Sunday, 15 February, 2015
Kaiser and Favaro are both bounty hunters within a world shared by humans, angels and demons. They were close friends in their childhood but turned into enemies after the events in which both of their fathers were killed. Being of fundamentally different character they now once again have to cooperate as they both promised to help the mysterious demon girl Amira on her journey to Helheim. Things get even more complicated when word spreads that the first half of the key to the seal of Bahamut, a monster that laid waste to the world 2000 years ago, was stolen.
Shingeki no Bahamut Genesis is set in a quite interesting medieval fantasy world. The dispute between angels and demons is overshadowed by the fear of the possibility of Bahamut’s return, while there are different fractions that each has their own agenda that is slowly revealed to the viewer. Humorous characters are used to lighten up the mood within the story, which otherwise could have been more dark and epic. If this is for better or worse is for the viewer to decide. There clearly went a lot of work into the design of the different characters, races and costumes, yet a 12 episode series can only offer a small glimpse into such a rich and interesting universe. Many things that are introduced to the story are only briefly glossed over or are left unexplained. More episodes or a second season would have offered more opportunities to delve deeper into this world and its characters.
Rating: 8.5/10
Wednesday, 30 April, 2014
The story is set in a world inhabited by humanoid titans that hunt and devour humans without reason or remorse. For more than one hundred years humanity could only survive within a country surrounded by thick concentric walls. One day an especially tall titan called the Colossus mysteriously appears and breaches the outermost wall, Wall Maria, enabling smaller titans to invade. Many lives are lost and the whole area has to be evacuated behind Wall Rose, the middle wall. Young Eren Yeager and his adopted sister Mikasa Ackerman lose their mother on that day and join the military to pursue their revenge on the titans.
Attack on Titan is arguably the best anime of 2013. The tense and hopeless situation of the people living in this ruthless world portrays an astonishing dark atmosphere. As even the military is no match for the titans, even many main characters die after being introduced, which makes for an unpredictable story. As it unfolds, many mysteries regarding the titans, the walls and this world are revealed and keep viewers interested. Action-filled, dark and bloody animes with solid plots tend to be popular especially among international anime fans. Still, Attack on Titan is not only successful because it fits perfectly into this slot, but also because it does so well in animation and its implementation. Therefore I think this anime deserves its hype.
Rating: 10/10
Friday, 5 November, 2010
Review: Failing in History, high school student Tokidoki has to take remedial classes at a new state-of-the-art virtual reality museum. The museum digitally replicates a very realistic Edo of the Bakumatsu period. As soon as Toki enters, he unnoticingly steps through a portal backwards to a slightly abnormal Edo of the Bakumatsu period. He quickly gets attacked by a bizarre creature called a Nue which takes Toki’s left eye. He is saved by a pretty young girl named Kuchiha, and he now has to deal with his situation in a strange land trying to return home.
A well animated series with decent fighting scenes and a variety of demons. It’s a period piece so you’ll see a lot of shrine maidens, samurai and barkeeps. The main character is a bit frustrating to watch at first but then grows on you. Overall pretty good if you are into Japanese culture and believes.
Rating: 7/10
Thursday, 4 November, 2010
Review: During a huge storm Ikuto falls overboard and is swept away. When he regains consciousness he finds himself on an isolated forgotten island. When he meets the locals he learns that it is impossible to get off this island easily and that this island is only inhabited by females due to some tragic accident. Being the only male around soon the young ladies start to fight over young Ikuto so much that it’s already scary.
Nagasarete Airantou is obviously a harem show featuring rather young characters, but the settings of this story have a lot of logical inconsistencies. However, this show wasn’t ment to make sense anyway, so if you just accept the settings how they are, you will see some nice harem comedy, while even though there are a lot of love candidates, you will know who is going to win in the end right from the start.
Rating: 7/10
Thursday, 4 November, 2010
Review: Claymore or silver-eyed witches; that’s how the villagers call those members of the organisation whose profession it is to find and slay Yoma. Those Claymore are all half Yoma half human, very powerful and female, fore only woman are able to survive merging with a Yoma. Yoma are powerful demons who can take human form to remain undetected. However, they can not fool the eyes of a Claymore since they themselves are half Yoma. When there is a suspicion of a Yoma hiding in town, villagers will hire a Claymore to get rid of it. Claire is one of those Claymore, but she is travelling with a young boy who acts as her cook, which is unusual since Claymore usually are feared by humans and live a lonely monotonous life. What this boy yet doesn’t know is that each time Claire fights, she isn’t only fighting with the Yoma in front of her, but also with the Yoma within her. It is the fate of all Claymore to one day lose to the Yoma within at which point they will request their closest fellow Claymore to kill them before they lose their human heart.
Claymore tells the story of the sad, lonely and terrible fate of Claire, a young woman who decided to become a Claymore, and a boy, who decided to accompany her. This promising theme is supported by an adequate atmosphere and animation quality.
Rating: 9/10
Thursday, 4 November, 2010
Review: Review: El Cazador de la Bruja is about Ellis, a young girl who is on the run. It is said, that she has killed the physicist Heinrich Schneider. Now, many bounty hunters are after her. So is Nadi, a young female bounty hunter. But then an old woman who was looking after Ellis asks Nadi to take care of Ellis, and so Nadi decides to travel with her to reveal her unknown past.
El Cazador reminded me of Noir, while this doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, because Noir was actually a really good anime. However, it is too early to judge if El Cazador will live up to past similar anime shows like Noir and Madlax, but this author’s stories are known for getting more interesting as their mysteries reveal themselves.
Rating: 8/10
Wednesday, 20 October, 2010
Review: „To create something, you have to sacrifice something of equal value”; this is the law of equivalent exchange in a world where alchemy is among the biggest fields of scientific research. Yet, only few people are gifted with an alchemist‘s power to, when understanding the structure of matter, break it down and rebuild it at will. Very early the two Elric Brothers, Edward and Alphons, learned how to use that miraculous power, which reminded their mother of her husband, who left the family without a trace years ago. When she died of illness, in their sadness they committed the big taboo of trying to create a human through alchemy in an attempt to revive their dead mother. A miserable failure in which Edward lost an arm and a leg, while Alphons lost his whole body living now with his soul attached to an iron armor. The law of equivalent exchange, or the iron law, how it is often called, might as well be how this whole world works; or at least that’s what they thought when they burned down their house and left on a journey to regain their bodies, leaving their hometown and friends behind.
Fullmetal Alchemist – Brotherhood is a completely new remake of the previous highly successful 51 episodes long Fullmetal Alchemist series. Both series are based on an original manga of the same name. When the previous series caught up to the story of the manga, which released only 1 chapter each month, the animation crew did a pretty good job in continuing the story their own way, while picking up some elements of new chapters here and there. All in all it was a well designed and well animated shounen action-adventure that deserved its success. Basically there is little need for a remake of a series that’s almost perfect to begin with. As in the anime-industry success alone very often is not a sufficient indicator for sequels, my early guess was that this time they plan to stick closer to the original manga story and present it in an even better animation quality. While as suspected the animation quality is indeed satisfying, the presentation of the story at this point is a little disappointing in my point of view. Episode 1 simply serves as an introduction and shows things that aren’t in the manga at all, yet do not contradict its plot. Episode 2 serves as a flashback and already shows a rushed version of the Elric brothers’ pasts; Too much to be only a small hint like in the manga, yet too little to be sad and touching. As it turns out major flaws keep appearing as the story goes on: Important key scenes like Edward’s arm being destroyed by Scar and Hughe’s funeral are designed rather sloppy and do not unfold the full touching or exciting impact they did in the previous series and in the manga. Even though the same animation studio is responsible for the production, it’s ironic to see a remake that hardly surpasses the first series at all except for the animation quality. Despite those flaws, this remake is a must-see for everyone who did or did not see the first series. Let’s hope they will do a better job as the story unfolds.
Rating: 10/10