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evangelion 2-0

Evangelion 2.0 – You Can NOT Advance

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Summary
Shinji Ikari is settling into his life in Tokyo-3 and NERV and looking for ways to bond with his distant father, Gendo. A new hot shot pilot shows up in the form of Asuka Langley, a fiery redhead with a holier-than-thou attitude. Angels attack, shit gets crazy.

Plot 3.5/5
+ Pacing is very cinematic and a vast improvement over the first film. Every event feels meaningful and has plenty of breathing room before the next plot point emerges.

– Suffers from two climaxes that make each one individually feel less important, the second of which incorporates some ambiguous and unexplained imagery that seems to contradict the rules of this world.

Character 4/5
+ All of the main characters develop nicely. The dynamics between the three main pilots is varied and substantial, making each character’s motivation clear, consistent, and valid.

– While Shinji’s relationship with his father is fleshed out nicely, Gendo doesn’t get individual development that is necessary to providing depth to his side of the relationship. He comes off as unnecessarily cold.

Theme 3.5/5
+ Shinji carries the brunt of the thematic weight in this film, furthering thematic ideas of acceptance and duty from the first film. His character leans heavily on gaining the respect and affection of his father in the first two acts, but when Gendo betrays Shinji’s personal philosophies at the end of the second act, Shinji’s focus shifts to his responsibilities to his fellow pilots. The third act is driven solely by his sense of duty.

– More religious gobbledygook muck up the third act and second climax. The supernatural idea of divinity serves to explain the otherwise unexplainable, feeling unearned and lazy in what the audience understands to be the established world. Feels inconsistent and out of place.

Diction 3/5
+ Writing is as competent as the first film. Performances are emotionally weighty all-around.

– Gendo’s dialogue gets a bit mustache-twirly diabolical in places and feels a bit too on-the-nose for his character.

Music 1.5/5
+ The music in the third act is by-and-large appropriately powerful and complementary.

– The brunt of the music is chintzy and corny. The score is heavy on distracting bubbly fluff pieces that serve only to drain the dramatic tension from an otherwise emotionally heavy atmosphere. Easily the worst aspect of the film.

Spectacle 4/5
+ Still gorgeous. Fluid and colorful. Clearly a labor of love by the animation team.

– The CGI elements don’t seem to blend as well with the cel animation this time around. It’s not terribly distracting, just more noticeable.

3.5 moody adolescents out of 5.

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code geass

Code Geass

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Alternate Titles:  Code Geass – Hangyaku no Lelouch, Code Geass – Lelouch of the Rebellion

Original Japanese Release Date: 2006

Episode Length/Run-time: 25 Episodes

Summary:

With the aid of gigantic robotic robots known as Knightmare Frames colonialism has taken new meaning and the Empire of Britannia has invaded Japan and placed it under colonial rule.  Lelouch a Britannian living in Area 11 (Japan’s new name) vows to free Japan and overthrow the Empire.  One day after school he stumbles upon a military secret which happens to be a young girl named C.C.  She gives him the power of Geass which can be used on any person only once to make them obey any order.  With this weapon Lelouch’s rebellion begins.

Review:

Code Geass, reviewed here in full (both first and second season) is a very well done anime.  While plots of overthrowing governments, coup de etats and war is nothing new to anime Code Geass brings lively characters and it’s own interesting spins to the rehashed themes in such a way that it feels fresh and new.  One of the fantastic things about this anime is the pacing.  It moves at near breakneck speed wasting no time to get to the meat of the show.  From there on they don’t dally with stupid antics (okay, they do very rarely) and focus on progressing what they set out.

The mech battles in this show are really well executed and Lelouch’s character as the ringleader is perfect.  Possible best friend to Light Yagami Lelouch is calculating, careful, cunning, and slightly cocky in just the right ways.  While we’re on the subject of characters they are just the right mix for everyone watching.  Enough bishonen to go around, cute girls ranging from well endowed sexy to loli and your stereotypical characters thrown in there to round out the mix nicely. Sometimes the stereotyping is taken a little too far and the acting could be seen as borderline corny.  But generally speaking it’s done at the right times and I feel it’s presented in such a way that works for the series overall.

The one thing that really docks this series overall is the fights in the second season.  Throughout the whole series there is gray area moral dilemmas argued and a clever cat and mouse both on and off the battlefield between Lelouch and Suzaku.  However, in the second season Suzaku, apparently, closes the mental gap rather quickly on Lelouch.  All of a sudden he, quite annoyingly, shows up out of the blue at just the right moment to squah Lelouch’s plans and win or thwart the battle.  As a viewer it not only screams unrealistic, but it screams annoying.

Despite this, the series is very well executed and has something for everyone.  The animation is clean and crisp and the music does not disappoint either.  With the characters and engaging plot I’d easily classify this anime as a gateway drug into the world of mecha for any fan or fan-to-be.

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barefoot gen

Barefoot Gen

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Alternate Titles: Hidashi no Gen

Original Japanese Release Date: 1983

Episode Length/Run-time: 83 minutes

Summary:

Gen lives with his mother, father, and little brother in Hiroshima 1945 =.  It has been 3 years since the conflict with the U.S. began and the trials of the war have begun to take their toll on the country of Japan.  Despite the scarcity of food and other necessities they work to make their lives happy and the best they can.  However on the 6th of August 1945 everything changes with the dropping of the first atomic bomb in human history.  Gen’s fight for survival begins in the tattered remains of what once was his normalcy.

Review:

Barefoot Gen began as a 10 volume manga running from 1983-1984.  It was later produced into a feature film in 1983 with a sequel in 1986.  There have also been a number of novels and live action movies and TV series paired with the series.

I think what makes this movie so impacting is it’s creator: Nakazawa.  Nakazawa is a survivor of the atomic bombing himself and produced this manga to tell his story and the story of all those who lost their lives and who had to live through the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.  Knowing this the anime becomes all the more impacting.  However, also knowing this you have to understand that the anime is being told from the experiences of a survivor who made it through but this is going to add a spin to his story.

The story doesn’t really begin until the bombing.  While it starts the day before this acts as a set-up for everything which is to come.  When the bombing happens gen is separated from his family and what ensues is a grotesque and historically accurate series of images.  People’s flesh melt off, their eyes boil and pool from their eyes, their clothing burns away in an instant.  Those that do survive are left as wandering corpses desperately thirsty for water and aid.  The scenery changes in an instant to a hellish landscape where everything is destroyed.  Gen navigates through this back to his family only to see his house ablaze.  Only his mother escapes and they watch in horror as his little brother and father burn to death before their eyes.  They attempt to sleep, but cannot rest, haunted by the screams of the injured throughout the city.

Gen’s mother, pregnant, gives birth to a baby girl prematurely.  Since no midwife or doctor can be found Gen must attempt to aid in the delivery of the baby.  The baby is delivered and now Gen must look after himself and his mother and newborn sister as the patriarch of the family.

This movie is one heartbreak after another.  Just when things seem to be going good they crush you again.  The overall hopelessness hangs over the viewer and character like a dense haze that cannot be lifted.  What likely makes it even more unbearable is the fact that it is historically accurate on many levels.

That is not to say though the movie is perfect.  Sometimes it does seem sensationalized.  This anime is never uttered because of the fact that it just doesn’t stand up in production to other WWII anime such as grave of the fireflies and took significantly longer to see a DVD release.  The music is lacking and the animation shows its age clearly.

That being said the content and commentary alone is enough to put it on anyone’s must-watch list.  The overall message, despite the sorrow, is one of the perseverance and strength of the human spirit.  Leaving the viewer on a hopeful note compared to other films and works.  This sometimes is criticized for seeming unrealistic but in my opinion it is a powerful message to a good movie.

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gundam wing

Gundam Wing

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Alternate Titles: New Mobile Report Gundam Wing, Shin Kidou Senki Gundam W (新機動戦記ガンダムＷ)

Original Japanese Release Date: 1995

Episode Length/Run-time: 49 Episodes

Summary:

In a time far in the future in the year “After Colony 195” humans have removed their ties to the earth and taken to the stars to colonize the galaxy.  These colonies answer to the United Earth Sphere Alliance, which oppresses the colonies sovereignty with military power.  Despite the colonies efforts for a peaceful resolution the tides change resulting in five scientists to train five boys to be pilots of five mecha known as Mobile Suit Gundams.  They are sent to earth from the five colonies to fight against the Organization of Zodiac (OZ), the strong arm of the United Earth Sphere Alliance.  Their presence changes the tides of the war but will it be enough to change it’s outcome?

Review:

To review this without sounding like a raging fangirl will be hard.  Be impartial Chiaki, Be impartial. You see, this was really the first mecha series I have ever sat down and watched.  It ran on Toonami Midnight Run from 199-2003, if you don’t know what Toonami midnight run is then don’t say so because it’ll make me just feel old!

Gundam Wing, I feel, is the “Gundam for the masses” type of anime.  Not to imply that the other gundam series are bad or that people in general can’t be into them however this series is lighter on the sci-fi and mech (I feel) than any other Gundam series before.  Where most of the Gundam series are part of a greater, overarching, sci-fi star epic Gundam Wing has little to do with this.  Now, some accuse it of being simply a pretty boy show, which I will argue against as well.  I find it more of an interesting hybrid.

I don’t find it anymore of a “pretty boy” show than any of the Gundam series that have came since, when animation qualities allowed for more of a “pretty” look.  I think what most people are really hitting at is that it seems like in this Gundam series there is more of an emphasis on relationships than other Gundam series, at least from what I have seen.  Most Gundams are very pure to the mech/war/sci-fi tones to them.  Sure there may be a love interest here, or there, but for the most part the series stays focused.  In Gundam Wing they tried to add a lot more depth to the characters but they did it in the wrong way.  They added ridiculous back stories and personality flaws that really takes it up to a ridiculous degree at times.  Of the five Gundam pilots there is one sane one, Duo Maxwell, and I am NOT just saying that as a fangirl.  Think about it, Duo is the only one when crazy s**t is going down who says “WTF?”  (Take the scene where he saves Relena from Heero killing her and Relena scolds him for it!) Quatre’s mother still tucks him into bed at night I’m sure, because he’s incapable of doing hardly anything on his own.  Wufei redefines egotistical and sexist, even among the worst of anime characters.  Trowa takes “the strong silent type” to a whole new level, we were lucky if we heard one word from him an episode.  And Heero Yuy is damn near psychotic, the “shoot first ask questions later” type to the extreme.  And I get it, they each had something in their past to make them this way, but the over-the-top realization of their character flaws ends up hurting the series more than adding another dimension to it.

The only character that may be more over-the-top crazy than the main cast is Relena Peacecraft, Heero’s supposed “love interest” (that is if he really does have feelings, I’ve got my bet on Relena telling him he loves her and she being such a crazy B**ch that he is too afraid to say no).  Seriously, this chick takes the CAKE when it comes to anime characters you just want to die.  And Heero ALMOST kills her.. stupid Duo…

Now, at this point, you’re likely thinking “Dang Chiaki, back off.”  But I liked this anime, I really did.  Sure the characters of the main cast were slightly off the wall but the villains more than made up for it.  Lady Une is like the definition of villian, calm, cool, collected but will still kick some major ass.  And if you like her you’ll love Treize, he is the perfect ringleader, convicted in his ideals to almost a slightly creepy cold level.  Not to mention Zechs, (Gundam Wing’s incarnation of Char, if you don’t know who that is you have some Gundam universe catching up to do) he’s the incarnation of brains and beauty.  Now, if that Noin Chick would just step off….

Gundam Wing has fantastic animation, and great music.  And the world is set up wonderfully.  If you ignore the over-the-top-ness at times of the characters you’ll see the deep and engaging plot of desperation and desire for freedom.  On a Gundam scale, this series is definitely not the best one if you’re counting what is “true” to the Gundam ideals.  However, that doesn’t mean this series is bad by any stretch.  And I think it’s a great gateway drug into the Gundam universe for someone who may think that they don’t like mecha.

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