THE CODEX

This is the anime universe as seen by Anime Snobs, arranged conveniently for easy reference. I will be adding some titles not actually mentioned in the blog for reference at each level. As time goes on it will become more and more full, showing you in greater and greater detail that I am a jerk. -Maguro

THE ABSOLUTE BEST ANIME
Paranoia Agent

THE ROLLS OF ANIME HONOR
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Cowboy Bebop

Requiem from the Darkness
Berzerk
Key:The Metal Idol
Escaflowne
Last Exile
Twelve Kingdoms

GOOD ANIME
Sadamitsu the Destroyer
Hellsing

Heat Guy J
Blackjack

CENTER ASILE ANIME (LOVE IT OR HATE IT STUFF)
Gasaraki
Haunted Junction

TITLES THAT SOME MAY LIKE (GENRE FANS, WEIRDOS)
Scorcerer Hunters
Gravion

UMMM... FORGET THESE
Kiddy Grade
RG Veda

Saber Marionette J to X

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm Gonna Be An Angel!
Gunparade March

SADAMITSU THE DESTROYER

A fine specimen. Sadamitsu the Destroyer is an out of the ordinary tale of alien invasion centered around a really loud guy who just wants to fight stuff. Missing will be the usual melodrama (for the most part), and the child robot pilots. It DOES have a cast of highschool students, which is still somehow unavoidable, but they only spend a small part of the show actually in the school. The whole 'school' problem is mitigated quite well by the hot kick-ass school nurse Sadamitsu has, and who also gets mixed up in many of the events of the story. In a nutshell, she's Kino Makoto if she grew up to be an ornery high school nurse with terrible luck.

Anyhow the main character is very likeable and his crew of friends all pitch in for the backbone of this very funny action/comedy. The bad guys are actually space "criminals" (an interesting idea itself), being chased through the universe by the other main character who is eventually nick-named "Junk" by Sadamitsu. He's a kind of android who is left only his head by the end of the first episode. Sadamitsu wears this like a helmet and therefore gains super powers. Why that is isn't ever really explained in detail, as is most of the reasons the plot forms the way it does but it's one of the reasons to like this anime. Much like it's main character it doesn't sweat the small stuff and concentrates on having fun and kicking butt.

At ten eps it's kind of short even for the OVA form, but it's hard to see what else would be needed to tell the story. The graphics are tight and the dub is a decent piece of work. Overall it's funny and full of action, has an awesome mariachi flavored intro tune, plus it includes a world-ending-weapon-who-I-also-want-to-ask-out-on-a-date kinda love interest so Saikano fans should rejoice. Right now you can get the whole run in a neat 3 disc box, so there's not much else you could ask for.

My suggestion: Buy this one for sure. A great way to kill an afternoon.

RG VEDA

Now a few words about the CLAMP group's first ever anime production. I tend to gravitate toward the various works of Clamp so first I will accentuate the positive. RG Veda is the Clamp group's first ever anime production! How amazing! Yes, it is really most notable for this reason. Before I go on I want to say that it IS worth owning for hardcore Clamp fans, for the rest of you, well...

I don't wanna rip this one up but it is seriously lacking in lots of areas. You can tell that the budding members of the well known quartet tried very hard, with some of the scenes looking very nice and others looking half assed and bland. There were obviously others putting in their energies here, and it is interesting to see the usual clamp designs crashing up against some things that they didn't create, but you get over it quick. Even the main cast has a member that really seems totally out of place and ends up as a kind of forgotten limb, doing barely anything at all for the entire 90 minute run. I can usually forgive things like; the 1991 era low fidelity graphics, poor design and even questionable cast members, but what hurts the most about RG Veda is the plot.

It's wandering, disjointed and a near afterthought to the rest of the work. You never really feel like any of what does happen matters. They are here, then there, then there is a fight, and then it's over and nothing is resolved. Not a single thing. We do learn that the mightiest swordsman in the land can be felled by a bunch of pink butterflies, and that nipple tassels on white plate mail armor is the worst fashion mistake in anime history, but other than this you are left at the end with a kind of "And then they went somewhere else..." sorta thing.

What you get with RG Veda is a triumph of design over substance, good intentions over good planning. It is supposed be related to some bhuddist/taoist legend (and not by the way to the book that is was named after, the Rig Veda, a holy book in the Muslim religion) but I can't derive any over arching meaning from it. Whatever fragments of the legend they decided to use for RG Veda I don't think they were taken from the same contiguous parable. At any rate Clamp's first effort is really a first effort. Enjoy it for the novelty of it.

-maguro

Science news!

Shuttle scientists conclude after extensive experiments that in reality "Goku" could not kick any more ass if he were in a zero gravity environment. Nation’s fifth graders stunned.

HELLSING

How much fun is this anime? I’ll tell you. Hellsing is a naughtily visceral vampire romp with many unique qualities. Way beyond just an action anime, you’ll find some very compelling characters and designs in this one. Every episode seems to have one really memorable image or scene, and the whole production is cut with an attitude totally foreign to popular anime’s virgin head space. Very tasty.

Leaping full stride out of the usual vampire canon’s visuals the head leech in charge, named Alucard, comes to the fight dressed in bright red. Also clashing with the normal modern vampire lore he isn’t a withdrawn, silent knight bent on self-loathing. Alucard is a 100% monster that walks, talks and wears really cool clothes. Not to mention his habit of turning cute ‘police girls’ into his pets. Proud of his noble status as an elder vampire and possessing a font scary powers lovecraftian in nature there is only one being that he will ever bend to.

Integra Wingates Hellsing has a mystically absolute hold over him. She is also one of my favorite anime ladies of all time. This hard as nails heiress to the secret british vampire hunting family/organization known only by her surname is driven by only one desire. In her own words… “Destroy all our obstacles immediately! Smash them! Crush them! Search and destroy! Search and destroy!” For me, it was love at first sight. Her quest to protect the queen and her subjects from the night freaks brings some real heavies down upon her blonde head. Not the least among these are the Vatican assassins and armies of gray zombies that we get to see tangling with her undead protector. To the last these fights are cool, brutal and imaginative. Moreover, it is really fun just to watch the Hellsing Organization’s enemies one by one come to the dread realization that they chose the wrong vampire to cross pistols with.

Other than those two there are more well thought out, funny and believable characters on both sides of the good guy bad guy split. One of the things that I really like about the series is that you end up disliking the human antagonists even more than the supernatural ones as the line between man and monster gets tested repeatedly. Also I want to mention that this is one of those, “you must watch the english DUB, no matter what” sort of shows for two very good reasons. One, the show is located in Britain. The Britons speak english most of the time and the team of voice actors used for Hellsing set the mood perfectly with their british accents. Two, Crispin frickin’ Freeman as Alucard the Vampire. OMG, this guy takes the part and steals it away without a doubt. 500% percent awesome job from Crispin. Honestly, one the best dub jobs I have ever heard.

Due to the quality of the product, Hellsing seems amazingly short. If the thirteen eps in the series feel like only the tip of the iceberg there are good reasons for it. A great deal of the plotlines that get started in the first 6-9 eps never get a proper conclusion. Add to that that the creator/artist of the original Hellsing manga(a work that is in some ways very superior to the anime) withdrew his involvement when he saw that the project was deviating from his original design. I’ve heard some say that the full-length production was actually cut short at 13 eps because of Kohta Hirano’s departure. Watching what was actually produced makes you regret the shortness of Hellsing even more. All that being said, it’s still a terrific anime. Something very interesting and very fun to watch. A creature well worth space on your rack of dvds.

My suggestion: Buy and watch the anime first. Then get the manga and read it. Then comment on this post telling me how happy you are that I told you about it. Go ahead. I’m waiting…

-maguro

You heard it here FIRST!

Rafael Palmeiro flatly denies test results showing significant traces of "Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend" in his home entertainment system.

KIDDY GRADE

Wow. A real deep blow to the "two cute girls in space" genre. Also joyless, flat and contrived in a way seldom seen on dvds with color inserts on the outside. And is it just me or is it true that the art seems to have been penned by folks who cut their teeth on PC games with names like; "I'm Gonna Serve You 4" and "Battle Raper: HYPER REALACTION". I mean, the characters just look spooky. Avoid this one and buy Dirty Pair: Project Eden.

-maguro

Shameless promotion

Well, promoting a weblog is a bigger undertaking that I thought. Seeing as I have 0 comments total my performance so far is probably below the average. SO I check out some of the blog search pages and get the idea that I should write a post about John Bolton. John Bolton that ambassador guy, with the hair. He's worth blogging about apparently. Hmmm. John Bolton John Bolton. Then I thought "Hey! A post about Leo Prieto!" That guy! Certainly noteworthy that Leo Prieto. I'd say. But what he did I can't tell you. Now Boy George... there's a guy I know. He's from the 80's and wears makeup. Yes he does. And Boy George, had... a hat. A little one as I remember. AMAZING!

Then I thought I should talk about some more political topics like, Hans Island. The number one island to find Hans. Another notable person, after all he has his own island. Hans Island! He named it after himself because that is what I would do. Other topics in this vein that I was pondering were; Iraq, Iran, Bush, war, Rice, WMD, and Ethanol. Yes, all of these I pondered. In that order. Amazingly it is the same order as their order of popularity in the current political blog listings! I am actually the Mindtaker.

But in deference to the #1 rated blog search currently in the world, and to the ostensibly non-biological son of Yahweh, I am going to just write "Jesus" a whole bunch of times. Lookin' for god? Well then, you must want to read MY weblog citizen! Anime Snobs, which recently had a post about Jesus. It went like this...

Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus

I am so crafty, and vain I guess.

-maguro

EDIT: Man. It's not working the way I thought it would. You can't even start to find me with a "jesus" search, but I am the number one "Shameless promotion" blog right now. So I'm sorta jazzed about that, I guess.