Though the decision to pick up this series was made rather flippantly, I’ve been pleased with the purchase.  Aquarion isn’t a masterpiece by any means, but it stands up well as part of my collection.  If you aren’t interested in dropping the cash on the show, it’s really worth watching – as of the time of this review, the entire first season of the series is available on Netflix.

PLOT

Aquarion is pretty straightforward: good guys plus big robot versus bad guys who want to kill everyone.  As long as you ignore the weird past lives undertones of everything, that is.  The series is set in a world under siege by a group of creatures known as the Shadow Angels, who have returned after being defeated 12,000 years in the past.  It’s a pretty standard plot setup, but it’s not as important to this show as the visuals and action sequences.

Aquarion, the giant robot of this giant robot series, is an intriguing use of the combined vehicle trope.  The mecha consists of three separate ships, or Vectors, each piloted by an Element User.  Each of the vectors takes on characteristics related to its pilot (in typical giant robot linked fashion), and when the Vectors merge Aquarion gains different abilities depending on which pilot supplies the head of the robot.  Since there are several Element Users capable of piloting Aquarion and only three spots available, this allows for many different permutations of abilities that the robot can become.

For the first half of the series, most of the episodes throw the protagonists into battle with the Shadow Angels, forcing the pilots to learn how to control their abilities and the powers of Aquarion.  During these battles, the links that each of the characters has to the battle of 12,000 years past are also explored.  The main thread of these deals with the main protagonists of the ancient war: Solar Wing (Appolonius) and his lover, Celiane.  In the current time, Apollo is believed to be the reincarnation of Solar Wing and Sylvia the reincarnation of his lover.  This undertone colors most of the battles, while an ancient former friend and foe fights alongside the Shadow Angels.

CAST OF NOTE

The voice actors that Funimation has on the dub of Aquarion seem to be a little bit lesser known than some other shows – at least, they’re lesser known to me.  From what I can tell, they did a decent job of matching up the dub actors with the original seiy?.  Beyond that, the English dub works pretty well when allowance is given for the shallowness of the characters – any of the faults I found with the performances were due to the character as written and not the actor.

• Apollo: Takuma Terashima/Christopher Bevins
• Silvia de Alisia: Yumi Kakazu/Brina Palencia
• Sirius de Alisia: Tomokazu Sugita/Eric Vale
• Hong Lihua/Reika: Sanae Kobayashi/Colleen Clinkenbeard
• Pierre Vieira: Masaya Onosaka/Travis Willingham
• Gen Fudou: Unshou Ishizuka/Brandon Potter
• Toma: Toshiyuki Morikawa/J. Michael Tatum

WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH

Big robots, nicely scaling techniques, powers, and bad guys to fight.  There is also quite a bit of story that hangs around and doesn’t quite get in the way of the action.  The characters can be rather one-dimensional, but the show manages to work around that somewhat by having many different characters, each with his or her own problems and skills.  The animation is excellent, with a mix of traditional animation for the people and computer graphics for the mecha effects.  And boy, are the mecha effects good.  In fact, it seems like most of the work putting this series together went into designing the robot and its various combinations.

For those with an interest in anime music, Yoko Kanno was responsible for the music in Aquarion, and it shows.  The music is definitely well done, and I certainly can’t get the closing theme out of my head.

WHY YOU SHOULDN’T WATCH

If you don’t like giant robots, than this one isn’t for you.  It’s not a powerhouse like Gurren Lagann or anything like that, and there isn’t anything that would bring a non-mecha fan into the show.  The characters are pretty one-dimensional as well, and their dialogue is not very inspired.  Each episode can be a little formulaic as well: Gen Fudou presents them with a challenge at the beginning of the episode, and they encounter an enemy that can only be defeated by realizing the truth of the lesson.  This begins to get better toward the end of the first set of DVDs, but that’s certainly a long time to wait if you aren’t interested in the first place.

CONCLUSION

Aquarion is an enjoyable series.  Definitely worth viewing, if maybe not buying.  If you want to add this show to your collection, Funimation did an excellent job of releasing Aquarion in box sets right from the beginning, and as of now there is a full series box set available.  As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, both set one and two are also available on Netflix, though not for instant viewing.  The bottom line is that this is a series with excellent production values and a great giant robot – if the outside trappings don’t really measure up to the mecha, the action can certainly stand on its own.

PLOT SUMMARY

The focus of the movie falls squarely on the shoulders of Shizuku Tsukishima, a girl in junior high school just about to take the exams necessary to get into high school.  Of course, instead of spending her time preparing for the exams, she works on a song for graduation, hangs out with her friends, and voraciously reads books that she borrows from the library.  She finds another outlet for her imagination when she notices that someone named Seiji Amasawa borrowed all the books right before she did.  Shizuku becomes obsessed with discovering the real person behind the name in the books.  While trying to track him down, she meets a boy who drives her crazy with his teasing, and she stumbles into a strange antique shop.  The people that she meets during these adventures lead her to new realizations about her abilities and purpose in life, as well as love.

CAST OF NOTE

Shizuku Tsukishima: Yoko Honna, Brittany Snow
Seiji Amasawa: Issei Takahashi, David Gallagher
The Baron: Shigeru Tsuyuguchi, Cary Elwes
Y?ko Harada: Maiko Kayama, Ashley Tisdale
Sugimora: Yoshimi Nakajima, Martin Spanjers

WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH

The characters in Whisper of the Heart are real.  It’s not particularly set in a very modern setting – though as unfamiliar as I am with real Japanese culture I am not a very good judge.  My point is that the emotions that the kids in this movie feel are legitimate and their motivations are believable.  After a long string of fantasy and science fiction stories that can require a certain suspension of disbelief it is refreshing to find something so straightforward.  Whisper of the Heart also plays on my oft-denied obsession with good love stories.

WHY YOU SHOULDN’T WATCH

If you’re looking for a supernatural action adventure story, or some sort of intellectual exercise, you should probably look elsewhere.  Whisper of the Heart doesn’t have a deeper meaning or anything – it’s a simple love story viewed from a teenage Japanese girl’s perspective.  There is no apparent antagonist or external conflict to resolve, and all of the growth is internal.  Steer clear if you’re looking for another Castle in the Sky or Spirited Away – even though this film stands right up there with the other Ghibli films in terms of quality, it is a completely different genre.

As I said, this movie is one of my favorites.  Of course, all of the Ghibli films rank in my favorites list, but this is one I can watch over and over again without any problem.  I purchased the DVD the day after I first saw the movie.  I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who isn’t already an anime fan, as there are stronger gateway series and movies, but it’s definitely a purchase I would recommend to fans – especially those familiar with Studio Ghibli’s other works.

PLOT SUMMARY

Jimmy Kudo is a genius teen detective, aiding the police with cases and generally making a name for himself in the progress.  It certainly doesn’t hurt that he gets to impress Rachel Moore in the process – and she happens to be the daughter of another local detective, Richard Moore.  One day Jimmy gets in over his head by following a pair of men that he should have avoided – they poison him!  Instead of the intended deadly effect, the poison shrinks him down to child-size, making him appear as a seven year old child!  Now, as Conan Edogawa, he has to track down his assailants in order to find the antidote by helping Richard solve his cases.

CAST OF NOTE

Shinichi Kudo/Jimmy Kudo: Kappei Yamaguchi, Jerry Jewell
Conan Edogawa: Minami Takayama, Alison Viktorin
Ran Mori/Rachel Moore: Wakana Yamazaki, Colleen Clinkenbeard
Kogoro Mori/Richard Moore: Akira Kamiya, R. Bruce Elliott
Hiroshi Agasa/Hershel Agasa: Kenichi Ogata, Bill Flynn

WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH

If you enjoy a good mystery, picking up this series should be a no-brainer.  Each episode, whether it is a single shot or multipart story, usually succeeds in drawing the viewer into the puzzle.  Case Closed definitely is not intended to be a serious drama, as comedy plays a huge part in the character of the show.  The main characters at least are fully developed, with a rich background and a complete range of emotions and personality quirks.  The subplot of Rachel and Jimmy’s romantic relationship lends a deeper meaning to some of the events they live through, as well as providing extra challenges for Conan to face alongside the mysteries.  The first season gets you the origin story, as it were, and a handful of different cases to solve.

WHY YOU SHOULDN’T WATCH

Don’t come into Case Closed expecting futuristic, fantastic or science fiction elements, as it is set in at least the 90’s era contemporary Japan.  That limits the scope a little bit, and though the show stretches that setting a bit, if you don’t like anime about regular people you’re not going to like this one.  Mystery is all that Case Closed is base upon, and it doesn’t really overlap any other genres.  If you aren’t a fan of mystery Sherlock Holmes-style, then I would steer clear of the show.  The first season is all unique from episode to episode, but it can get a little bit repetitive in later seasons.

FINAL GRADES

I would definitely give Case Closed Season One a solid B.  It isn’t too flashy, but it’s a great way to spend some time.  It’s also much better than some of the action animes out there.  The bottom line is that it’s too good to pass up if you are a fan of the mystery genre even a little bit.  As Funimation does the English dub of the series, I also get a huge kick out of guessing who the one-off characters are voiced by in each episode, as many of them are voiced by common Funimation actors.  It’s not too expensive as far as DVD box sets go, and it’s also available on Netflix.  Oh, and just as a note of interest – if you’re looking for the Japanese version of the show, it can be found under the name Meitantei Conan, or Detective Conan.  Naming issues with Conan the Barbarian prevented the show from carrying the same title in North America.

Fairy Tail is a manga about wizards, created by the same man who did Rave Master.  If this doesn’t mean anything to you, don’t worry.  I’ll try to get you through it.  I also want to note that this review/preview is based on the first three volumes of the English printing, as that’s all I’ve picked up so far.

I was originally introduced to Rave Master during the anime’s brief run on Cartoon Network.  I was intrigued – though the anime tends to stray a bit into the less intellectual category (it also reminds me a little of One Piece – the anime anyhow), the concept was solid.  I started to read the manga, which is much better.  This really doesn’t have all that much to do with Fairy Tail, except to illustrate how I picked it up in the first place.  I liked Rave Master, so I picked up Fairy Tail when I heard about it – it’s relatively new.

Fairy Tail refers to a guild of wizards in a world populated with lots of wizards.  The intriguing thing about these wizards is that they seem to be a  little different than standard fantasy-style wizards.  I’m sure there is something outside of my normal experience that is similar to these, but the wizards in Fairy Tail all seem to have their own specific powers.  What I mean is, it’s more like the alchemists in Full Metal Alchemist than it is a regular Dungeons & Dragons style wizard.  I feel as if there is something else that I’ve read or watched that I could compare it with, but it’s just outside my recollection.  As for the guild, it is filled with some of the most powerful wizards in this world, but they are also the most unorthodox or unstable.  The guild tends to have a mixed reputation as a result.

Fairy Tail’s main character is a girl named Lucy, who is a summoner.  She tends to be a little scatterbrained, and as a result is not the most powerful character in the story – especially as compared to the other wizards in the guild.  The other main focus of the manga is a wizard named Natsu, the most powerful man in Fairy Tail.  Natsu is a fire wizard, but I don’t want to go too much into his details because his background is a pretty interesting storyline.  Natsu and the other wizards in Fairy Tail are a little bit of a thorn in the side of the other guilds, and an undercurrent of the story is the conflict between Fairy Tail and the other wizards.

The story so far is a bit episodic, and the only overarching storyline that I’ve picked up on so far is the mysterious origins of Natsu.  That isn’t to say that the stories aren’t interesting, because they are – they just conclude pretty quickly.  As for the art, Mashima has a certain style or flair that really grabs me.  His backgrounds are very detailed, and things happen back there without detracting from the main action.  I’ve been able to pick up most of what’s going on in the fight scenes, and they are detailed.  He also references Rave Master quite a bit – one of the characters from it even makes an appearance in Fairy Tail.  One reviewer I’ve read pointed that out as a negative thing; I happen to like it.

I’m hoping they are planning to make an anime adaptation.  I may write a review of Rave Master, though I think I’ll wait until I pick up the rest of the manga volumes – I only have three of those as well.

What does this all lead up to?  I’ve been watching Gurren Lagann on the Sci-fi channel. It’s beyond terrific.

However, I really feel that the best part of this whole situation is that something as new and entertaining as Gurren is airing on Sci-fi.  For the longest time, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim has been the only mainstream place to view anime on TV here in North America.  They, of course, need to choose shows that will appeal to their intended audience.  That’s not a bad thing, it just limits what we get on TV.  Gurren Lagann would probably do just as well on CN, but the mere fact that it is on Sci-fi means another avenue for anime to pry its way into the general entertainment consciousness.  I know that there have been other anime shows on the channel, but since CN has had somewhat of a stranglehold on the popular shows of late, and seeing something as anticipated as Gurren Lagann make its way onto another channel (and thus another audience) is exciting to me.

I started writing this post a while ago, intending on writing a full review of the first few episodes of the show.  I never did get around to creating that part.  I’m still watching Gurren, but I haven’t had the time to sit down and pick it apart for a review.  The end of Toonami on Cartoon Network adds a little poignant note to this, but Sci-fi and IFC will still show anime sparsely, along with (I think) some of the Encore channels in my area.  I still don’t get the Funimation channel, which upsets me.  Also, they recently announced anime sections on both Hulu and Joost, which can only be a good thing for anime and its fans in North America.