Ergo Proxy #5 [TV Series]

Sci-Fi, Thriller, 0 comments

Preview: The story of Ergo Proxy had always split its attention between the events within the domed city of Romdo, a cold, mechanical dystopia closed off from the world, and the bleak surroundings leading from there to Mosk, where Re-l and Vincent seek the truth of the Proxies and...

Score: 7 out of 10

[Read full review]

[Reviewed: Sat, 10 May 2008]

Ergo Proxy #4 [TV Series]

Sci-Fi, Thriller, 2 comments

Preview: Having decided to continue her search for the truth with Vincent, Re-l prepares for the journey ahead, but her AutoReiv companion, Iggy, defies his orders to return home, as the suggestion in the last episode, that he's infected with the Cogito Virus, holds true, ultimately...

Score: 6 out of 10

[Read full review]

[Reviewed: Sun, 4 May 2008]

Fantastic Children #4 [TV Series]

Fantasy, Sci-Fi, 0 comments

Preview: “Silver white hair, eyes of the deep young sea…’ The mystery underlying the true identities of the Children of Béfort is at last revealed in this volume. But before that, the action moves to explore Professor Gherta’s past. A school visit to...

Score: 8 out of 10

[Read full review]

[Reviewed: Mon, 28 Apr 2008]

Witchblade #2 [TV Series]

Action, Drama, Fan Service, Sci-Fi, 2 comments

Preview: After being confronted with women possessing similar powers and appearance as herself when transformed by the Witchblade, Masane returns to her partners in the Douji Group conglomerate to learn more about the Witchblade and all things surrounding it. Masane's 'employer',...

Score: 7 out of 10

[Read full review]

[Reviewed: Tue, 22 Apr 2008]

Ergo Proxy #3 [TV Series]

Sci-Fi, Thriller, 0 comments

Preview: After hesitantly giving the last volume an eight to match the first, and indicate that the series was still largely on track, this volume has, unfortunately, made all too real some of my worst anxieties. Waking up in a richly attired home, but unsure whose or where exactly...

Score: 7 out of 10

[Read full review]

[Reviewed: Sun, 20 Apr 2008]

Eureka Seven #9 (0) | Read | 8 out of 10

The penultimate volume unsurprisingly ups the ante in terms of exposition and tension as Eureka, Renton and the kids are led by Norb to the inner sanctum of the Voderac and, following a meeting with the enigmatic Sakuya, embark on a journey to a very familiar-looking planet. Meanwhile the...

Mushishi #3 (0) | Read | 8 out of 10

“I have a tendency to attract mushi…the wandering life suits me.” But how did Ginko become a Mushi-master? And is he happy to spend his life constantly on the road? This volume provides some answers to these questions. The tales of a wandering Mushi-master will inevitably...

Fantastic Children #3 (0) | Read | 8 out of 10

Mysterious black-clad, white-haired children who have been sighted again and again over five hundred years; a lonely orphan girl who constantly draws the same picture of an unearthly landscape; a team of scientists carrying out dangerous secret experiments: these are just some of the elements...

Bleach #2 (0) | Read | 8 out of 10

Concluding the first series of one of the biggest anime in years, Bleach 1:2 runs right on from the precedent set in the first volume, seeing the resolution to Ichigo's conflict with classmate Ishida Uryu, the onset of powers in his friends and the repercussions of the dictates of Soul Society....

Bleach #1 (3) | Read | 8 out of 10

Bleach is the latest in animes most prolific genre - the shonen - which typically means action and a touch of comedy to keep things light, but which, in the tradition of the Dragonball series and its contemporaries (One Piece, Naruto and Bleach), can also denote a voluminous episode count. Just...

Eureka Seven #8 (0) | Read | 8 out of 10

The relationship between Renton and Eureka runs into more problems while Norb, the Voderac priest, offers important insights into the Coralians and how their existence is tied to humans and the entire planet. Meanwhile, Holland’s brother Dewey is using the Ageha squad to take the issue of...

FLCL (Furi Kuri) #1 (0) | Read | 9 out of 10

When it comes to reviewing anime, one of the most frustrating tasks can be screen-capping. Sometimes you’ll remember the cool scenes, jump straight in and snap away. Job done. But with FLCL, it’s not that easy; everything looks cool. So, when I skipped through the first two episodes,...

Berserk #2 (0) | Read | 8 out of 10

A run-in with an immortal demon-warrior named Zodd, an assault on a strategically significant fortress and underhand court politics present both problems and opportunities for Guts, Griffith and the Band of the Hawk as they rise up the ranks in the army of Midland. It’s becoming...

Eureka Seven #7 (1) | Read | 8 out of 10

A striking aspect of watching Eureka Seven is that you come to expect the unexpected. As enjoyable as I find the aerial combat and edge-of-the-seat tension to be, it has a complexity of writing and confident direction that continues to amaze me, even after watching a number of apparently similar...

Witchblade #1 (0) | Read | 8 out of 10

A narrative prologue that plays before the opening theme in each episode does a pretty good job of summarising the essential story of Witchblade; an ancient weapon sought for all time, but capable only of being wielded by the women it afflicts, now falls upon a new bearer, and in so doing,...

Naruto - Lost Story Mission: Protect the Waterfall (0) | Read | 6 out of 10

Naruto: The Lost Story is an interesting case of anime coming out in the UK before it does anywhere else in America. Unfortunately, it isn't an epic or even a great movie, let alone much to hold over anyone else, simply because, in itself, it's just too short, and what's exclusive to the UK...

Black Lagoon #1 (4) | Read | 8 out of 10

Amidst all the furore surrounding Geneon's uncertain future there were several new titles that I feared would never make it to UK shelves; one of those was Black Lagoon. It's fair to say BL's reputation preceded it: I'd heard a lot about this action-packed tale of kidnappings, gun-fights and...

.hack// Roots #2 (5) | Read | 6 out of 10

The search for the Key of the Twilight continues, with Ovan’s Twilight Brigade pitted against TaN. It seems, Ovan tells his followers, that there are Virus Cores to be found in the Lost Grounds and that they should start to hunt for them. But the members of the Brigade are being targeted...

IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix #6 (0) | Read | 7 out of 10

Keeping up its drive to deliver more episodes on less discs, Beez offers up the final volume of IGPX, like many of its first and last entries into recent series, with five rather than the standard four episodes (I think it's a big deal @_@). Given how much happens in each episode as it is,...

IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix #5 (0) | Read | 7 out of 10

This volume begins with Team Satomi in the midst of their race with Team Velshtein, and as ever, protagonist and forward, Takeshi, is called upon to pull his own weight and that of the team (like everyone else). With their trainer Andrei ('The Rocket') as a replacement for the injured...

Tales from Earthsea - Gedo Senki (3) | Read | 7 out of 10

Being a huge fan of Ursula Le Guin’s original novels, I was really looking forward to seeing how Studio Ghibli brought her world of Earthsea to the screen. In an unusual situation regarding licence rights, the DVD is actually released here in the UK before the US, which meant my wait...

Otogi Zoshi #6 (0) | Read | 8 out of 10

It’s the final volume of the Tokyo arc and the title 'Full Circle' is apt in more ways than one, for not only does it refer to the direction that the main characters’ lives are taking but it’s also a nod to the Yamanote railway line in Tokyo where many of the events take place....

Otogi Zoshi #5 (0) | Read | 8 out of 10

An inferno of burning cherry blossoms in a public park, a white wolf, and murderous bandits from a past age; these are just some of the dangers that Hikaru must face in her quest to find her older brother Raiko. Raiko disappeared a year ago while investigating a series of mysterious events in...

Le Chevalier D'Eon #3 (1) | Read | 8 out of 10

“It is not the sword that will change the world. It is words.” In the opening titles, we see first Saint Germain, then Robespierre writing words of power on thin air. And the words ‘revolution’ and ‘change’ run like an ominous refrain throughout this...

Golgo 13: The Professional (2) | Read | 5 out of 10

I don't know whether I'd be speaking too harshly of Golgo 13: The Professional in saying how bad it is. Make no mistake, it IS bad, but the fact that it's a quarter of a century old now makes me inclined to cut it a little slack. It's a throwback to the cheesy, ultra-violent straight-to-video...

Black Cat #1 (1) | Read | 7 out of 10

Take a sullen protagonist with a tragic past, a down-on-his-luck bounty hunter, a gun-toting girl in a kimono, a master thief with a trick or two up her sleeve and a timid girl with a terrifying secret…and you have a premise such as that of Black Cat. What is immediately apparent is that...

Elemental Gelade #3 (0) | Read | 6 out of 10

At the end of the last volume, Cou and Ren arrived at the city of Razfe Ankul, where they came across a young waitress trying to pay off her debts to a criminal gang extorting her for the money owed by her deceased parents. The waitress, Lillia, and her sister, Rasati, became friends with...

Tactics #2 (3) | Read | 8 out of 10

The thirteenth episodes of ‘tactics’ ended on an ominous note as the sinister Raiko Minamoto revealed his plan to break the pact between exorcist and folklorist Kantaro and his companion Haruka and awaken Haruka’s true nature as the terrifying demon-eating tengu (or goblin in...

Utawarerumono #1 (6) | Read | 7 out of 10

I'm glad that I watched these five episodes before jumping to conclusions on Utawarerumono because there's a lot surrounding the show's premise and origins that doesn't bode well. For one thing, it is an adaptation of a bishoujo computer game: a recent trend in the anime industry that I can't...

.hack// Roots #1 (2) | Read | 6 out of 10

The World R:2 is a newer and improved version of the MMORPG featured in the TV anime series ‘.hack//sign’ which was notable for its wonderful score by Yuki Kajiura. New series ‘.hack//roots’ plunges us straight into The World R:2 with new player Haseo. The score by...

Elemental Gelade #2 (1) | Read | 6 out of 10

Continuing on his adventure to protect and learn more about Ren (a Shichiko-Hoju, a powerful Edel Raid capable of becoming a weapon when she fuses with another person's soul), Cou and the misfits who follow him persistently try to find a way to the Edel Gardens, where Ren asked Cou to take her...

Gun X Sword #4 (0) | Read | 7 out of 10

Volume four of Gun X Sword moves immediately into the midst of things, picking up where the previous volume had left off, with the confrontations between Rei and his long-time nemesis the Claw, Van and an old friend (who turned out to be one of the Claw's 'Original Seven'), and a number of...

Origin ~Spirits of the Past~ (1) | Read | 7 out of 10

The first feature-length effort from Gonzo was always going to be, in my mind at least, a big event. The premise of a post-apocalyptic future world, a struggle against nature and everything wrapped up in super-shiny Digimation certainly sounds appealing and since one of my main criticisms of the...

Naruto #4 (2) | Read | 7 out of 10

After fighting their way through their teacher's personal tests, the paper exam and the Forest of Death, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke - the members of Squad Seven - find themselves in the preliminary rounds of the actual Chunin exam. This volume brings the expanding cast of the series into...

Ninja Resurrection (1) | Read | 5 out of 10

This was a title that acquired considerable notoriety among fans for allegedly passing itself off as a cash-in based on the success of the Ninja Scroll feature film. It actually has little or no connection with Yoshiaki Kawajiri's classic gore-fest at all, despite the similarity in DVD box...

Mushishi #1 (4) | Read | 9 out of 10

‘They have existed since the dawn of time. Some live in the deep darkness behind your eyelids. Some eat silence. Some thoughtlessly kill. Some simply drive men mad. Shortly after life emerged from the primordial ooze. these deadly creatures, mushi, came into terrifying being.’* ...

Ergo Proxy #2 (2) | Read | 8 out of 10

This volume is largely set outside the city of Romdo, in the desolate outskirts that citizens of the oppressive regime believe are uninhabitable. Vincent Law - having fled the Romdo government's attempt to frame and then secure him, to discover his connection with the Proxy in his pursuit -...

Ergo Proxy #1 (5) | Read | 8 out of 10

Ergo Proxy appears, from first impressions, to be a uniquely thoughtful and reflective series, conceived within the framework of a Westernised vision of a conversely utopian and dystopian society. The story begins in the city of Romdo, a domed structure that established wisdom regards as a...

Gun X Sword #3 (0) | Read | 7 out of 10

After the first two relatively formulaic and emotionally uninspiring volumes, Gun X Sword finally appears to be carving out its own niche, with a series of important revelations that both progress and elaborate on the story and characters. Following a promising first episode - which takes...

Le Chevalier D'Eon #2 (1) | Read | 8 out of 10

‘France will change. It must change!’ The opening words of Volume 2 are full of foreboding: it’s Holy Week and D’Eon and his friends are on the trail of the Russian fur merchant Vorontsov whom they suspect is embroiled in a plot to bring down the throne of France. They...

Kurau: Phantom Memory #1 (0) | Read | 8 out of 10

In the year 2100, an experimental project on the moon is conducting an investigation into a new source of energy. Kurau, the twelve-year-old daughter of one of the researchers, becomes a victim of a mysterious accident in the laboratory that results in her body becoming fused with that of a...

KARAS #2 (0) | Read | 7 out of 10

Karas: The Revelation is the sequal to the 2005 Karas: The Prophecy - a mini-series about the efforts of Karas, spiritual guardians chosen by their city and empowered by a sort of priestess cat-girl named Yurine - handled in the format of two feature length films. Lord Eko, the...

Berserk #1 (0) | Read | 8 out of 10

The idea of kicking off a series by showing a messed-up, badass antihero laying waste to his enemies in an all-out action fest isn't a new one. It's a bit misleading though when the episodes that follow offer so much more in getting into the troubled mind of the central character: Gungrave is a...

Area 88 (4) | Read | 8 out of 10

Here’s a blast from the past: anyone remember the old game UN Squadron? It was a side-scrolling shooter on the SNES in the style of Gradius and R-Type, but had real planes instead of fancy spaceships, and you blew up tanks and other recognisable instead of bizarre alien biological weapon...

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society (5) | Read | 7 out of 10

Ghost in the Shell has risen to become a staple of both the science-fiction genre, and of anime in general, enjoying a meteoric rise from cult anonymity to widespread popularity after the onset of its modern revival. This revival took all of ten years after the first film by Mamoru...

Eureka Seven #6 (0) | Read | 9 out of 10

Faced with the decision as to where to go next, Renton reluctantly decides to leave the Beams' ship and return to the Gekkostate. Unfortunately the military are moving in on the Gekko with the inevitable outcome of an armed confrontation, placing him in the centre of it all. We've now...

Paprika (2) | Read | 9 out of 10

In the near-future it has become possible to observe and record the workings of the unconscious mind through a new cutting-edge technology. A scientific research team has discovered a way to literally enter other people's dreams, which promises a revolution in psychological medical treaments;...

Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki OAV 3 (4) | Read | 7 out of 10

Tenchi Muyo is back after a 9 year hiatus with an all new box set. It’s been 2 months since the action seen in OVA 2 and peace has finally returned to the Masaki household. Unfortunately the calm is all but shattered with the arrival of a few new faces, one even claims to be...

Tekkon Kinkreet (5) | Read | 9 out of 10

Coming from the dream combination of the emphatically cool Studio 4C and much admired manga-ka Taiyou “Ping Pong” Matsumoto, Tekkonkinkreet is a movie I’ve long waited to see. Based on those two names alone, you should expect several things - let’s start with moody and...

Tenjho Tenge #5 (0) | Read | 6 out of 10

The fallout from Shin’s defeat marks the end for Team Katana but he is determined to form a new club and keep himself in the running for the competition that decides the new head of the Council. Back in the ‘present’ of the TenTen timeline Maya learns of her punishment for her...