I just moved here. I was gonna post here then copy paste to my old MyAnimeList blog... but I decided not to. I'm just here now, this is the official blog. (But MyAnimeList is still important.)
So I made a Ghost in the Shell review yesterday, and Scrapped Princess review today as the first one on the new blog.
PLEASE subscribe over on the right by entering your email address. I don't update too often, and it only will email you when there is a NEW post.
You can also watch this site if you have a (free) Blogger account. You can scroll down and see some links to my profile sites (like the ever important "MyAnimeList"). Be sure to check out the first two entries on my blog (Bottom then Second from the bottom), as they contain some general information about my blog. You can also click the "Important" tag over on the right to see all important posts. This one isn't tagged that way, as it is merely a trivial update. The first post explains why I made this blog, the second explains the general categories.
Arigato tomodachi!
Thanks friends!
-Jac (AKA Shea)
Monday, January 12, 2009
Review - Scrapped Princess
Guess it's time for another review! I just finished Scrapped Princess for the third time; it's my 4th favorite anime, and a good starter for people. So I figured I had better review it.
Awesome. This is a great anime. And it isn't aesthetic with flashy action scenes or beautiful scenery. It's got humor, great characters, and an AMAZING plot. It has 2 different kinds of plot:
-Figure out what is ACTUALLY going on
-Twists and turns in what happens
"Pacifica Casull is the most feared and hated person by the followers of the God Mauser. Known as the Scrapped Princess, she is the poison that will destroy the world. To avoid being killed by the zealots of Mauser, Pacifica and her adoptive brother and sister leave the village of Manhurin. Her brother, Shannon, is an expert with the sword while Racquel is proficient with magic. At every step of the way, however, someone is constantly trying to kill Pacifica, hoping to somehow avert the catastrophe that is supposed to befall the world on her 16th birthday."
If you have an ounce of feelings, you'll probably get some watery eyes (and maybe even tears) from this anime. You'll gasp and yell NO; you'll laugh and shout HECK YES! and it pulls off all the plot, characters, humor, sadness, and more very well. This anime satisfied.
Don't expect to be totally enticed though... I started watching it and at first it was to me liek a Saturday Morning cartoon. Not boring, but just a plain story with little adventures. However, you'll soon say "Wait a second..."
I have Biblical Analogies I would like to share... but they contain MAJOR spoilers, and I don't trust people to wait until the watch the anime to read them... lol.
=Sub vs Dub - I watched it in English. It has a lot of common voice actors (Pacifica is Kari Whalgren, Eirote is the lady who plays Milly in Trigun, etc.). I only have seen about 5 min of the Japanese, and it seemed to be good, too. It's up to you, but it the english version is totally fine.
=Content - VERY clean. It is 13+ on the DVD sets, but they are picky. The US release is TVPG. It has a few profanities thrown by Shannon in the most intense situations. It also has a lot of bath scenes, but of course nothing is shown. There are a few mild humorus non-sexual bodily related comments, too. I would rate this anime for ages 10+. The ending song has a part that's pushing it (Pacifica is topless from the side with her arms crosses), but you usually skip the ending song anyways after a while. Lastly, is what my friend Caleb call's "Glove Shirts" because that's how they fit. They are loose like a T-Shirt... yet seam to be tight and tucked under, lol. Violence? the most blood is when Shannon gets hits by a horse-drawn carriage. This is a very decent anime.
=Sound - Good. The opening and ending are catchy and have a slight "epic" sound to them. The main tracks are mostly forgettable, or at least not catchy. But a few of the action songs and humorus moment songs are good. The little jingle in the middle of each episode is so catchy, possibly my favorite commercial break in an anime.
=Adaptions - There's a manga (though I think it actually came first) that I don't want to read because the characters look so repulsive. There's also a 13 volume novel, and I own the first 3 volumes (but havn't started reading). My friend Caleb (purplegrey/jackdennis/sokrashilowa etc) says they start way before the actual anime... sounds exciting to me.
Category: Plot
Length: 24 Episodes
Japanese Title: Sukurappudo Purinsesu
Year: 2003
Studio: Bones
Opening Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXdQsjSsEdg
Ending Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szHLPqE6Akc
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrapped_Princess
AnimeNewsNetwork: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=2083
Become a fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/pages/Scrapped-Princess/16810680911?sid=b01a318668290b4b2fbc5636642454e8&ref=s
Download (Jap/EngSub): http://anime.thehylia.com/downloads/series/scrapped-princess
OST (Soundtrack): http://anime.thehylia.com/downloads/series/scrapped-princess
Stream (ENGLISH!!!): http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A8652A8881E0B0D5&page=1
Purchase on DVD (21$): http://kcdvd.com/ScrappedPrincess.html (I own this copy)
In summary, PWNAGE. This anime is so awesome. A little patience pays off. If you havn't ever watched an anime, THIS IS A GOOD PLACE TO START! I have turned people's opinions of anime around with this one.
If you want a DVD copy (English and Japanese), contact me and I'd be glad to help you out.
Awesome. This is a great anime. And it isn't aesthetic with flashy action scenes or beautiful scenery. It's got humor, great characters, and an AMAZING plot. It has 2 different kinds of plot:
-Figure out what is ACTUALLY going on
-Twists and turns in what happens
"Pacifica Casull is the most feared and hated person by the followers of the God Mauser. Known as the Scrapped Princess, she is the poison that will destroy the world. To avoid being killed by the zealots of Mauser, Pacifica and her adoptive brother and sister leave the village of Manhurin. Her brother, Shannon, is an expert with the sword while Racquel is proficient with magic. At every step of the way, however, someone is constantly trying to kill Pacifica, hoping to somehow avert the catastrophe that is supposed to befall the world on her 16th birthday."
If you have an ounce of feelings, you'll probably get some watery eyes (and maybe even tears) from this anime. You'll gasp and yell NO; you'll laugh and shout HECK YES! and it pulls off all the plot, characters, humor, sadness, and more very well. This anime satisfied.
Don't expect to be totally enticed though... I started watching it and at first it was to me liek a Saturday Morning cartoon. Not boring, but just a plain story with little adventures. However, you'll soon say "Wait a second..."
I have Biblical Analogies I would like to share... but they contain MAJOR spoilers, and I don't trust people to wait until the watch the anime to read them... lol.
=Sub vs Dub - I watched it in English. It has a lot of common voice actors (Pacifica is Kari Whalgren, Eirote is the lady who plays Milly in Trigun, etc.). I only have seen about 5 min of the Japanese, and it seemed to be good, too. It's up to you, but it the english version is totally fine.
=Content - VERY clean. It is 13+ on the DVD sets, but they are picky. The US release is TVPG. It has a few profanities thrown by Shannon in the most intense situations. It also has a lot of bath scenes, but of course nothing is shown. There are a few mild humorus non-sexual bodily related comments, too. I would rate this anime for ages 10+. The ending song has a part that's pushing it (Pacifica is topless from the side with her arms crosses), but you usually skip the ending song anyways after a while. Lastly, is what my friend Caleb call's "Glove Shirts" because that's how they fit. They are loose like a T-Shirt... yet seam to be tight and tucked under, lol. Violence? the most blood is when Shannon gets hits by a horse-drawn carriage. This is a very decent anime.
=Sound - Good. The opening and ending are catchy and have a slight "epic" sound to them. The main tracks are mostly forgettable, or at least not catchy. But a few of the action songs and humorus moment songs are good. The little jingle in the middle of each episode is so catchy, possibly my favorite commercial break in an anime.
=Adaptions - There's a manga (though I think it actually came first) that I don't want to read because the characters look so repulsive. There's also a 13 volume novel, and I own the first 3 volumes (but havn't started reading). My friend Caleb (purplegrey/jackdennis/sokrashilowa etc) says they start way before the actual anime... sounds exciting to me.
Category: Plot
Length: 24 Episodes
Japanese Title: Sukurappudo Purinsesu
Year: 2003
Studio: Bones
Opening Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXdQsjSsEdg
Ending Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szHLPqE6Akc
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrapped_Princess
AnimeNewsNetwork: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=2083
Become a fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/pages/Scrapped-Princess/16810680911?sid=b01a318668290b4b2fbc5636642454e8&ref=s
Download (Jap/EngSub): http://anime.thehylia.com/downloads/series/scrapped-princess
OST (Soundtrack): http://anime.thehylia.com/downloads/series/scrapped-princess
Stream (ENGLISH!!!): http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A8652A8881E0B0D5&page=1
Purchase on DVD (21$): http://kcdvd.com/ScrappedPrincess.html (I own this copy)
In summary, PWNAGE. This anime is so awesome. A little patience pays off. If you havn't ever watched an anime, THIS IS A GOOD PLACE TO START! I have turned people's opinions of anime around with this one.
If you want a DVD copy (English and Japanese), contact me and I'd be glad to help you out.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Review - Ghost in the Shell (Movies)
Well, I'm finally back. Super hyped on this blog when I started, and then 1 review and I was yawning. Maybe its because everyone ignores my pleading to actually READ the blog, lol. But I won't give up!
Or at least I don't think I will...
So today's review is on Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. Now I'm not a huge fan of this, but they are worth watching (if your okay with the *cough* content) and I just watched them and was already brooding over what I thought of them (which helps me in writing a review). But they go together in an odd sort of way, so I'm reviewing them together.
The first movie begins with Ishikawa killing a bunch of people... Naked. (No, they arn't naked). The reason she is naked is because she wears a suit that turns her invisible, but she cant wear anything underneath it... ANYWAYS! She is a cyrborg (a human mind in a robot) that works for the police and takes out gangs and stuff, which she performs with significant bloodshed right in the first scene (Naked...).
But there's an actual plot! (lol) It's very much in the future, when machines and the human mind have become uncannily close. To the point where hackers can make people have memories of things that never happened. The human mind (called a Ghost) can be transferred to machines, thus letting special police forces (like Ishikawa) live longer and be tougher.
After totally pwning a bunch more hackers in the movie (Naked... she had to turn invisible), another story starts in. The government reports an escaped robot. So Ishikawa and her (Kick Butt) Partner Batou go to find it. They do (and it's... you guessed it... naked), and bring it back. The plot turns into, however, that this isn't just some robot. In the huge unlimited internet that exists in the future, an intelligence formed, and took over this robot.
So the robot escapes, and Ishikawa and Batou follow. This leads to that and eventually they end up in a huge battle with a giant spider robot. They kick its butt, but then find out this one supposed hacker they had been chasing is the Intelligent Robot. But the robot wants to merge with Ishikawa so it can understand people. Batou tries to stop him, but its too late.
Batou fights of a buncha bad guys, and takes the bodies of Ishikawa and the bot back to his place. They are so damaged from the fight, he buys an empty cyborg off the black market to put Ishikawa's spirit in. But the spirit that enters is the merge of both of them, and she says thank you and leaves. THE END!
So yeah, you're probably wondering why I just told you the whole movie. Well, it didn't spoil it too much, since its mostly action and not plot. But really, the only reason I would even say to watch this is for the second one. But I'll finish this first.
=Sub vs Dub - Watched it in English, it was fine. Didn't watch it in Jap w/subs.
=Content - *COUGH* This is where the movie puts a big wall. It's rated R. They don't put any obvious visual on her bottom section, but her top half gets a lot of view... nothing in this show is sexual, but if u have a problem dealing with toplessness, I would recommend avoiding this one. It's either the 2-3 times she's pwning people with her "Invisible Suit" (which not only turns her invisible but IS invisible), or its the intro to the movie where you see her cyborg body being made. And the violence is heavy, lots of blood. I had no problem with that part, lol. And there may have been some language, but I dunno, it was a while ago. But, if you've seen some movie with tribal settings (like Mel Gibson's APOCALYPTO), the toplessness is probably not going to bug you, lol.
=Sound - Ooo... some interesting weird chanting music is throughout the movie. I downloaded the soundtrack it is surprisingly enticing... most of the rest was just your usual quiet orchestral tracks. Oh wait, there's THAT ONE SONG. There is this bubbly Japanese pop song that totally doesn't fit. I don't know if its in the credits or what, but it doesn't fit the movie. But it's a good song.
(There's less info for a movie than a series)
Category: I dunno! It didn't fit mine, it really doesn't fit anything, although it did have a lot of Theology in it in relation to people and machines...
Year: 1995 (1996 US)
Japanese Title: Gōsuto In Za Sheru
Studio: LOTS OF THEM
Wikipedia Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_Shell_(film)
AnimeNewsNetwork Page: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=465
Become a Fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ghost-in-the-Shell/12791225309?sid=93c7bd6ccd8abc731691cf52789d8b7d&ref=s
Download: Just google a torrent. I got it from the Library.
Okay, now that THAT is out of the way, onto the second movie.
Batou is still around, but now He's in charge and has a partner, and he loves his dog. He pretty much walks around and kicks peoples' butts. But the plot is really interesting. I thought this was gonna be some bland movie like the first one, but I was hoping it would kind of put the first one to rest. However, it used the background history of the first one to make a fine movie. But you gotta pay attention to understand.
Robots from the same company are going crazy and killing people. Batou is the first person to stop one without destroying it. The robots turn out to be... ahem... sexaroids (self explanatory). This explains why the families were settling out of court. But anyways, the adventure goes on and you figure out why this is happening, along with some other mysteries you find along the way.
But you'll enjoy how it ends. You have to understand the Ghost concept from the first movie, and who Ishikawa is. The ending has mild content issues, but nothing too major.
On other interesting thing: about half of the dialouge in the movie is quotes and sayings; most are Japanese ones I have never heard, and they quote the Bible. Most of the characters do it, especially the main ones, and they argue by saying quotes even. But whats funny is sometimes one will ask the otehr why he uses sayings all the time, even though everyone in the movie does it. I found the quotes interesting, though. Like "There is Loyalty that hides secrets and Loyalty that hides the truth."
=Sub vs Dub - FYI there is no dub of this movie. Maybe there will be, but I watched the official American release on DVD and it was Japanese with English (and other) Subtitles.
=Content - Thankfully, this one was only PG-13. No nudity, just lotsa blood and some mild language. There was, of course, the topic of Sexaroids, but nothing shown. The final twist also reveals something that is slightly perverted, but it's very subtle and not emphasized. Personally I accept something more when its plot relevant and they had to, than when they stick something in for the sake of smut, and this is the latter.
=Sound - I don't have this soundtrack, but from watching the show it seemed just like the first movie's. I caught the weird chanting music, and then quiet orchestral pieces.
Category: Plot
Year: 2004
Japanese Title: Gōsuto In Za Sheru 2: Inosensu
Studio: LOTS OF THEM
Wikipedia Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_Shell_2:_Innocence
AnimeNewsNetwork Page: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=2081
Become a Fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/s.php?init=q&q=ghost%20in%20the%20shell&ref=ts&sid=93c7bd6ccd8abc731691cf52789d8b7d&_ecdc=false&n=-1&o=4&k=100000000020&sf=t#/pages/Ghost-in-the-Shell-2-Innocence/7068089958?sid=93c7bd6ccd8abc731691cf52789d8b7d&ref=s
Download: Hard to find, but probably available in a torrent (Use google). I rented it (surprisingly) from Blockbuster.
Purchase BOTH on DVD ($9): http://kcdvd.com/GITSMovie1and2.html
That's about it. In summary, I guess I'd say if you were looking for a good starter anime, this wouldn't be it. Nor would I recommend it when you've seen about 10 and are looking for more. But if you've seen about 20+ anime already, and you don't feel like watching a series, I'd say check this set out. You might enjoy the second movies plot and the theology throughout that gets your mind going.
NOTE: This is not the complete Ghost in the Shell story. There is actually a series called Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, then a second season called Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG, plus two SAC-based movies and two OVAs (Specials). I haven't seen them, but I know Batou is in them. (Ghost in the Shell 2.0 is merely a remake of Ghost in the Shell.)
Or at least I don't think I will...
So today's review is on Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. Now I'm not a huge fan of this, but they are worth watching (if your okay with the *cough* content) and I just watched them and was already brooding over what I thought of them (which helps me in writing a review). But they go together in an odd sort of way, so I'm reviewing them together.
The first movie begins with Ishikawa killing a bunch of people... Naked. (No, they arn't naked). The reason she is naked is because she wears a suit that turns her invisible, but she cant wear anything underneath it... ANYWAYS! She is a cyrborg (a human mind in a robot) that works for the police and takes out gangs and stuff, which she performs with significant bloodshed right in the first scene (Naked...).
But there's an actual plot! (lol) It's very much in the future, when machines and the human mind have become uncannily close. To the point where hackers can make people have memories of things that never happened. The human mind (called a Ghost) can be transferred to machines, thus letting special police forces (like Ishikawa) live longer and be tougher.
After totally pwning a bunch more hackers in the movie (Naked... she had to turn invisible), another story starts in. The government reports an escaped robot. So Ishikawa and her (Kick Butt) Partner Batou go to find it. They do (and it's... you guessed it... naked), and bring it back. The plot turns into, however, that this isn't just some robot. In the huge unlimited internet that exists in the future, an intelligence formed, and took over this robot.
So the robot escapes, and Ishikawa and Batou follow. This leads to that and eventually they end up in a huge battle with a giant spider robot. They kick its butt, but then find out this one supposed hacker they had been chasing is the Intelligent Robot. But the robot wants to merge with Ishikawa so it can understand people. Batou tries to stop him, but its too late.
Batou fights of a buncha bad guys, and takes the bodies of Ishikawa and the bot back to his place. They are so damaged from the fight, he buys an empty cyborg off the black market to put Ishikawa's spirit in. But the spirit that enters is the merge of both of them, and she says thank you and leaves. THE END!
So yeah, you're probably wondering why I just told you the whole movie. Well, it didn't spoil it too much, since its mostly action and not plot. But really, the only reason I would even say to watch this is for the second one. But I'll finish this first.
=Sub vs Dub - Watched it in English, it was fine. Didn't watch it in Jap w/subs.
=Content - *COUGH* This is where the movie puts a big wall. It's rated R. They don't put any obvious visual on her bottom section, but her top half gets a lot of view... nothing in this show is sexual, but if u have a problem dealing with toplessness, I would recommend avoiding this one. It's either the 2-3 times she's pwning people with her "Invisible Suit" (which not only turns her invisible but IS invisible), or its the intro to the movie where you see her cyborg body being made. And the violence is heavy, lots of blood. I had no problem with that part, lol. And there may have been some language, but I dunno, it was a while ago. But, if you've seen some movie with tribal settings (like Mel Gibson's APOCALYPTO), the toplessness is probably not going to bug you, lol.
=Sound - Ooo... some interesting weird chanting music is throughout the movie. I downloaded the soundtrack it is surprisingly enticing... most of the rest was just your usual quiet orchestral tracks. Oh wait, there's THAT ONE SONG. There is this bubbly Japanese pop song that totally doesn't fit. I don't know if its in the credits or what, but it doesn't fit the movie. But it's a good song.
(There's less info for a movie than a series)
Category: I dunno! It didn't fit mine, it really doesn't fit anything, although it did have a lot of Theology in it in relation to people and machines...
Year: 1995 (1996 US)
Japanese Title: Gōsuto In Za Sheru
Studio: LOTS OF THEM
Wikipedia Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_Shell_(film)
AnimeNewsNetwork Page: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=465
Become a Fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ghost-in-the-Shell/12791225309?sid=93c7bd6ccd8abc731691cf52789d8b7d&ref=s
Download: Just google a torrent. I got it from the Library.
Okay, now that THAT is out of the way, onto the second movie.
Batou is still around, but now He's in charge and has a partner, and he loves his dog. He pretty much walks around and kicks peoples' butts. But the plot is really interesting. I thought this was gonna be some bland movie like the first one, but I was hoping it would kind of put the first one to rest. However, it used the background history of the first one to make a fine movie. But you gotta pay attention to understand.
Robots from the same company are going crazy and killing people. Batou is the first person to stop one without destroying it. The robots turn out to be... ahem... sexaroids (self explanatory). This explains why the families were settling out of court. But anyways, the adventure goes on and you figure out why this is happening, along with some other mysteries you find along the way.
But you'll enjoy how it ends. You have to understand the Ghost concept from the first movie, and who Ishikawa is. The ending has mild content issues, but nothing too major.
On other interesting thing: about half of the dialouge in the movie is quotes and sayings; most are Japanese ones I have never heard, and they quote the Bible. Most of the characters do it, especially the main ones, and they argue by saying quotes even. But whats funny is sometimes one will ask the otehr why he uses sayings all the time, even though everyone in the movie does it. I found the quotes interesting, though. Like "There is Loyalty that hides secrets and Loyalty that hides the truth."
=Sub vs Dub - FYI there is no dub of this movie. Maybe there will be, but I watched the official American release on DVD and it was Japanese with English (and other) Subtitles.
=Content - Thankfully, this one was only PG-13. No nudity, just lotsa blood and some mild language. There was, of course, the topic of Sexaroids, but nothing shown. The final twist also reveals something that is slightly perverted, but it's very subtle and not emphasized. Personally I accept something more when its plot relevant and they had to, than when they stick something in for the sake of smut, and this is the latter.
=Sound - I don't have this soundtrack, but from watching the show it seemed just like the first movie's. I caught the weird chanting music, and then quiet orchestral pieces.
Category: Plot
Year: 2004
Japanese Title: Gōsuto In Za Sheru 2: Inosensu
Studio: LOTS OF THEM
Wikipedia Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_Shell_2:_Innocence
AnimeNewsNetwork Page: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=2081
Become a Fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/s.php?init=q&q=ghost%20in%20the%20shell&ref=ts&sid=93c7bd6ccd8abc731691cf52789d8b7d&_ecdc=false&n=-1&o=4&k=100000000020&sf=t#/pages/Ghost-in-the-Shell-2-Innocence/7068089958?sid=93c7bd6ccd8abc731691cf52789d8b7d&ref=s
Download: Hard to find, but probably available in a torrent (Use google). I rented it (surprisingly) from Blockbuster.
Purchase BOTH on DVD ($9): http://kcdvd.com/GITSMovie1and2.html
That's about it. In summary, I guess I'd say if you were looking for a good starter anime, this wouldn't be it. Nor would I recommend it when you've seen about 10 and are looking for more. But if you've seen about 20+ anime already, and you don't feel like watching a series, I'd say check this set out. You might enjoy the second movies plot and the theology throughout that gets your mind going.
NOTE: This is not the complete Ghost in the Shell story. There is actually a series called Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, then a second season called Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG, plus two SAC-based movies and two OVAs (Specials). I haven't seen them, but I know Batou is in them. (Ghost in the Shell 2.0 is merely a remake of Ghost in the Shell.)
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