This is pretty old but I've just come across it. Japanese bike customisers BSU made a prototype of the bike from AKIRA! Unfortunately it's only a model so you can't ride it, but it's still pretty neat!
Samurai Champloo was written and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe (who also directed Cowboy Bebop). It aired in Japan in 2004 and is 26 episodes long. This anime blends action and comedy as well as some kick ass Samurai fighting and its all set during Japans Edo period. Now Samurai Champloo would have you believe that we have the Edo period to thank for today’s hip hop culture, Graffiti, hippies and the flower power movement, beat-boxing just to name a few. And who am I to say otherwise, ok sure those pesky school text books and historians would have you believe otherwise, but come on what do they know.
This anime is set around 3 main characters: Mugen, a 19 year old, outlaw who will fight anyone that looks like they might be a bad ass and has never lost a fight. Jin, a 20 year old, ronin who is very reserved but can kick ass when needed and has also never lost a fight. And Fuu, a 15 year old girl, who decides to look for “a samurai who smells of sunflowers” (her dad), after Mugen and Jin get the tea house she was working in burnt down. The 3 of them set out on this adventure after Fuu springs Mugan and Jin from Prison in exchange for them promising her that they will help her. They are always broke ass broke and wonder around Japan getting into trouble wherever they go.
I know I say this about a lot of anime but I loved it, sure there were a few episodes that I could have skipped, but all of them had me laughing my ass off. To top it off I loved the ending as well it was a well rounded anime and it had something for everyone. I had put off watching this anime for some time as it didn’t sound like it was my thing, but I was happily proven wrong. And if it hadn’t been for the fact that I had to give up the TV half the way through (so someone could play PS3 games) I would have watched it in a day. The animation is very good, the music is kicking, the jokes run right the way through, and there is a bit of a storyline hidden in there as well.
This anime started out as a manga series by Tsugumi Ohba, artwork by Takeshi Obata and ran from 2003 to 2006. It was then turned into an anime series in October of 2006 and finally in 2007 it was turned into 2 live action movies. The anime series has 37 episodes and was directed by Tetsuro Arake and was produced by Madhouse in Japan and licensed by Vis Media for the English language conversion. Death Note has had a lot of praise from various critics for its story line and use of violence making the anime very entertaining. It has also been banned in China because kids were altering their notebooks to look like a Death Note. So what happens when a Shinigami (or Death God) gets bored? The result is this series. Death Note focuses on Light Yagami a very intelligent high school student and Ryuk a bored Shinigami. Ryuk manages to get his hands on an extra Death Note, and as the world of the Shinigami is so boring he tosses the extra Death Note down to Earth to see if he can get a little entertainment. Light is disillusioned with the up rise of crime and the lack of justice in the justice system in Japan. One day he finds the Death Note and after thinking that the notebook is some kind of a lame joke he decides to try it out. When it works Light's whole life changes; he meets Ryuk who explains that he is only along for the ride and Light can do what he likes with the Death Note. Light decides to exact his own justice on those he sees as evil, as well as those who get in his way. He is dubbed Kira by the public because no one knows who is killing the worlds worst criminals. At this point crime in the world is virtually non-existent and the worlds law enforcements agencies get together to try and bring down Kira. At this point L the worlds best detective is brought in to try and find Kira. No one knows what L looks or sounds like or his real name.
Now you have two world class geniuses pitted at one another. We the viewer know who all the players are and it's this game of cat and mouse, and just how far Light is willing to go that makes this anime work so well. Just when you think Light is going to get found out something else happens and he is able to go on. What would you do if you had a Death Note: Me, well after I took care of all of the people on my s*@t list (you know who you are) I might be tempted to do the same as Light.
I loved this series from the start it has everything that turns a good anime into a cult sensation. The story line has been thought out with precision to hook you in from start to end. The artwork is top of the line and the soundtrack is also good. I was able to get the first 24 episodes very quickly when it first came over to the UK and made the mistake of thinking that it was only 24 episodes long. Needless to say I was tearing my hair out when I found out that it was 37 episodes and there was a hell of a long wait to get the rest. Luckily I was able to get the rest fairly quickly from the states. With is anime series I really can't see anyone not liking it, it is that good. Please note that I am talking about the series and not the so called anime films (Death Note R and Death Note R2) these are just the condensed versions of the whole series and you miss out on so much that it ruins the whole feeling of that anime.
Toy makers, Bandai & Medicom have joined forces to create Project BM. With their first release being a 12" of Kaneda+ Die-cast model bike from the seminal anime, "Akira". The cool thing is that the bike actually lights up! The HUD, Satnav & Wheels all glow for you in true geek style.
Ghost in the Shell (GITS) Stand Alone Complex (SAC): Solid State Society was released in 2006 and is the anime film based on the Stand Alone Complex series. It was directed by Kenji Kamiyama and produced by Production I.G.; the film had a huge production budget of 360 million yen or 3.2 million dollars. And for all of you GITS fans it was announced at the 2006 Anime Expo that this film will not be the last in the SAC series.
Solid State Society takes place 2 years after 2nd GIG in the year 2034 in the 2 years prior to 2034. The Major has resigned from Section 9, Togusa has stepped into the Major's role as field leader, and Section 9 has now expanded its team to 20 members. The film starts out with Section 9 investigating the mysterious suicides of 13 operatives of the former Siak Republic. Section 9 manages to get a lead from Ka Gael (one of the operatives) when he says the Puppeteer is coming before he kills himself. When Batou is sent to Ma Shaba’s labs to intercept a suspect he runs into the Major who tells him that she is investigating on her own. Before the Major leaves she warns Batou to stay away from the Solid State Society. When Togusa discovers 16 kidnapped kids at Ma Shaba’s Labs and investigates into these kidnappings further he is also warned to stay away from the Solid State Society. And towards the end we see the Major join forces with Section 9, again to kick some ass.
Ok, as I am a big fan of GITS I was over the moon when I saw this latest instalment and yes I did, and still do like it. But I thought as SAC it such a big thing in itself this movie could have been better and longer. It never really goes into any depth and the story line is a bit jumpy. Yes, this due to the fact that this is a movie and not a series but still I think it could have been better and I was left feeling a bit disappointed. You will probably like this film if you like GITS and I am sorry to say that if you have not seen any of the series then you may not get the movie because it is not a stand alone movie so it would probably be best if you watch the series first. Also it is my duty to inform you that yes, Hollywood is making a live action version of GITS (No I am not lying). I don’t know if I will watch it in the cinema when it comes out but I will be watching it. Fingers crossed it doesn’t totally suck because it could bring in new fans to the anime and fuel lots more investment into making more of the series.
Ok so I know it has been quite some time since my last review. I do apologise for that I took a trip to India and when I got back I was very sick for some time. So I spent a lot of time hiding under a rock. And then I went and had a baby in December so I have not had much time to watch anime let alone review it. But as half term is coming up and my other little one loves to watch anime I will jump back on the horse and give you guys more reviews.
So in the mean time here is some news in the anime world.... For all you Fullmetal Alchemist fans happy days they are making a new series. For all you Evangelion fans they are making a new series. For those of you that love Death Note if you have bought the full series then don't buy Death Note R it's just a rehash (trust me I bought it). And lastly I have the sad news that Hollywood is making a live action of GITS (we shall see if it will be good or the smelly stuff you avoid). So I am sorry it's been so long but I will start to review again.
Studio Ghibli have made the official announcement of their new full length feature film titled Karigurashi no Arrietty (The Borrower Arrietty). The film will be an adaptation of Mary Norton's Carnegie Medal winning novel The Borrowers and will be directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi. Unlike the original novel, which tells a story about tiny people who "borrow" things from normal humans during the 1950's in England, Studio Ghibli have transferred their version to Tokyo Koganei in 2010 (Koganei is where Studio Ghibli is settled) Yonebayashi earlier worked as a key animator on previous Ghibli works like Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo and Spirited Away and was animation director for Miyazaki Goro's Gedo Senki. It will be released Summer 2010.
If you haven't seen the anime adaptation to Taiyo Matsumoto’s graphic novel Tekkonkincreet, I suggest you find it as soon as possible and do just that. Brought to the screen by Studio 4C, this version of the popular graphic novel is on of the most beautiful pieces of animation I have seen since....well just since (I'm not a super anime geek, so I'm no authority on this subject).
There is an interview with the CEO of 4C as well as some of the team that worked on the film on the PingMag site available here. Although there is no mention of another anime called Mind Game by the same team, that is also well worth a watch for it's rather leftfield style and story.
So, if like me, you are struggling to come to terms with the recession and have no money to go out and piss your measly earnings up a wall, go and search these gems out. You'll probably find them free on the web, but I strongly suggest buying them as they may well change your life forever (let's just hope they don't try and make a live action version and kill them like they seem to be doing with so many other classics).
Macross gets yet another going over by Bandai, but this particular 1/72 model still looks good. It's one of the Macross Frontiers Series and can transform into 3 modes and retails at around 40GBP.
Ghost in the Shell 2nd GIG was first aired on Japanese TV in January 2004 it was later released in the States in November 2007. There are 26 episodes in this series and unlike the first series there are types of episodes these are: individual, dividual, and dual. The individual episodes fallow the Individual Eleven story line, the dividual episodes are stand alone, and the dual episodes fallow the Gouda storyline. In 2nd GIG we get a lot more of the back story about some of the members of Section 9's lives before they were in Section 9. We also get some history about the wars that happened in the past as well. The two major wars were the WWIII which was a nuclear war and non-nuclear WWIV both of these wars changed the world and its politics.
The 2nd GIG story lines starts in 2032 six months after the SAC story line ended. At the start we see a new Prime Minster in office, a woman named Kayabuki, she is willing to reform Section 9 and give them everything they want in order to rebuild Section 9. But at a price this being that Section 9 go into the Chinese embassy secretly and take care of the hostage situation; without any of the hostages getting killed. Section 9 is able to take care of the situation and they are back in full swing from this point on. Section 9 faces two antagonists in 2nd GIG the first are the Individual Eleven who appear to be a terrorist group. They want the refugees, that were invited into Japan after the third and forth world wars as cheap labour to help rebuild, to leave Japan. The other is Gouda, the head of the Cabinet Intelligence Service, and he appears to be a puppet master for the events that are going on through out this story line.
2nd GIG has a lot more action in it and we also get more history about the major and cretin aspects of her past. I liked 2nd GIG and I think that it not only holds up to the the high standard that SAC set but it also raises the bar for any future series and I would give 2nd GIG a 4 out of 5. you can watch 2nd GIG without watching SAC and you wont get lost but I would say that if your going to watch the GITS TV series that you start with SAC. Also please note that like the SAC there are two types of DVD packs you can buy the full 26 eps or the Individual Eleven pack where you only get the Individual Eleven story line.
Hi everyone sorry it has been so long since the last review but I got hooked on Bleach and have spent the last 2 weeks watching all 207 episodes so you can’t really blame an anime-a-holic like me for flaking out I just can’t help it. This review is going to be on the long side as there is a lot to cover the next 2 GITS reviews will not be so long: . Hope you enjoy-Peebody Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex (or Mobile Armoured Riot Police: Stand Alone Complex as it’s known in Japan) is the TV series based on the manga Ghost in the shell. Kenji Kamiyama wrote and directed this series, 2nd Gig and the movie Solid state society. Production I.G. is the company that produces GITS, when Production I.G. was creation SAC they had 7 studios. Because everyone was so into/committed to GITS they renamed the studio that GITS was being made in to studio 9 aka section 9. Production I.G. now has 10 studios and studio 9 is still dictated for the making of GITS. SAC runs for 26 episodes it consists of episodes that are stand alone which means they are episodes that have nothing to do with the main plot and complex episodes which means they have to do with the Laughing man plot. SAC aired on Japanese TV on the 1st Oct 2002. The music for all the GITS TV series was composed by the musical goddess Yoko Kano and I love the sound tracks for the entire series and the movie. Please note that the TV series and the original movie and the 2nd movie are not on the same time line/reality. What this means is that in one reality the two movies happened and are on their own time line and in another reality we start with SAC and work our way through to 2nd Gig and onto Solid State Society. We do see tones in the TV series that touch on what the original movie touched on but that is where similarity in the two realities ends.
SAC takes place in the year 2030 in the fictional town of New Port Japan, 6 years after the Laughing man incident: This is where the CEO of Serano Genomics was kidnapped by the laughing man and held hostage for a few days on February 3 2024 the laughing man tries to make the CEO confess something at gun point on TV in public where the TV is shooting live. He manages to hack into the TV station and replace his face with the laughing man logo and he also hacks into everyone’s eyes and replaces his face with this logo. This stunt earned the laughing man the title of master class hacker.
The series starts off with Section 9 being called into resolve a hostage situation. In the 1st and 2nd episodes we are introduced to the members of Section 9, a lot of them were not in the original movies we also get introduced to the Tachicomas, Section 9’s armored robot help. We get tones of the many conspires that are going on throughout the series, and this sets the mood for the rest of the series. It is not until episode 4 that the Laughing man storyline gets introduced/going.
Now there is a lot of symbolism and ideology going on through out the GITS series like the Laughing man was taken from a short story by J.D. Salinger also the words on the Laughing man logo "I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes.", is a quote from Catcher in the Rye. Most of this is explained through out the series very well which is a good thing. The series also touches on the Stand Alone Complex and the fact that everything and almost everyone is becoming more cyberized. (I could go on but I won’t if you would like me to just ask in the comments section and I will be happy to go into more detail on the philosophy). Now I have always been a big fan of GITS, and the TV series had a lot to stand up to. I felt that SAC was a really good series I loved the storylines in this series and all the conspiracies going.
I would recommend SAC to anyone that wanted to sit down and enjoy good anime; I would say that you do have to wait till episode 4 for the main plot to kick in and then SAC does not hit you all in one go either so be prepared to watch the series to get everything. Also please note that now days there are 2 types of GITS DVD packs you can buy. There is the entire series 26 episode box set and then there is the Laughing man box set which cuts out all the Stand Alone episodes and you just get the Laughing man storyline they also do this with 2nd Gig as well. If you want only the action I would go for the Laughing man box set but you will miss a lot of good storylines. Over all I would give SAC 4 out of 5.
10. Sowat Typographic Graffiti
9. Mecha Musume WWII x Cute Anime Girls
8. Polly Morgan Taxidermy Art
7. The Most Awesome Video Controller
6. Paludariums Are Incredible
5. Michael Hussar
4. Nike Air Max Infrared 90's Re-Release
3. 3D Graffiti Technica
2. ESPV Interview Skinner
1. Paul Booth Dark Tattoos- Once again, a tattoo post rules in 2010! Lets see if there will be any change for 2011.
