Blog Archives

Initial D First Stage – Collection One (1998)

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Posted on May 25, 2012 by Tom

Despite being a fan of anime, from its late-nineties breakthrough into the mainstream, with Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop, I never got into Intitial D on its early release. With the change in rights from Tokyopop to Funimation, the Initial D series is being released and in some cases re-released in specific stage formats (first, second, third stages etc.) I finally decided to give the D a chance and see what the hubbub was all about.

Takumi Fujiwara is a … (read more)

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Planetes (2003)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Andy

Science Fiction tends to portray the future in one of two ways: there’s the idealized, hang-the-expense future where doors are automatic and cars float. Alternatively, there are the dystopic or apocalyptic visions where humanity has slipped on the razor’s edge on which it is so precariously balanced into destroying itself and its environment – often over something as trivial as the best ways to get cars to hover.

Planetes eschews these approaches. Instead it presents a perfectly possible future where … (read more)

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New Fist of the North Star (2004)

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Posted on March 11, 2007 by Andy

Fist of the North Star takes me back. I saw it in a Los Angeles cinema in 1992 where I marvelled at the mango-sized heads atop bodies of Arnold Schwarzenegger proportions. The plot unfortuntely is lost to me behind a veil of crimson spray and body dismemberment. I exited the theatre feeling like an extra caught standing too close to Sissy Spacek in Carrie.

Hero Kenshiro (well, in the movie anyway), was in fact left wandering the wastes searching … (read more)

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Angel Sanctuary (2001)

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Posted on March 3, 2007 by Deni

This OAV, based on a 20 volume manga by the gothy, inestimable Kouri Yuki (currently being published in English by Viz Communications), is as you might expect from anything based on a 20 volume story – totally epic and yet not nearly epic enough. Yuki’s original work is so rife with violence, angst, messy relationships existentialism and gender-bending on both sides (just for starters), that it kind of makes your average Aaron Spelling soapie look like an episode of … (read more)

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Mobile Suit Gundam Seed (2002)

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Posted on November 25, 2005 by Mat

The Gundam name has been around since 1979 with the original series, Mobile Suit Gundam. This series has in turn spawned a number of sequels, with each series maintaining a core theme of big human-controlled robots, known as Gundam, that deliver hurt on a large scale. Each new series brings with it new characters, stories and timelines, making each independent of the others. The latest incarnation of the Gundam universe is known as Mobile Suit Gundam Seed.

The … (read more)

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