With the rising threat of terrorism looming over the nations of the world, a secret multinational organisation, Mithril, has been created to combat terrorists by striking at their heart with advanced weaponry and highly trained and specialized soldiers. The source of Mithril's sophisticated equipment are people known as "Whispered", human databases of "Black Technology". In order to keep a suspected Whispered, Kaname Chidori, out of enemy hands, Mithril assigns a young sergeant by the name of Sagara Sousuke to enter her high school as a student and watch over her. Sagara, although he's sixteen years old, has never lived a normal teenage life and chaos ensues as he tries to deal with both his duty to protect Chidori and his cover as a student.
Well, where to start? This anime really is special, one of my favourites. It's full of mystery and of course the occasional bomb going off here in there but to be expected from a military science fiction / action. If that's not your kind of genre, this remains highly recommended for action isn't all you see. There's comedy, romance and just plain silliness. The love-hate relationship between Major Melissa Mao and her subordinate Sergeant Kurz Weber is a reoccurring joke along with Kaname's methods of taming Sousuke after his many mess-ups.
The animation quality is of the same outstanding caliber. Rich, detailed backgrounds offset and highlight the smoothly animated characters and mecha. The computer aided inking is expertly done and various CG (including water and heat distortion, lighting effects and even fog and smoke) are flawlessly integrated into every scene. Combined with the excellent sound track and effects, this series just begs to be played on a big screen with full surround sound.
However, good animation alone does not a classic make. You need a well-written story and likable characters to tell it, and Full Metal Panic has those as well! Every character, even minor players like Chidori's high school friends, are distinct personalities with their own motives, personal habits, and even facial expressions.
If you really just want the comedy I recommend Full Metal Panic! Fumoffu. The next season in the Full Metal Panic series. The writers went for a full-on comedy in the high school Jundai High where Sousuke struggles to meet the criteria of a normal high school student. Though it is next in line of the series it is not actually the sequel. Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid is the sequel to the famous Full Metal Panic! And what a sequel it was.
Clannad is truly a treat for a fellow anime lover. As plots spread and intertwine through masses of storytelling and mysteries it always manages to pull you closer to the screen. Filled with sadness, happiness, laughter and love this anime is one of “Key's” greatest inventions.
The plot itself isn’t of primary importance, and there are very little in the way of big impact twists and dramatic revelations, as the story is driven largely by themes, such as family, loneliness, memories and dreams. These aren’t necessarily themes that are new to “Key” works, but the depth to which they are explored and allowed to drive the story is. A large part of the storytelling transcends plot and dialogue. Gestures, body-language and symbolisms say an incredible lot about the mindsets of characters and the states of relationships, which are the major elements that underpin the story. Nothing is so overly subtle that one misses it if one is paying attention, but very little of the truly meaningful undercurrents that make the story is spoon-fed to the audience either. This gives the audience a nice balance for an easier palate.
Key productions were given more freedom with this project, sacrificing focus and pace. With the exception of Fuko, and, to a lesser extent, Kotomi, none of the supporting characters received enough focus to make anything substantial of their dilemmas. Sunohara’s arc eventually becomes about Okazaki, Tomoyo gets only half an episode in the spotlight, while Kyou gets even less. While I wish there was more time available to explore these characters further, I can forgive this since the two characters that received the most screen-time were the most interesting. It's fair to say “Clannad: After Story” belonged to Tomoya and Nagisa. It follows them as they grow their own family and stumble over troubles along the road with short appearances from supporting characters.
For something which isn’t really a comedy, Clannad is hilarious. A lot of the funniest situations are instigated by Okazaki, but he somehow manages to come off as manipulative without being mean-spirited. It adds another respectable element to his character and separates him even further from the delinquent he deemed himself to be. While a recurring Fuko joke is random, bordering on unnecessary but as it occurs less frequently than others it remains a throat tickler.
Clannad is equiped with an amazing soundtrack, often viewers have said to have sang along to the much loved “Dango Daikazoku” originally sung by Chata. The line up of mellow melodies increase the stories flow and send viewers onto the stage of their imaginations. The ending has been oddly received by its audience, but I really don’t understand why. Sure, there are still unanswered questions regarding the Illusionary World, but in my opinion, the importance of this pales in comparison to the issues that were tied up in the final episode. While I’ll certainly welcome a second season, mostly for the last part of the source material, there was nothing in the finale of this season that I was unsatisfied with.
The dramatic peak of this story ends halfway through the second season but the constant character development that the leads go through intrigues the audience to watch them grow from a so called delinquent guy and shy, mysterious girl into mature young adults with the addition of Ushio: an adventures daddy's little girl.
InuYasha: The Final Act, 犬夜叉 完結編What really irritated me about the first season was it's constant repetition, but now 'Inuyasha' is back with a new season 'Inuyasha: The Final Act' and with new plot twists in every episode keeping the audience hooked and excited. I literally jumped at the screen when seeing Inuyasha's attempted to kiss Kagome but it really showed how the two characters had matured and progressed from the first season.
Kagome Higurashi, your average Japanese
I really like that there's no long recap, there's no recasting, there's no new composer; everything just continues from where it left off as if the show was never canceled. It makes it completely consistent with the first show. I'm glad they're making this as close to Inuyasha episode 168 as possible.
I'm shocked to hear that they are cramming 21 chapters of manga content into 26 half-hour episodes but as of Tuesday 22nd they're on their 21st episode and everything is flowing calmly, nothing is rushed or overlooked. I just have to say bravo to the anime producers 'Sunrise' for their effort on bringing back life to the long awaited Inuyasha chronicles.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood opens with the kind of grand introduction that seems to claim that, well actually, not much needs to be said at all. It does in fact assume you are already well familiar with larger than life characters of Edward and Alphonse Elric, throwing itself straight into the action - a rogue alchemist wrecking the city and gunning for King Bradley’s head. It doesn’t seem to care much whether you even know what an alchemist is, or a King Bradley for that matter, and proceeds to present all the regular characters the way the season return of your favourite sit-com would. If there’s a single anime fan on the planet who hasn’t at least heard of FMA, they’re possibly one in a billion.
And likely those 999,999,999 fans who have more than heard of FMA will be wondering – what’s changed? After all, no one’s under the illusion that this could have ever been a continuation of the original series, considering what happened. So why the remake? Or, to be more exact, what will the remake involve other than being a more faithful rendition of the longer narrative of Hiromu Arakawa’s manga (which at time of this article is marking its 98th volume in Japan)?
Well, for all you people longing for Ed and Winry to get together here's the day you have all been waiting for ;Hiromu Arakawa's manga includes more of the romance between them and the new FMA is based on his work, not veering of to the anime writers point of view. Also if your into action FMA: Brotherhood leaves none of that behind. With fast pace battle scenes and tense moments where you don't know what's going to happen.
Not much more to say about this eye gripping, heart throbbing masterpeace but that it still, despite being based on the same work, has this amazing ability to pack so many emotions into a half-hour anime.Wow!
Fullmetal Alchemist, 鋼の錬金術師
There are just a handful of times when an animated television series lives up to what the medium can do. Cowboy Bebop did it. BLEACH did it. Full Metal Panic did it. And though there are more, suffice it to say that another title should be added to these ranks: Fullmetal Alchemist. In its 51 episodes, we get humor, drama, horror, and pathos packed together in a lovely combination that is among the best anime series ever created.
Edward and Alphonse Elric aren't exactly your typical brothers. The older Ed, a short fellow who's constantly picked on for his height, is missing an arm and a leg; the younger Al appears for all the world to be a suit of armor. On top of their odd appearance, they are alchemists. In their world, the law of equivalent exchange rules, and alchemists can use the materials around them to manipulate their environment. There's only one rule to alchemy: the dead cannot be brought back to life.
In a desperate attempt to break that rule, the brothers lost body and limbs to the void, and they are determined to get them back. How? They seek the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary gem that can supposedly get around the truth of equivalent exchange and could restore their original forms. But to find the stone, they will have to become a part of the military establishment...something that Edward takes as a necessary evil. As they take on strange homunculi and other alchemists determined to have the stone for themselves, they will discover the dark secrets of alchemy that will forever alter their lives and the lives of those they love.
Fullmetal Alchemist is a tasty package from start to finish. Though it is not as gorgeous, perhaps, it always looks perfect for what it is supposed to be. Because the character designs are not hyper-realistic and the humor often exaggerates those designs. The opening songs are loud and boisterous rock tunes that set the show's tone.
But what makes Fullmetal Alchemist a dramatic powerhouse is its ability to run the gambit of emotions in a single episode. There are often a few goofy moments in each segment, but they never feel out of place. When the time is right, though, the story can turn serious in an instant. The fact that Fullmetal Alchemist can pull off hysterical comedy and tragic pathos in a half-hour is astounding. The concepts discussed are deeply moral and ethical, which makes the show even more powerful. Not only does Fullmetal Alchemist raise personal questions - for example, what lengths you would go to in order that a loved one might return from the dead - but it covers topics ranging from familial loyalty and military principles to religion, racism, and genocide. The humorous bits actually work to make the philosophical underpinnings palatable: I came in for a good story, laughed often, and got a lot more besides.
Sometimes, it is impossible to review a show and not compare it to something else you've just seen. What we think of one is often based on what we've thought of something else. Bleach has nothing to do with this very statement. If you've seen an anime with superhuman powers beyond imagination with added swords as big as Mt. Everest that have living souls inside of them with spirits chained to buildings, people who can walk on air, hair clips that can heal and a bow and arrow that can shoot billions at a time then please tell but so far I've seen none other.
In almost every way, Bleach is the polar opposite in terms of a TV show. The animation is sometimes haphazard, and the character designs are nothing special...even verging on ugly. The show at times is painfully slow and some plot holes are achingly obviously. And yet...while this is not a great show by any means, it is a good one, and it's precisely because it has heart.
Ichigo is a relatively normal (if morose) teen who has the ability to see ghosts. Most of the time, it wasn't an issue...just an annoyance, really. But when he and his family are attacked, through a series of circumstances he is granted the power of a soul reaper. Soul reapers, it turns out, are a sort of gatekeeper to the netherworld, and they fulfill a few roles. One of their tasks is to help souls who have, due to personal attachments to this world, stuck around rather than passing over into the "Soul Society." Most of the time, these spirits are harmless, and they may wander around for a long time since soul reapers are usually busy with a far worse problem: hollows. Hollows are nasty creatures that like to eat souls, and their bone-white masks often conceal the spirits of those whom they've overtaken to become more powerful. Soul reapers have the thankless task of defeating them and sending them (and their intended victims) over to the "other side."
So Ichigo now has more problems than he ever thought possible. For one, hollows recognize his incredibly strong spiritual energy and think he'd make a tasty snack, so they show up often. Second is Rukia, the soul reaper from whom he received his powers. When Ichigo gained his powers, Rukia lost most of hers, so for now she's stuck living in his closet, explaining just what the heck is going on to Ichigo and trying to keep him from getting himself killed. Add in two sisters and a wacky dad, a girl with a crush on him and a gaggle of friends who start catching on to his spirit-fighting abilities, a wacko substitute soul that resides in a stuffed tiger, and a guy whose business acts as an arms dealer for soul reapers, and Ichigo's got far more than he can handle.
Its very few flaws are banished by its clever plot twists. One minute you think you know it all but then something happens. It's all different. Its changed. Its what grabs you in like a moth to a flame. Your there, staring at the amazing action happening right before your eyes. You'll certainly follow the unpredictable waves of plot as it turns left and right to its end.
