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Well, I've recently become quite the fan of Japanese animation (anime) and comic books (manga)... and one of the series which got me hooked was Project A-ko. It's still one of my favorites. This little section of my page is devoted to anime links and pictures and things, especially Project A-ko. Well actually, this page has turned into more of an anime-movies-I've-seen-review-and-information page. If someone has links to go with these descriptions and pretty pictures, send them my way! You can also visit my Sailor Moon (more anime) niche too.
Project A-ko is a very cute little series. I've seen the first two of the regular series and the "Vs. Blue Side" and "Vs. Gray Side" videos as well. The subtitled versions are definitely better (C-ko's voice is just way too annoying in the English Dub, and occasionally A-ko's as well). I also have the US graphic novel adaptations, and though you'd (and I'd) expect those to suck, they are actually quite good.
Anyway, It's about a redheaded super-teenager named A-ko, who is the daughter of Superman and Wonder Woman. She is also consistently late for school. Her younger friend C-ko is stupid, annoying, and a dangerously terrible cook, but lovable nonetheless. B-ko (notice a naming trend here?) is the only slightly obsessive daughter of a fabulously well-to-do CEO and lunatic (and cross-dresser?). B-ko is obsessed with winning C-ko away from A-ko, and in the first episode contructs a series of robots (albeit unsuccessful ones) to kill the little redhead with. I'll stop now so I don't give away any more of the plot unnecessarily, but, in any case, it's cute, clean, and funny.
I still highly recommend the videos and graphic novel adaptations. The videos (Subtitled versions, at least) had a few swears, a little bit of nudity, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles scale violence (almost no blood or gore, but lots of explosions).
Explanation: The following is the little 'rating system' I use on this page. It's entirely arbitrary, and absolutely not guaranteed in any scientific way whatsoever. I find that there are two major archetypes in Japanese animation. The Mecha Factor is the amount of mecha-type anime in the series; big hulking metal ships and explosions and people's heads bursting, etc. etc. The Cute Factor is the cuter genre; funny, whimsical, if even silly. I personally tend to like videos with a high Cute Factor, which is why you will probably see a correlation between that and the Overall Rating, which is my personal overall evaluation of the film. Each has a maximum of 5 and a minimum of 0.
| Mech Factor: |   (3/5) |
| Cute Factor: |   (4/5) |
| Overall: |   (4/5) |
The installment of the Dirty Pair series I saw was called "The Dirty Pair in Nolandia" or something to that effect. It wasn't too bad. It's about these two ladies who are Trouble Consultants for some law enforcement agency, notorious for breaking things and for their poor driving skills. (Hence the name 'Dirty Pair', though I think something was lost in the translation). In this episode they were following this telepathic kid who was entrusted into their care and who is being exploited by some menacing character on the planet of Nolandia. It was boring at the beginning, and the plot remained pretty bland throughout. The art was really good sometimes, though sometimes it sucked, and some of the characters were inconsistantly drawn. Several parts were funny. I have to admit that it did pick up a bit towards the end and I liked it a lot more at that point, though on the whole it was a bit of a disappointment. It had swears (I believe), some nudity, and medium violence.
| Mech Factor: | (2/5) |
| Cute Factor: | (2/5) |
| Overall: | (2/5) |
Akira, probably the most popular anime video in the US, is excellent. It's very action-oriented and gruesome, and the art is first rate. Maybe it's just my copy, but there seems to be absolutely no sound at some points in the movie, and this just seems like a dumb idea. The end is almost as weird as the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and you will probably end up being very confused after watching it. Other than that, I highly recommend it. It is fairly long and very engaging, and the plot (though confusing at times) is very convoluted and mysterious, even up to the end. Excellent voice acting! Swears, one slight bit of nudity, and a lot of nightmarish violence.
| Mech Factor: | (4/5) |
| Cute Factor: | (1/5) |
| Overall: | (4/5) |
I don't know how well-known this is, but it was one of the videos I was able to get for free (from my friend, who works at a video store... but that's another story). I found it to be worthwhile. The art was very good, though not as detailed (and of course not as apocalyptic and dark) as Akira; it was the more cartoon-style genre. It was about this slightly-less-than-legitimate 'get-away car' service, run by this guy called Bean. Basically he and his girlfriend/partner/whatever get entangled in this scheme for some other people to make off with several million dollars. It was funny in a few parts and the plot was OK, though it was kind of short and the ending was particularly unsatisfying. The music sucked. Voice acting was good. Swears, a bit of nudity at the beginning, some 'adult' situations, and a medium amount of violence.
| Mech Factor: | (1/5) |
| Cute Factor: | (3/5) |
| Overall: | (3/5) |
Okay, now, you'd definitely expect this to suck, but I was impressed. It was the absolute antithesis of the Street Fighter II live-action movie, which was one of the worst pieces of garbage I've ever watched. The art was a very good mixture between the detail of Akira and the cartoonishness of Project A-ko or Sailor Moon, while being faithful to the Street Fighter video game (I know... *groan*). All of the characters were there, though sometimes for only a 30 second scene. The voice acting was excellent; I couldn't even tell if it was a dub from Japanese or if it was drawn for English. The movie focused on Ken, which was unfortunate because I always hated Ken and I still think he's a bum... but, then again, I didn't make the movie, so who am I to talk? Anyway, it was definitely worth renting. I thought the music sucked, but then again I think KMFDM and Candlebox and some other bands are pretty popular, so you may like it. I can't remember if there were swears but there probably were, a little bit of semi-nudity (yes... Chun-Li in the shower from behind), and some violence (hey, it's a fighting movie!) but not very bad.
| Mech Factor: | (2/5) |
| Cute Factor: | (3/5) |
| Overall: | (4/5) |
I've seen a very limited amount of the Dragon Ball TV series dubbed to English. They're shown every Friday around here, and I think there are only something like 16 episodes total. Therefore, I can't give much of a fair review, but I'll try anyway. Basically, it's about this bunch of people fighting over these 7 "Dragon Balls". If someone gets all seven, they can make a dragon appear, which will grant them one wish. The art is cartoonish and a little bit American-looking, but still reasonably good. (Dragon Ball's creator, Akira Something, also did the art for the fabulous Super Nintendo game 'Chrono Trigger'.) The voices and dubs are mediocre for a TV series, and the plot seemed a little disjunct (which is understandable considering how I watch it), but it's good enough to get me to watch it when I get the chance. No swears or nudity (on after-school kid-oriented TV?!), and explosions and stuff but no blood/gore. I'm told that Dragon Ball Z is better.
| Mech Factor: | (2/5) |
| Cute Factor: | (3/5) |
| Overall: | (2/5) |
I saw the first two parts (episodes) of this and they were good. It's about a trainee bounty hunter named Iria (a girl). Her brother, whose name I've forgotten, is a seasoned bounty hunter, and she tags along on one of his missions to rescue a hijacked space ship. They find some weird creature, the space ship blows up, and Iria is left trying to find her brother. I gather that that is the plot... however, I may be wrong because I've only seen the first two. They were subtitled, and sometimes I missed the action reading them. If you rent this, I would strongly recommend renting more than one part, because you will be left terribly disappointed just watching the first episode. I was very surprised to see it end where it did. The art was futuristic with a sort of Waterworld wasteland type of look to it. There was a bit of blood and lots of violence, no nudity, and some "adult situations".
| Mech Factor: | (4/5) |
| Cute Factor: | (2/5) |
| Overall: | (3/5) |
Wow! Now this was a great series. It's basically about a lovesick teenage girl who finds out that she is a Devil Hunter, generation number 108 to be exact. Yohko and her friends wind up on several (mis)adventures, and while some of them were a bit corny, on the whole the plot was good, especially for this type of film. I had the subtitled versions, which I would recommend for this series, because of the excellent voice acting. The whole series was very funny. The only complaint I had is of "Devil Hunter 4-ever", which is a music video compilation. Now, unless you have an affinity for anime music, I would recommend you just skip this 'episode' entirely. The only new animation was in one of the songs called something like 'Not so fast sexy girl'. Although that particular song was quite funny ("That's not true! I would kick him in the crotch!", and "I am chewing gum," to quote some of the deeper lyrics), as was the animation to go along with it, the tape on the whole was a waste. But see the rest! It is very good. Some nudity and 'adult' situations, swears, and violence.
| Mech Factor: | (0/5) |
| Cute Factor: | (4/5) |
| Overall: | (4/5) |
I got a screening copy of the first episode of this series, "Moonlight And Cherry Blossoms" from my benevolent video store friend. It was really short (29 minutes), but it seems like it is a good series. It is about a slightly dorky college student named Morisato Keiichi, who goes out dialling for chinese food but ends up calling a Goddess service. A Goddess named Belldandy subsequently appears in his room and tells him that he is entitled one wish. Being somewhat bereft of babes, his wish is for Belldandy to be his girlfriend forever. The entire series is apparently about their adventures. AnimEigo's own description of the series mentions something about two meddling sisters, though I'm not sure who's sisters they are and when they come into the story. It was cute and the art was excellent. And you know it has to be good because the "Sleeve incorporates AnimEigo's unique SpineSceneTM design". No nudity, a few slightly-adult situations, and almost no violence. I don't remember if there were swears, but I doubt it.
| Mech Factor: | (0/5) |
| Cute Factor: | (4/5) |
| Overall: | (3/5) |
This is one of those films that they show on Saturday Anime on the Sci-Fi Channel. It's cool! It's about a future city, rampant with crime (aren't they all?), and the exploits of the Tank Police, who use very violent and destructive tanks and other assorted weaponry to kill the criminals. The story (the first four parts, at least) follows the new female transfer to the department, Leona (who's kinda cute). There is an interesting wasteland-like plot in the 3rd and 4th episodes; it is not all just blowing things up. The art is very good, it is a strange mix of the cuter genre and lots of mecha stuff (everything is very round, contrary to normal mecha style, with lots of corners). No nudity, adult situations, or swears in the version I saw (US dub on TV, but I hear that the Real Version does have these things). There was a lot of Explosions violence, but nobody dies on-screen -- they always rebound like cartoon characters.
| Mech Factor: | (3/5) |
| Cute Factor: | (2/5) |
| Overall: | (3/5) |
This is a comedy about a dimensional-warping toy called the "Mol Unit", which transforms Mirai's older brother (and eventually Mirai herself) into a 'crime'-fighting super hero. They battle the perverted old man Dr. Machinegal and his minions, and Mirai tries to court her crush, a guy called "Mr. Misaki". The art is very good; very clean and true to the standard anime style. The voice acting (English dub) was decent. A bit of nudity but I don't think there were any 'adult' situations, and there was violence but very little gore.
| Mech Factor: | (3/5) |
| Cute Factor: | (4/5) |
| Overall: | (3/5) |
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