their humble beginnings every once in a while; refresh your perspective. Especially if the show's been running for soon... as many years as I have. Almost two decades so far. Holy shit. No wonder it's such a big part of my life now. Good episode.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

I'm no huge Star Wars fan, but this little tribute's worth watching!

Apparently it took four year's worth of weekends to make. A one-man operation. Inspiring work.

Brings me back to the days of - as intended - good old quality eighties of anime! I've got to get back to the world of Macross some day soon.

I haven't posted anything anime-related in a long long time now, but then again I haven't picked up any new series in a long long time now. The only series I'm still following is One Piece. It's the one. It's time again today. The latest episode comes out each weekend, and the latest manga whenever I manage to buy the books... which since the 64th one was also... a pretty long time ago.

Ellipses for added length since I feel I'm going overboard with the longs, though I do long to get my hands on some of the newer manga...

There used to be Naruto too, but as of this year the show's over, and I am not picking up the new one. Naruto's kid? The show seems to be going the same way Dragon Ball did, and I assume I'd feel similarly if I watched this one: that it just doesn't compare to the original. Like they're building upon the story to sell, and keep people entertained, rather than tell the story they set out to tell in the first place from start to finish, and leave viewers with a lasting impression (not like they didn't get sidetracked from that mission anyway).

Not that the motivation behind a manga is probably to tell a particular, or meaningful story either, but the original stories somehow feel all the more original in their original form, as did Dragon Ball, as I assume will Naruto, and as is also probably the case with Ranma 1/2.

I started on this manga a couple weeks ago, after a long sick week in which I finally managed to catch up on what material I had yet unread of Death Note (wasn't super-happy about the ending there), Rebirth, Ragnarock and Detective Conan. It started GREAT. Ranma might seem a bit arrogant and carefree a character, but he/she's a strong personality too: kind, passionate and naive, and as with all of Rumiko Takahashi's work: he (as main character) really leads the story.

Akane and the rest join in quickly, and make a combined effort to entertain more than I've been entertained in a long time, all the while building upon relations that... suddenly get butchered down.

For a while it seemed to be going the right way, but new characters keep popping up, the main plot gets hijacked, Ranma doesn't develop as a character, relations stagnate and run into unnecessary issues because of excess characters and simply the stubbornness of the main characters. Occasionally they see the light and you start thinking it might go back to how it was, but it never really does, and the more characters jump into the picture the messier it gets, till there's little else than comical value to redeem the reading.

It's fun, it's fast-paced and ferocious, and I do love the creative elements in the plot, but 3-4 books in the atmosphere's gone. It's like Macross 7 turned to Excel Saga. Or Naruto turned to 2x2 Shinobuden. Or Hunter X Hunter turned into... Bleach? Dragon Ball to Toriko? I can't find the right correlation between similar series to show the example I intended to! But don't take my word for it: it's copyrighted.

I'll keep reading though, hoping maybe it'll jump back on track soon, though not so hopeful... (ellipses for long face)

I've known about this title a long time by the way, but for some reason never picked up neither manga nor anime, so it's about time. I always thought 1/2 meant a half, but if you see the show it'll make sense soon enough. It's not bad but... not consistent. If you don't go in expecting that (maybe you'd be better off skipping the first and flawless chapters entirely - just run straight into the random) it's not bad.

In the year 2021, a parasitic virus known as "Gastrea" infects humans and turns them into monsters. What is left of mankind now lives within the Monolith walls, walls that are made of Varanium, the only material that can hurt Gastrea.
 
To counter the threat that the Gastrea pose, "Cursed Children"—female children whose bodies contain trace amounts of the virus which grant them superhuman abilities—officially called Initiators by the Tendo Civil Security, are given partners called Promoters, people who work to guide and protect the young Initiators. These teams of two are sent out on missions to fight the monsters created by the Gastrea virus and keep them at bay.
 
Black Bullet revolves around the team of Enju Aihara, an Initiator, and Satomi Rentaro, a Promoter, as they go on missions to fight the growing threat of Gastrea in their hometown of Tokyo.

So that's the premises! Another run-of-the-mill sci-fi/action anime adventure with dystopian plot and male/female in differing ages character combo - but it delivers. The future really is both dystopian and futuristic, and the anime revolves as much around the action as around the injustices that Enju faces, as a 'cursed child', and Satomi's attempt to help them, all the while battling the parasites, until finally it's time for the big showdown. It feels very relevant to current social dilemmas that way, and relatable in that regard. The action's good too.

Unfortunately it's not all positive. We grow to know more people along the way, but most of them die. I felt like they had potential, and the series as well, but in the end so much of that potential is just left for dead. The plot feels inconsistent and jumpy, and though they do a good job at building up the atmosphere, the tension, and the relation between the viewer and the characters, they cast it away all too easily in the form of unnecessary death.

Good idea, good show, but not good enough to rise above all the similar series out there that just can't seem to keep things together enough. A tragedy does not mean depth. A dystopian future does not make something philosophical. They're off to a good start with the intrigue, but build it up wrong, that's how I feel. And it's not just because everybody died.

 rated 3/5: not bad

I stumbled upon this title via a list of anime recommendations earlier this last year, and am I glad I followed that recommendation!

Actually I think it was the only recommendation on the list. One recommendation. It went something along the lines of: watch this.

So I did.

It started off a bit slow. Slice of life. School. Three girls (one in particular) who join a concert band... I wasn't sure I'd keep watching, and yet there was just something about it that kept me in. Maybe the tidbits of knowledge at the beginning: about instruments, and planning, and other behind-the-scenes wisdom from such a place.

It wasn't so much the music, though that part was easy on the ears and beautiful too. But the further in I went, the more apparent it was that its biggest strength was the emotion. The tension. The relations. The onset of nervousness and doubt as the big day neared. The progress they made, as characters, and as a band. Their mindset. Their resolve. How it wavered. How it strengthened. The small things they said, or did, or went through to get better. The little things.

It showed in the animation too, which was clean, bright and slice-of-life-ish, but the tension builds up almost unnoticeably toward the end. And when they're preparing to walk out on stage you're really sitting at the edge of your seat; as wound up as any one in the band about to walk up. Or even the supporter group, who won't be walking. You feel like you're there with them, sharing in the moment, feeling what they're feeling; going through the school of life all over again.

That's what makes it so masterful. It might look like nothing special, but it's a lot like life that way. It becomes as special as you make it.

So maybe everyone gets the same first impressions. Just like the band when they first started practicing. Like: is this worth it? Can I really go so far... with this series? If I try too hard and fail I'll just embarrass myself. Not with the series, of course. You can't embarrass yourself by watching this - though you might immerse yourself enough to feel embarrassed when the characters do! Kumiko, Kousaka, Katou and Kawashima. They're the four main girls.

All I can give is the same recommendation that random stranger gave me: Watch it. If you don't stray from your course, it won't let you down. And to conclude, with a little slice of life wisdom from the show:
You only succeed at your dreams if you say them out loud!

Go on. Once you've seen it maybe you will too.

 rated 5/5: friggin awesome

Triage X is an action anime a bit like Black Lagoon or Elfen Lied. Plotwise it's a bit of a hybrid, considering the main characters are mainly a group of girls - either nurses of patients who went through particularly traumatic life experiences before they found their new purpose (Elfen Lied), and one guy, all whose purpose is now plucking out the 'tumors' of society, as the righteous but still plenty -criminal organization Black Label (that's the Black Lagoon part). There are probably better comparisons, but those two are the ones that come to mind. Black Label only kill the bad guys, but they do kill people.

There's also an almost excessive amount of breasts, and though framed in such a way as to enhance scenes rather than obstruct them, it does get a bit excessive. Arashi Mikami's the main character, and he's usually in good company of at least one girl. Sometimes naked ones. Often with singed or otherwise missing clothes. They never do anything lewd, but they sure do showcase their boobs. Guns. Explosions. Close-up body parts. That's the common combo. I don't know why I'm complaining.

Despite the obvious fan service, Triage X does manage to keep the story pretty serious and sinister on the side, and Black Label's mysterious shadow adversary developing a drug that makes victims derive pleasure from pain helps add in an element of sensual sinfulness as well, a suitable branch for this dark organization. Though there aren't any all too graphical scenes I was surprised at how far some of it went. For an anime.

The visuals are alluring, the animation's great, the action's rampant, and the characters all have their story to tell, but it ends oddly, and jumps between criminals in a way that seems to leave plenty of gaps in the plot line. If you're bothered by oppai that might get in the way too, but I feel the big flaw was the lack of continuity and build-up. It feels fragmented, badly organized and with an inconclusive end.

Character relations don't develop much either, nor between the main ones - or with the villains. It looks, sounds and feels good... but falls flat. It could've been something over the top. Excessively sexual, violent, uncensored and fresh - but though it seems they were on the right way, they don't quite get there.

 rated 3/5: not bad