Tag Archives: Anime

Slam Dunk: The Movie Review

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It’s time to look at the original Slam Dunk movie. Right away you may have been thinking about the recent one that came out but we’re going all the way to the 90s with this one. It’s a very short film as was the case for most movies that had an ongoing show at the time. It’s basically the length of an episode but that means things can go pretty quickly. Can Sakuragi defeat Oda and his team of powerful fighters?

The film starts off by explaining that the next team Sakuragi will be playing is led by Oda, the guy who is dating the girl that Sakuragi once liked. So that makes this an extra personal battle, particularly since Oda knows Sakuragi’s past as a delinquent and does not respect him on the court. Sakuragi will show that he has changed a lot since then and has no intentions of being defeated here. He will win and then go onto Nationals!

Right away what I liked here is that Sakuragi wasn’t petty or jealous. He was actually happy for the girl who got with Oda and it’s not like he had a crisis of who he is actually in love with now. He left the past in the past and that is absolutely the right way to go. I was definitely proud of him there. Oda was really the one instigating a whole lot and trying to pick a fight but Sakuragi would always control himself when it counted.

The movie shows us a lot of parallels between the two as Sakuragi is serious about Basketball and does what he needs to in order to improve. Meanwhile Oda is someone who gets rattled a lot easier and is not in control of his emotions. At one point he even hits his girlfriend and it’s meant to show how he’s just really stressed but it was a step too far. The relationship remains intact after that and she forgives him pretty quickly but it was definitely too late for me to like Oda as a character. You just can’t act like that and expect me to stay on your side at all.

He’s a decently good player but it’s also not like he is an all star or anything. Gori and Rukawa are definitely already better at this point in time. It’s why Shohoku didn’t have much of a problem taking them out. The game wasn’t as close as the scoreboard made it look if you ask me. I would have liked to have seen more of the game but I suspect it would have been difficult to actually show the game being this close without heavily nerfing the other characters.

Keep in mind that at this point in time it’s not as if Sakuragi is some kind of a super player. He’s still a newbie learning the ropes and yet he is still holding his own with Oda for a bit. The actual parts of the game we do see are definitely a lot of fun as always. Slam Dunk has an incredible ost and it’s a shame that it is so hard to find the tracks online. The ones that you do find tend to have a whole lot of sound effects layered within the video so it isn’t the smoothest watch either. I’ll take what I can get though.

The animation looks pretty solid. It’s not really a step up from the show but if you like the main episodes then you will like this one as well. It’s very smooth and they do a good job of keeping the action very high paced at all times. You can feel the tension as the game continues to go underway and they keep it up for the full episode length.

Due to the short length, it does mean that there isn’t really room for any of the other players. You get the general sense that they’re on the court of course but yeah don’t expect any big moments for those guys. This is Sakuragi and Oda’s show all the way through and for the first movie I suppose that works well enough. You’ll be sucked in enough to where you won’t really mind. The movie definitely holds your attention.

Overall, The first Slam Dunk movie was definitely quite a lot of fun. It’s a very simple film but gets to the point of why you’re watching a Basketball film to begin with. I definitely had no issues with it and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good time. The pacing is on point and it’s so short that it’s not exactly a huge investment of your time either. I can see other films beating it down the line but they’re definitely off to a good start with this one. It also fully succeeds in making Oda a really unlikable character so odds are that it might hurt him for when you watch the main show.

Overall 7/10

Bâan: The Boundary of Adulthood Review

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It’s time for a really quick anime special. It’s under 20 minutes so it’s even shorter than some anime episodes so that means the pacing has to be really fast here. It’s a good story and I can’t say that I have any complaints here. I do think the world building is sound enough to make this into a full fledged adventure some day though. That would be a lot of fun to see.

The story takes place in a time where humanity has finally found a way to establish a teleportation station from Earth to a fantasy world. People can travel from planet to planet with ease and even start new lives there. A fair girl named Rinrada decides to travel to Earth while the human Daichi decides to try his luck in the fantasy world. The grass may look greener on the other side to each character but is this actually a good idea or are they about to regret this right away? Technically they can always go back through the gate again if things don’t work out but both of them have too much pride for that.

As a small aside, they probably should have showed a long line by the portal or a bunch of people at the landing zone because I imagine this is a really popular tourist destination. It’s hard to imagine that this kind of tech would exist and almost nobody would use it. This is a small nitpick though, doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Personally, I’d be having a ton of fun in the fantasy world. Earth is cool and all but yeah it doesn’t have cool dragons and stuff like that.

Since the film is short, a lot of the background information has to be inferred rather than outright stated and I appreciate that. This is sort of a back to basics in visual story telling as you will be able to piece everything together if you’re paying attention. Whether it is a phone being passed around, a photo in the background, a character’s voice, etc. It all ties in well and so you get a pretty solid plot twist midway through.

Rinrada has a really hard time getting a job in the human world and so you have to imagine that she wasn’t leveraging her magical abilities well. I tend to think it’s because for whatever reason they are frowned upon or even illegal in the real world but maybe she just took them for granted. Regardless, she keeps a positive attitude and does her best even when she wasn’t able to get an elite job. She has the right attitude to succeed in life. By the end of the film she also realizes that pride for its own sake isn’t a great thing and so she gets a solid ending.

As for Daichi, well I’d argue he was having fun for the entire movie. As soon as he got to the fantasy world he wasted no time in showing off his culinary genius and making friends. Even when he was on his own initially, the guy showed a lot of creativity in finding things to eat and just surviving off the land. You could tell that the fantasy world was a great fit for him over the ordinary mundane nature of the real world. He just didn’t need any of that. You get the feeling that he could have left for the fantasy world on better terms with his Mom over the phone but as part of his character development we can see how he really matured after going to the fantasy world.

The animation looks solid enough here. We even get a quick action scene in there. It’s clearly not a top rate production but the important thing is that it doesn’t look stiff. The song at the end of the special was also good. So the technical elements here are around average. Nothing noteworthy but nothing that would hold it back either which is the main victory. There aren’t a lot of characters here so you can really focus on the main two and what’s going on. If the special had to cram a lot of characters in then that would have been a lot tougher. Even if we had another 20 minutes or so to play with, I’d like to use that to see more of the day to day life of our main characters. The call center seems like it would be a fun area for comedic shenanigans and of course Daichi being in an isekai world has a ton of potential. Maybe you could even squeeze in a scene of him defeating some orcs or something.

Overall, this is a good movie. I don’t think it’ll end up being super memorable due to the length but it’s a good accomplishment to come out with an anime of any size. Maybe with an explosive climax or something but that’s definitely not what this title was going for. So props to the Youtuber for making his dreams a reality here. It’s something that will always be out there as a legacy of sorts. It’s also extremely easy for me to recommend this one as a result because it’s so short that it’s not like you’re putting a lot of time at stake to watch it. Even if it doesn’t end up being your cup of tea, it was less than 20 minutes of your life. It’s not like this is a really ambitious adventure with a ton of stuff happening, but it’s a calm slice of life that just works well.

Overall 7/10

The Place Promised in our Early Days Review

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It’s time for a dramatic anime film with a lot of feelings going around with the main characters. Unfortunately the film also has a really interesting political plot going on. The only reason I phrase that as a negative is you’ll become a lot more interested in that part which is really just to set the stage for the main adventure. You won’t get any real closure or details on that part which is a bit of a shame.

The movie starts by introducing us to Hiroki and Takuya. They are best friends and have been working together to build a jet. They want to visit the large tower that separates the country of Japan. This is pretty dangerous and against the law though so they have to do this on the sneak. They’re each a genius in their own righ, Takuya is an expert on code while Hiroki is more on the hardware side but they’re both very proficient on both ends. They have a mutual friend named Sayui who wants to tag along as well but one day she vanishes. Both of the boys don’t really know if they want to complete their plane after that and drift away. Years pass and multiple parallel dimensions begin to emerge. Is it time to bring the plane back in?

So I mentioned how the tower has split Japan in two. Well, you’re not going to get a lot more about how this affected the region. We see that half of the country belongs to the U.S. and half of it is for Japan but that’s really the extent of what we know. The tower is being used for experiments to harness energies and matter from other dimensions on but why are they doing this and how did they get such a big headstart? Apparently that half of the country is close to 50 years ahead of our main characters.

I could have followed a whole movie about this as the characters have to wonder if they should even be using this power or if it is perhaps a little too much for any of them to be dealing with. There’s a whole lot of potential right here but instead we go back to the main story. So in a sense, the main story may be better than what it felt like since I couldn’t help but compare it to the larger scale of what was going on. It was just really interesting and why make an alternate history film if you aren’t going to go into it? You could have easily done the whole jetplane plot with a normal timeline if you ask me.

For the main characters, Takuya starts out as a good lead but really begins to falter down the line. He makes the classic blunder of beginning to trust the government a little too much and letting it cloud his judgment. At one point he finds out that someone is being kept asleep in order to protect the planet. Yes, it’s a noble goal if you look at it from a utilitarian point of view but obviously it’s not good for the person who is trapped. This person is even conscious and stuck the whole time although Takuya couldn’t know that.

He goes as far as to nearly sabotage efforts to save this character and really just fell down a whole lot compared to what he used to be like. As a kid he was serious but still had a good head on his shoulders. His technical abilities may have improved but his emotions sure didn’t. I get that he was under a lot of stress but this should be a no brainer. The fate of the world based on some massive assumptions, or saving an innocent person who’s been trapped? The latter has to always win.

So I give Hiroki more of the credit here. He definitely took Sayuri’s disappearance hard and vanished for a while but while he was depressed, he continued to move forward. Once he learned that he had a chance to save the day, he didn’t hesitate and went right back to the project. He was a very earnest guy and is what you’d expect from your average main character. He does what is needed as soon as possible.

As for Sayuri, she was a fun enough character. She always had fun hanging out with the boys and the 3 of them made for good friends. It was nice to see them all getting along without anybody getting jealous or anything like that. It seemed like she initially liked Takuya and even eventually liked Hiroki instead but it’s played in a much more subtle way and didn’t blow up into some annoying romance drama. Trust me that would have been super annoying. Instead, the film lets them all act mature about this.

Sayuri definitely had the hardest trial out of the 3 main characters since she was stuck all by herself in a really desolate place. The way the time worked, she at least didn’t need to eat or anything like that but the loneliness alone is still a killer. So she did well to stay as positive as she did when others would have definitely cracked by the end.

The cast remains pretty small even to the end. There’s a researcher who liked Takuya and of course you had one of the big resistance guys who was always flirting with girls and getting parts for the guys, but that’s about it. The focus here is really on the small, intimate story that is going on despite the huge events taking place in the background. I’m all for focusing on a few characters but the story gets distracted a little too much for me to rank this one higher.

All the parallel worlds business didn’t seem to have much of a point here except to include Sayuri’s plot into the story. It’s an interesting concept but since the film doesn’t have a ton of time to focus on it, it feels like it’s just extra weight. The fact that some guy actually invented how to read into these worlds and come up with new tech is certainly impressive….even if it leaves you with more questions.

The animation is pretty solid here. I don’t think it’s the best work that I’ve seen from this group but it works well enough. It’s not like there are a ton of action scenes that would really let the film show off its stuff or anything like that. The soundtrack is also a bit more on the forgettable side. No song that will really stay in your head or anything like that but the ost works well enough in the moment.

Overall, The adventure was fun enough but you just don’t care about the kids too much. It takes a little while for their plot to really start going and by then you would rather learn more about the government or more about the parallel worlds. The last thing in your head is abuot the kids and to be honest it’s pretty hard to picture them completing the mission anyway. Their jet would have had a tough enough time when they were first building it, but years later? It would just be too out of date by that point. Still, it’s a wholesome story about never giving up and has a soild enough ending even if it does dabble into one thing that I’m never a big fan of. The sacrifice one character makes just erases too much character development for me. So if you’re up for a quick anime adventure you can check this one out, but there are strongr anime movies out there.

Overall 6/10

World Trigger Season 2 Review

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Season 2 of World Trigger starts immediately and I really appreciate that about the show. You never need an episode to get people back into the spirit of things. If they need a review, they can just rewatch the first season again. That’s how I see it at least. As with season 1, season 2 is excellent. The battles, animation, and story are super good. I wish the manga hadn’t had to go on hiatus for so long because it’s clear that this would have been a breakout hit. Dare I say that it may have passed Hunter X Hunter and kept pace with One Piece in popularity? Ah well, it’s all a what if.

The season starts with more aliens deciding to invade the planet. Jin is able to predict their arrival thanks to his side effect and so the government mobilizes all of their forces. With the exception of some B rankers like Osamu and his fellow tournament fighters so this way they would not be distracted. These aliens are from another planet and are aiming to force a fight between Earth and the first enemy so they can get away. Otherwise they are basically given a suicide mission here as Earth would wipe them out. Their main goal is to destroy the big spaceship which would set Earth back at least a year and the heroes have to stop them.

One thing about World Trigger that is quite unique compared to other anime is that Earth gets a whole lot of respect. We aren’t just sitting ducks for the various alien races and can actually hold out own. The biggest invention tat Earth had was the ability to use energy bodies to let its fighters train in life or death situations constantly. This is also handy for the invasions where they can fight with their fake bodies without the risk of death. The automatic bail-out feature ensures a guaranteed survival so it’s as if everyone has two lives.

Around half of the season is for the invasion and usually you’d expect that the second half would falter in comparison but as it is a tournament, that isn’t the case. Those battles are incredibly satisfying as well. They also have a lot of strategy to them and in a way that is really what makes the series stand out. Plenty of big titles have strong action scenes but this one consistently has plans on top of plans. By making the battles a 3 way fight of 4 teammates each, there is always a whole lot going on.

Of course the invasion does have much higher stakes so it would still take the slight win. It’s also nice seeing the most powerful fighters in the verse going at it since generally as good as the students are, they aren’t going to be holding their own against the upperclassmen. Jin himself doesn’t get much action this time but he got to steal the show repeatedly in season 1 so that makes sense. Additionally, his ability to give the Earth time to prepare still makes him the automatic MVP.

Meanwhile in the tournament, there may be times where you feel like the aces could do a little better in the fights but overall the strategies make sense. This is a series where there are power gaps but generally they aren’t crazy. A normal fighter can defeat an elite with the right amount of strategies. The prodigies are able to move a little faster or hit a little harder but it’s not like Superman going up against Green Arrow. So while I can be a bit skeptical when someone like Kuga isn’t shredding 3 ordinary joes, it’s easier to understand than in other titles.

At 12 episodes, the season goes by a lot quicker than the first one which had an incredible amount of episodes. You still feel like a lot of progress is made but of course that’s probably since I love all of the action. The tournament is still ongoing so in that sense it may feel like things haven’t moved a ton but it’s all in how you look at it. I wouldn’t mind if the tournament kept going on for a whole other season.

Now lets look at the characters. First up we have Osamu and he is desperate to look better than last time where he got absolutely crushed. This time he gets to show off what he can do with his new wire traps which are really effective. It was a clever way for him to get around his lack of abilities and he still has the occasional dash to try and crush someone’s shield. While Osamu can be a little too quiet and soft spoken at times, he’s a pretty decent lead. There’s nothing you can do about being weak in this verse as your base trion won’t improve much, so coming up with a smart way around that is a good idea.

Meanwhile Kuga continues to look good as the ace. He has some of the best physical stats in the series and it’s all with a weaker trigger than what he usually had. He is always the power hitter of the group and continues to get more and more adept at using different fighting styles. Technically I would say he has less of a focus here than in other arcs but still makes his presence known at all times.

Chika also gets some good moments with her gun but unfortunately deals with that trauma of hers where she can’t shoot anyone directly. It’s a pretty big issue so hopefully she will be able to bounce back from that soon. Right now it severely limits her and without that, I dare say that Osamu’s group would win every battle with ease. The sheer amount of destructive force that she has is completely through the roof. A few shots would completely bury the whole map.

Hyuse gets his own subplot here as he moves closer to his goal of returning home. Ultimately there won’t be a way for him to do this unless he plays ball and so he prepares to do just that. In the process h has to raise his rank and prepare to join a squad. Anyone who saw season 1 won’t be surprised at his level of ability. The guy can be rather deadpan but is a supremely good fighter and one who knows his limits. That is really what makes him incredibly difficult to defeat. I look forward to him appearing more since that will be real entertaining.

Next up we have Katori Squad. This team is as dysfunctional as it gets and that really ends up hurting them a whole lot. Katori is fun with how aggressive she is and her love of battle. Her skills are definitely considerable but she tends to try doing a little too much on her own and actively ignores the plan. This may work if you have truly unbelievable power but in this kind of setting it’s usually going to be a pretty big L. She is thoroughly embarrassed during the initial match but I give her kudos for trying hard until the end. The teammates are not without fault but she played the biggest role in their defeat.

Rokuro just needed to go about things in a less combative way. I know he was just trying to get his point across but the problem is that he’s really weak. So in this case you had someone strong who was not good at planning and then someone good at planning who wasn’t strong. Sort of like a discount version of Osamu and Kuga. Hopefully they are able to recover from this in the future.

Then we have Kakizaki squad. This team has no real standout fighters and so they try to win with good old fashioned coordination. I would say this team is used to show the limits of that approach. Ultimately you do need an ace if you are going to win. You can have 3 people with the best levels of teamwork ever but if none of them are super skilled, you will eventually lose. Fumika gets props for her quick thinking on how to block Chika’s bullet and force her out of the comfort zone. Meanwhile the other two did well in putting up a consistent fight but they aren’t the most memorable characters. I’d say that’s just a side effect of the team structure.

After that is Ikoma squad. Their leader is not the smartest guy around and just likes being an attacker. So as a result the rest do their best to cover for him. Ikoma can get away with this because he is incredibly skilled. Almost nobody is able to block his sword strike which goes for a very long distance and deals tremendous damage. It’s a technique that few have managed to copy and I like the idea that he just decided to master a pretty basic move that nobody stuck with. I’m not the biggest fan but he did well there.

Mizukami is also good because he has a strong level of confidence that I like to see. Not to say that any of the other teammates don’t have that, but he sticks out a bit more. This team is really good at using multiple shooters and winning the long range battle. It’s an interesting team composition and one that works pretty well. At least they do have an ace although I wouldn’t call this one of the most impressive teams.

Finally we have Oji squad and I really liked these guys. This is a complete strategic team. None of them are aces, but they are all as smart as possible and can still be deceptively skilled. The leader, Oji is definitely the standout character. He tends to be one step ahead of the others and is ready to kill steal at any time. He’s fighting for results, not some misplaced kind of honor. He’s right, in a real battle there are few rules and so he does whatever it takes to win.

Kazuki and Yutaka are also really analytical and work well with Oji. It’s hard to say if they were always like that or Oji helped to mold them into his image. Either way it makes for a team with incredible synergy as well as a solid baseline of skill. I’d like to see more of them in the future. They didn’t have the most unique designs though so I wouldn’t count on a lot more for them, although at the same time the cast is so large that maybe this had to happen. I mainly focused on the big teams for this season but the cast probably has about 100 characters at this point. Coming up with big designs for all of them really has to be a massive challenge.

As for the new aliens, Gatlin is probably my favorite one. He is a supremely good commander who knows how to read a situation and can even handle multiple opponents at once. The fact that he could keep a whole squad on their toes is incredibly impressive and his cannon is also really powerful. He’s a good example of another character who really thinks things through. What makes him rally dangerous is that he’s essentially as strong as an A rank fighter with Osamu’s kind of thinking process.

The rest of the aliens are also pretty solid and each have their own unique personalities. Of course they’re almost all geniuses but this is the kind of series where that’s true of just about everyone. Even the “dumb” characters tend to have above average intelligence which is pretty funny. The aliens have the advantage of being able to call out near endless amounts of foot soldiers while the humans have the advantage of more substantial numbers of real fighters as well as home field advantage.

The animation has been touched up since the first season so you will immediately notice how much flashier it is. The animation is incredibly smooth and the art style works perfectly. It really gets the blood pumping as the characters go at it. The soundtrack is also good with quite a few solid tunes mixed in there. It makes for a powerful combo all the way through.

Overall, World Trigger season 2 is really quite good. That is even an understatement, this is an elite title. I highly recommend it for all anime fans because it’s not every day that you get this level of strategy. It’s one of those things where it is hard to describe this with justice through text alone so you really just need to watch it. I would also say that even if the series never gets a proper ending, the conclusions here are good enough. You still got a great taste of what the concept is all about and of course we do have another season coming up so I’ll be reviewing it at some point. With the tournament still going strong, it’s really a foregone conclusion that season 3 will also be incredible. The writing and strategy ensure that nothing less can happen.

Overall 9/10

The Boy and the Beast Review

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I remember hearing this film’s name a whole lot back in the day. I can’t say I knew a whole lot about it but from the title you can more or less guess the themes. It ends up being a pretty solid film. We get some good action here and a solid amount of character development. It’s well balanced all the way. I was also not expecting the time skip that happens around halfway and it was a really good decision as it led to a more enjoyable status quo for the climax.

The movie starts with a kid named Ren running away from home after his mother died. The father was out of the picture and he didn’t want to go with any of the family members. This leads to him entering the monster world where he ends up becoming Kumatetsu’s apprentice. This guy is one of the two candidates to become the next lord of the world although he always loses to his rival Iozen. He hopes to get stronger and in the meantime Ren also wants power. So he reluctantly joins Kumatetsu and thus begins a strong partnership. However, Iozen’s son Ichirohiko begins to grow jealous. Is some foul play about to occur?

The monster world is pretty interesting. For the most part it is a lot like the human world, just with tournaments of power going on. Because of the similarities, we don’t have to spend a lot of time on world building and can focus on the dynamic with Ren and Kumatetsu. That’s the main draw of the film after all and it works well. For the most part I tend to blame Ren for being a little too bratty for the first half but it is true that Kumatetsu could have handled some of the situations with more tact. Dealing with others may not be his specialty but it is something that he can improve on.

I did enjoy him a lot as a character though. I always tend to enjoy characters who are confident and ready to fight. Kumatetsu is the kind of guy who never backs down and has a lot of determination. He easily could have been the main character here if things had played out a little differently. His ending isn’t my favorite and I would have preferred if the film had gone in a different way but it doesn’t make him look bad at all. He made the sacrifices that he needed to in order to help Ren.

Ren naturally gets much better once he is older and makes up for his earlier scenes of whining a lot. By the end he is totally a good character. He gains a lot of confidence and is also a responsible person. Ren’s not perfect and still flies off the handle a bit too quickly though. Deciding on a whim to live with his father and ditch the monster world did not make any sense and I also think he could have really tried talking to Kumatetsu instead of storming off. He usually gets his act together quickly but it was all a bit rushed and made him look immature.

Also while the film didn’t want to reward the rage out, he should have been allowed to fight Ichirohiko a little bit in order to avenge his master. Having him not even be able to land a single hit because it would put him on the dark side was a little too extreme for me. That just didn’t make sense. Meanwhile Ichirohiko is definitely one of the pettier characters here. One of those guys who is totally cool as long as you’re weaker than him but otherwise he gets jealous really quickly.

His origin wasn’t all that sad so I can’t even say that I felt all that bad for him. He just needed to not become a total bully at the first opportunity. One thing I really respected about his father is that Iozen stayed professional at all times. I don’t think he was ever the biggest fan of Kumatetsu and this definitely showed, but he wasn’t about to stab him in the back or cheat. He would still fight fair and play by all of the rules. If it didn’t work out, then that would be it for him. Just a solid class act the whole time.

The animation is pretty good. The opening may have been a bit too stylized for me but otherwise all of the action scenes are good. The fights are on point and all of the battles really stand out. The music is unfortunately going to sound like a lot of free domain stuff. No songs that you’ll be humming to during the film. None of the tracks are bad but none of them are even slightly memorable.

Ren’s trip to the human world may be a little rushed in general but Kaede made for a solid supporting character. My only gripe with her would be her lack of a survival instinct. Holding Ren’s hand when he was about to fight wasn’t very smart and then talking smack to a giant monster is also not a good idea when you can’t fight. I appreciate her toughness of course but she could have had better tactics here. She was a good friend to Ren and helped out when it counted though. The film also sets up a romance without rushing things so I was fine with that. Pacing is absolutely key with these things. Ren’s father doesn’t get quite as much time so his whole plot feels rather forced but I guess we can just say that he was a good guy in a tough situation.

The ending of the movie is a bit disappointing since it does limit things though. I would have taken things in different directions on several occasions. Both Ren’s ending and Kumatetsu’s were not very good. A sequel can fix both things but this film should have ended in a way that would make it easier and more satisfying. In particular when you build up a great dynamic, you should give it several films for the audience to have fun with instead of just ending it.

Overall, The Boy and the Beast is a pretty good film. It had more action than I was expecting and had good pacing. I do wish we could have gotten a proper match between the apprentices from both candidates though. The climax is more about super abilities and summons so we never have a chance to get that proper choreography. I think it would have been a lot of fun even if Ren would have absolutely had the edge. Ah well, you can’t have every fight. The ending of the movie also isn’t my favorite but a sequel could always change things up and turn out to be a lot of fun so you can’t rule that out.

Overall 7/10

Summer Ghost Review

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It’s time for another one of those shorter anime films. Summer Ghost is a pretty solid title although the short length does mean that we don’t get to see a whole lot of each individual character. Instead they all just get a small intro and we jump into the main plot. A longer story probably could have helped to elevate the emotional punch for each of the characters but it is still a good story.

The movie starts with Tomoya, Aoi, and Ryo heading to an abandoned area to light up some fireworks. Their main plan is to summon a ghost named Ayane to see if ghosts are actually real. The plan works and they meet her. Aoi and Ryo are satisfied but Tomoya continues to visit her because he wants to learn more about ghosts. Can it be that they have a more enjoyable time than he does in the real world? During this adventure he must contend with what it means to truly be alive.

The element that keeps all 3 of the main characters together is how close they are to death. Ryo in a physical way, Tomoya in a spiritual way as his soul is dying, and Aoi who is being bullied so hard that she is thinking about ending both sides of herself. Meeting Ayane and each other is what will help them all conquer their inner demons. So this is really a film about not giving up and certainly about not checking out of life early. This is where the short length starts to creep in though as we just don’t have a whole lot of time for their backstories. I would say Aoi probably gets the shortest end of the stick here. You still do understand the context and everything here but the film has to move really fast.

It’s always good to see films with an anti suicide message thrown in with how many people are depressed nowadays. Some circumstances certainly feel like they can be hard to escape and you need a fresh perspective to even begin to escape that. For Ryo, it might be the toughest since he is literally dying. There is nothing that he can do to stop the effects and so within a year he will be gone. He really just has to do his best to come to terms with it. For part of the movie it seems like he has already done so, but it’s more of a facade while by the end he is actually okay.

There’s not much you can really say to someone like that as you don’t know how you will react until it happens. In some ways I would still consider it the easiest fate of the 3 since you at least know that the end is near. You have time to knock items off your bucket list and all, many would wish they had some kind of advanced notice like hat. Of course he’s so young that he still wasn’t able to accomplish as much as he would have liked to have done. I appreciated how he was careful to still support the other two though. He was my favorite of the three main characters.

Then for Aoi, naturally being bullied isn’t easy and it’s something that happens constantly around the world. We don’t see enough of her story to know what steps she tried to get around it or more details but the point here is that it was quite bad and she had no real escape. Ultimately her message is just about sticking up for herself which is always useful but in a way you would have liked some more tangible steps to making her situation better. We just have to hope that it all worked out.

As for Tomoya, his is the trickiest issue. He just doesn’t feel like he is alive and that life is essentially pointless. It’s why he is tempted by the realm of the dead since they seem to have a more carefree life. Ayane isn’t particularly helpful in proving otherwise since she puts on a cheerful front and flies around a lot. At least she did flat out say that dying isn’t a good idea so I’ll give her some points there.

Ultimately Tomoya just needed to find a reason for life. If your life doesn’t have a purpose, you definitely need to find one right away because of course things will feel empty otherwise. You need that in order to move forward. He definitely could have spoken up for himself more in terms of schoolwork and telling the others about his journeys with the ghost. He is definitely too withdrawn for his own good. I didn’t think he stuck out as much as the other two characters and was a bit bland for the lead.

As for Ayane, she definitely had the toughest journey of the group since she literally died and in a rather painful/scary way. It was good that she got to have closure thanks to these characters. Her mother may not have had a smooth closure on screen but we can assume that everything got properly reported afterwards so that’ll come in time. A little epilogue would have been nice to confirm this though and maybe even find a way to trace the crime back to the driver and get him arrested. That may not have been the focus of the film but it would have been a great way to end things with a lot of well earned justice.

The animation is fairly good. I liked the use of the shadows and it helped to make the characters stand out. It’s definitely not quite as impressive as some of the other anime films that I’ve seen but it is certainly good enough to hold its own. The soundtrack is a lot more on the bland side though. Nothing particularly noteworthy at all and so you will end up forgetting about the tunes very quickly. The film really ends up having to stand on its own with the story and writing.

Overall, Summer Ghost is a solid film. While the messaging it solid, I don’t think the movie ever gets quite as emotional as it was hoping to be. You just don’t know the characters well enough for that and while they grew up with some rather difficult circumstances, we don’t see enough to really determine just how bad they were. Aoi’s was the worst out of the 3 and even then we do have to make some assumptions on our side as the viewer. If you’re up for a good film about exploring what it means to live, then this is still a solid one to check out.

Overall 6/10

Mary and the Witch’s Flower Review

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There’s definitely always something charming about the anime films that have a very British flavor to them. The accents work really well and also help to really achieve the slice of life effect before the fantasy notes really take over. It’s why tiles like Professor Layton are a lot of fun. This ends up being a pretty fun anime film all around. The opening action scene may set your hopes a bit high on the kinds of intense fight scenes you might be looking for but at the same time I’ll still take that over not having any.

The movie starts off with a daring chase as a girl is evading several different monsters while flying on her broom. It turns out that Witches are quite real but dodging forever isn’t quite an option and ultimately her broom ends up getting lost among the vegetation that grows in the land. Many years later, we cut to a girl named Mary who doesn’t really have any friends. She’s rather bored and doesn’t have much to do but she befriends two cats. Their owner Peter is a boy that she doesn’t get along with much at all but at least it’s someone to talk to. Things really change when she finds the broom which takes her to a witch’s school in the clouds. She is even told that one of the cats is her familiar. This is a lot to take in all at once but perhaps now she can make a lot of friends. This school for witches has to be a safe place….right?

If I had an issue here it would be that the school doesn’t get quite as much screentime as you would have expected. I suppose with the plot going the way that it did there may not have been a whole lot of room for it, but I do think there would have been a whole lot of potential there. If this was a series rather than a movie, you could have really done a slow build up here as you unveil more and more characters. Of course this does mean that the film has pretty good pacing so I can roll with that.

The two villains really don’t waste much time at all once they meet Mary. They can barely hold themselves back right from the start here and perhaps that would have been the more effective move for them. This is one of those films where it does feel like the villains technically hold all of the cards. They have a whole army of water type monsters and a lot of high tech gadgets in place. On the hero’s side…well there isn’t much of a hero side to be honest. There wouldn’t be much to stop the villains from just taking over the world if they wanted to do that. Fortunately for the heroes they don’t. Crazy experiments and crimes against humanity are things they are okay with but they technically don’t see themselves as evil overlords or anything like that. Even if…they are pretty evil when you think about it.

For that reason, I do think they should have given Mary some more abilities in this film. Even good ole Peter who stays strong and never gives up is a bit underpowered here. It’s not like he can last more than a second against the villains after all and just talking tough isn’t going to get you very far. It’s something that films with child protagonists sometimes run up against. There is only so much that a kid can do here. That’s why you’ll miss the heroine from the opening scene since you could tell that she was combat ready from the start. We do get a twist about who this is, but it doesn’t really get the big moment that it deserves.

The animation is pretty solid here. The colors are sharp and the opening action scene we got was really solid. There are more chases later on and they’re good as well. In general it’s not like there are a ton of moments for the film to really show off the animation so you savor the moments when they come. As for the soundtrack, more on the forgettable side. That’s actually been a concerning trend in some of the recent films that I’ve seen so I’m hoping that trend will be ending soon. I think a good soundtrack can always elevate a film.

Mary works as a solid heroine throughout the film since she has good charisma and can stand up for herself. She’s a very responsible person as well like when she makes a delivery to Peter even though she can’t stand the guy. Mary will always do the right thing even when it’s hard. Then we have Peter who can sometimes be unnecessarily rude to Mary. Constantly comparing her to a monkey is something that would upset anyone after all. Peter seems like a good guy deep down but almost can’t seem to help himself with the insults here. It’s like he takes a look at Mary and wants to start some trouble.

He still helps her out a lot when the going gets tough though so I give him credit there. As for the villains, Madam and Dee weren’t bad but I doubt you’ll be thinking about them for very long. Dee is your average mad scientist type who has a lot of powerful inventions and should have taken over the world by now but probably overthinks everything. Then you have Madam who feels like the actual brains of the operation. She’s fairly solid and has gotten through life rather well without people immediately suspecting what she is doing. That takes a solid amount of acting/bluffing.

Overall, This was a pretty good film. To an extent it does feel like a lot of meat was left on the bone though. We don’t get to know as much about the witches as I would have liked since the lore was really well setup for more future events. The ending also isn’t the best and limits the potential for sequels although you could probably write around that. That being said, the movie’s story is still really interesting and I had a fun time with it. I’d definitely recommend checking it out if you like magic mixing in with slice of life. It’s not trying to be the next big end of the world plot but more about finding yourself and knowing how to react when your world is really thrown open to all kinds of twists. Doesn’t everyone dream about helping to save the world and being the chosen one every now and again? If they made a full anime off of this, I think it would do rather well.

Overall 7/10

The Fantastic Adventures of Unico Review

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It’s time for the return of Unico in another big adventure. This time we have a feature length movie so there is more time for things to happen but unfortunately I dare say that it was weaker than the pilot. The longer runtime means there is more time for everyone to gang up on Unico and the poor lead just ends up looking like a doormat. We desperately needed a scene where Unico fights back and shows them all what kind of power he has. Meanwhile I dare say that the film actually feels rather dragged out at times so it’s not like the pacing was incredible ither. Yeah this one definitely had some issues.

The story begins with the gods being super petty once again. They don’t like how Unico makes people happy since that should be their job. They fear that Unico’s presence will make their own unnecessary. Initially they think about murdering Unico but are persuaded to instead banish him into the dark realms of the world where nobody else exist. One of the wind spirits instead takes Unico to a place that is still empty but not as desolate, underestimating that a devil named Beezle lives there. Unico decides that the two of them will be friends but Beezle is a tough customer. Will they actually get along? Additionally the second half of the film brings in a cat named Chao who gets mixed up with an evil Baron and an old lady so Unico may be needed here.

I would say one of the problems here is how long is takes for Unico to get along with Beezle. You get what the story is going for with how Beezle will initially put up a fight and cause a whole ruckus but eventually sees the light. It’s a rather standard character arc but not a bad one. The problem is in how long it takes. Unico puts in a whole lot of work over and over again in order to reach Beezle and yet the guy is still trying to stab Unico and throwing him to his doom even near the end.

The film overplays its hand here to the point where Beezle isn’t even remotely likable. It also ends up hurting Unico because he puts up with way too much. There is a big difference between trying to be a nice person and just getting taken advantage of. Unico should not have give Beezle his horn even for a day. That should have been a boundary that Beezle should have had to respect. If the film had done that, it would have showed that Unico had a proper backbone instead of just giving in to whatever Beezle wanted.

It’s also obvious that using his abilities too much would alert the gods but Unico never even thinks about that. Pretty big thing to forget about right? I know Unico is essentially just a little kid so he doesn’t fully know what’s going on but that’s no excuse not to have some basic defenses up and try to keep a low profile. Even when Unico is kidnapped by the wind spirit again at the end, he only makes some half hearted attempts to break free.

So I was definitely not a real Unico fan here. He needs to spend a lot of time working on being a tougher character who doesn’t let anyone push him around. If he can pull that off then I will absolutely gain a lot of respect for him. Meanwhile Beezle is a lost cause like I said before. The fact that he initially wasn’t going to save Unico from drowning is really bad. Yes, Beezle is a kid as well who doesn’t really understand things but this falls more into the realm of common sense.

The character arc itself isn’t a problem, but it’s how long this drags out. That was the real offender here and why I was glad to get a new plot later on. When Chao shows up, we see how she is very carefree and happy. She sings to herself while floating down the river and is just having a grand ole time. When she gets to turn into a human girl thanks to Unico, this goes to her head immediately and she becomes snobby. Another classic character arc but it isn’t dragged out nearly as much so I didn’t mind Chao.

She was a bit too gullible in listening to an obviously shady baron who wasn’t even hiding his nefarious intentions but maybe I’ll cut her a bit of slack since she used to be a cat. This also did lead to getting a fight scene later on so I can appreciate that. Either way this plot was far more interesting than what had been going on in the first half with Beezle.

As for the Baron, it was nice to have a central villain who was actually at the forefront and not just hiding in the arena of the gods. His swordplay wasn’t bad and he definitely gave Unico a good match. I would like to see more action of course but this was good enough for now. It’s clear that the series is big on getting in some good morales at the end of the stories and so any action we get is a bonus. The point is more about Unico helping everyone to become better characters and there’s nothing wrong with that. How effective the character development is will be completely dependent on the pacing at the end of the day. Keep that in check and the rest will follow. The movie is definitely aimed at a pretty young audience though so it makes sense that they would want to keep this basic.

The animation is definitely dated but not bad or anything like that. It’s not meant to be a particularly high budget production or anything like that but still gets the heart of it across. You will also see a cameo from another character in the background at one point which was cool. The soundtrack is more on the weaker side though. Definitely no tunes that will really catch your eye or anything like that. Maybe I should say catch your ear. Ah well, Unico might do better next time.

Overall, Unico didn’t really succeed on this adventure. It definitely straddles the line of being boring at times when the pacing is at its slowest. It’s not a bad film by any means but I don’t think the average viewer is going to get a ton of enjoyment out of it. Unico really needed to be a whole lot bolder in its approach. Throw in some more high stakes or if it can’t due to the target audience, maybe it should have been shorter. That’s always a back handed complement but if you don’t have a ton of story lined up for the film, you don’t need the extra time. Shave off 20 minutes and the film would probably flow a lot more organically. As it stands, I would recommend watching the pilot over this one.

Overall 5/10

The Garden of Words Review

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It’s time for a short anime film about romance and dreams. When you’ve got a film that is this short, you are guaranteed to have some fast pacing. So I definitely appreciated that since I like when things move fast instead of being dragged out the whole time. Definitely worked out well although I wouldn’t say this is one of the stronger anime films I’ve seen. It’s a good story but could have used a stronger cast and more development time.

The story follows a kid named Takao who has a tradition of skipping school whenever it starts raining. He heads to his favorite little hiding spot in the park to do some drawing but it turns out that a lady named Yukari likes that spot as well. She goes there to eat chocolate and drink beer. Not the healthiest combo at all, she would have been better off with pepsi and chocolate. Well, the two of them initially just enjoy the peace of sitting there but gradually become friends and each one looks forward to the rain. They don’t really know all that much about each other but gradually talk more and more. Takao needs to continue his dream of making shoes but will he end up catching feelings first?

The main hurdle for Takao is the big age gap here. Of course he doesn’t know quite how old she is as that can be hard to guess but she is certainly older. Takao is only 15 and early on in his school years so there wouldn’t really be time to get into a proper romance. At least he essentially has his own place with his family all heading their own ways in terms of living conditions. Takao just doesn’t want to be dragged down by schoolwork, he needs to become a shoemaker as quickly as possible.

I would say the biggest problem with Takao is that he does feel rather half hearted though. He talks about how passionately he wants to make shoes but he lets himself be distracted by Yukari rather quickly and of course he is mainly working on the rainy days. He needs to put every effort into the shoes until he has actually begun a real business and then he can worry about the rest. You can’t do everything and his divided attention would absolutely come back to haunt him under most circumstances.

His inevitable blowup at Yukari later on also comes across as completely undeserved and exposes him as being a true child when it counts. He could have handled that situation infinitely better and so you’re not exactly rooting for him here. Takao’s not a bad character, at least he tried standing up to the bullies earlier but on the whole he wasn’t one of the better main characters that I’ve seen.

As for Yukari, she’s nice enough. Skipping out on her job isn’t the wisest thing to do but we do get some more context on what was going on there. With Japan being so focused on honor and reputation, you can see how she would be taking some accusations rather seriously even though they weren’t true from the start. Leaving was the right course of action and in the meantime, chatting with some kid isn’t really a problem. She handled everything a lot better than Takao and aside from one outburst, was mature at all times.

As for the romance here, naturally I can’t say that it’s one of the stronger ones. Because of the rain setting and how the two characters know each other for a while, it does avoid my usual complaint of being rushed though. While I do think any romance where there is an age gap of 10 years or more is almost always going to be doomed to fail, it’s probably not something the participants would really be thinking of. The main problem with Takao is not just asking her out if he had the feelings there instead of waiting until the end and then crashing out. You have to be both courageous enough to ask the question and then brave enough to accept the answer. If you can’t do both things then it clearly isn’t the right time.

While Yukari’s feelings are kept more intentionally vague, I would say that she did see him more as a friend the whole time. She was certainly happy to see him each time as a break from all of her troubles but I didn’t feel there were more intentions than that compared to Takao. Definitely some flirting here and there but more in the lines of banter like with the foot measuring. This absolutely would have been perfect as a friendship plot without a doubt but in movie logic it is written that one person will always catch feelings in any dynamic.

The animation was pretty solid here. The rain effects were definitely a lot of fun the whole time. There may not have been any action scenes to test out some energy effects but the main environments and character designs were good. It’s not going to be like your average Shonen Jump film animation but it still works out. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side though. I don’t think the main song here is really going to stick in your memory.

The ending isn’t the most satisfying this time around but it is going for a fairly bold play. One character seems to be over the events of the rainy season while the other seems to have not changed goals at all. I can only imagine there will be more heartbreak in the future. Although ironically if this ever got a sequel, I’m guessing things might end up working out but since that’s unlikely, I’m going to assume the worst here. Sometimes things don’t work out and that is the melancholy of life.

Overall, This was a good movie. It really ends fast so you have to be interested from the start. I think the film would have benefited more from keeping this as a true friendship though. Both characters needed someone to talk to and it would have worked really well as a way to develop a bond there without having anything more than that. I suppose it wouldn’t have been as cinematic as movies love the romantic drama, particularly when it is either one sided or doomed from the start. It’s handled well enough in the end though and I can recommend watching this title. I do think what the film was lacking was a true supporting character. Someone either on Takao or Yukari’s side who would show up to either be a super negative character saying how being out in the rain is a bad idea, or a rival character who is really good at making shoes and says he has no time for romance. Either one would have added some more drama into the film but in a good way as Takao really has to decide what his number one priority would be. I suppose you’d need a longer runtime for that though.

Overall 6/10

Unico: Black Cloud and White Feather Review

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It’s time for an anime pilot that I was really not familiar with at all. Unico is a franchise that I really knew nothing about so it’s always fun to stumble upon a hidden gem like this. It’s a fun film at least with a story that could lend itself to a lot of different events. Don’t expect it to be the next big action blockbuster or anything like that but it is pretty good fun.

The story revolves around a mysterious being known as Unico. He is no ordinary animal, he has the ability to materialize things out of nothing. Unfortunately he is also cursed and must always be removed from being around any humans. He must be alone at all times and must try to push past this. Unfortunately he isn’t always fully aware of what’s going on which makes it a bit harder to stop the curse which is enforced by a goddess who goes around chasing him.

It’s clear that there is a lot of lore going on here in the background but for now we don’t get to see too much of it. This is definitely like a little taser to get you interested in the series. The main plot here is that there is a land where pollution envelops everyone and poisons the people until they die. They have tried to rise up but the central company controlling the pollution is far too powerful. Unico is really the only hope that they have and he must hurry or a little girl will be the next one to die.

With this kind of story my biggest issue is naturally going to be how the town is just sitting there and allowing this to happen. Once you’re at the point where people are dying en masse due to pollution and the government/corporate won’t stop it, then you have to do something about it. You must become a vigilante and do what you can to destroy the facilities because otherwise you’re just going to die without a fight. If Unico hadn’t showed up, that is exactly what would have happened.

The characters are far too passive here. The little girl was nice since she was trying to help out Unico at least. I also won’t blame her for much of anything because ultimately it’s not like she could do much about the situation. She could barely move. Meanwhile the local mouse was nice since he fed Unico even though he was really hungry. The rest of the animals tended to be pretty fierce outside like the hawk that nearly finished Unico off in the intro.

Ideally Unico will be able to master his powers better as the series were to go on and by the end would manage to get some happiness. That will probably mean confronting the gods at some point and I’ll also be curious to learn more about this. In the intro he was best friends with a girl before the evil goddess got him and began the tricks but why did nobody stop her? It seems like the greek gods of old who were always corrupt and annoying so it could be that they were all just evil or apathetic at worst but Unico will hopefully get some backup. On his own he just seems a bit too inexperienced to actually be ready to defeat the system.

In a way the lore might have been too good as you’re almost more interested in seeing the gods and what’s going up there than in the actual story about Unico helping people out. They are almost two completely different genres with the contrast between the two. Meanwhile the animation is solid. It has a good artstyle that ensures this adventure never gets too dated. You can tell that it is an older animation of course but it never looks bad. The ost doesn’t age quite as well with the songs though. They’re a bit on the cheesy side and not super catchy although I wouldn’t call them bad or anything like that.

Overall, This was a fun story. At the end of the day it’s basically the length of an episode so as you can imagine it does end pretty quickly. It’s enough time to solve the main story while leaving a lot of room for the next adventure. If this sounds interesting to you then you should check it out. It’s a fairly original premise and doesn’t drag on or anything like that. At the same time I do think it would need a bit more of a hook to really rise up and break to the next level. Maybe having a supporting character who tries to get Unico his memories back but is constantly fighting the gods. That would be a good subplot but perhaps a bit too intense for the tone that this one is going for.

Overall 6/10