Andrew's Movie/Anime Reviews

Current Anime Season Fansubs

Ouran High School Host Club

The bishounens! Their sparkles hurt my eyes! And the opening sequence is mostly in pink - if this isn't shoujo anime I don't know what is. All the same there's this wonderful dry humor to it that makes me want to keep watching, so I will. Oh, and it's produced by Studio BONES too, so its likely to remain good.

Update: 16 episodes in and it remains funny, but not quite as funny as it was in the beginning.

Utawarerumono

A guy with no memories and a metal mask he can't remove wakes up in the care of a family o fpeople with dog ears and tails. Its set in some sort of fantasy medieval Japan. In the first episode a demon is released from its seal. From the OP it looks like Our Hero will have to assemble a party of Heros to do battle with the Evil Overlord. In short, utterly steriotypical but I'm going to watch it anyways because I've got a hitherto unrecognized weakness for cute girls with dog ears. Suddenly those InuYasha fangirls seem less crazy to me .

Also nice is the fact that the main character is a man who manages to be both mature and personable. The lack of angst in what drama has occured so far has also been really refreshing.

Higurashi no Naka Koro Ni

This is an interesting one, a horror anime I'd guess you'd say. Originally based on a series of doujin visual novels for the PC (no, they weren't H) they unfortunatly had to cut a lot out to fit it into the anime, but I'm still enjoying puzzeling out whats happening. Every four episodes of the series show a rural town in Japan descend into trajedy, and then everything resets to a beginning just a butterfly's wingflap different and we get to see it descend all over again. I've heard a lot of people compare it to Twin Peaks, but I don't know much about that TV show.

Finished Series

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

I don't think I've ever seen such gall in a first episode. The first opening scene is badly done karaoke, the narrator has only the vaugest idea what's going on, the acting is wooden, the picture quality looks like its been done with a camcorder, the plot makes no sense, and - well - you get the picture. Its still pretty funny though. At the end of the first episode we cut away to a group of people in a room who have just watched this on their club TV. Most of them are horrified at how it turned out, but the director, Haruhi Suzumiya, stands up and proclaims "Its really well done!" And thus the first episode ends.

In terms of setting the fansub watching community into a tizzy, Haruhi is probably the most significant anime since Evangelion. The animation and directing were really excellent, and I enjoyed Kyon's sarcasm, Haruhi's megelomania, Yuki's coolness, Mikuru's moeness, and even Itsuki's...Itsukiness? Anyways for a show with some many disparate elements hung around a signle dramatic irony it really worked very well and I think its probably the best show since at least Last Exile.