Ao no Exorcist Mini-Review (Blue Exorcist)

Ao no Exorcist (or Blue Exorcist in English) is a great anime, if a bit on the short side.  It is a fun watch, with engaging characters and good humor, even if not the deepest or most poignant work ever.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone seeking a relatively tame anime to watch in a few sittings.

The basic premise is that high school student Rin is training to be an Exorcist to avenge his adoptive father, while dealing with the revelation that his biological father was actually Satan.  As a result, the anime is largely split between the 'academic' portion and the 'action' portion, like many such anime are.

I rated this anime at 66.6 points out of 100, which makes my review 4 stars.  What it lacks in literary merit, it makes up for as a fun watch.  And no, I couldn't resist making the score of an anime about the spawn of Satan, especially one that I couldn't make up my mind between a score of 66 or 67 for anyway, have the score I gave it.  I wouldn't have done it, if not for the fact that the score fell in just the right place, anyway.

Halo Legends Mini-Review

Halo Legends is a series of 7 anime shorts produced by  a variety of animation studios.  Several of these are quite big names, responsible for anime or manga such as Bones (Wolf's Rain, Eureka Seven, Soul Eater, Fullmetal Alchemist), Production I.G (Ghost in the Shell, End of Evangelion, FLCL), and Toei Animation (Dragon Ball (Z, GT), Sailor Moon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon, and MUCH more).

I'm a huge Halo fan, although that bias doesn't show in this review.  I was fully expecting Halo Legends to be just a major corporation milking a cash cow.  I expected it to be crap, but crap that I would enjoy watching for ~70 minutes.

Holy hell, it was actually amazing.  Not only was it not a shallow action piece, but somehow they managed to achieve character growth in several of the shorts.  Character growth and poignancy, in 10 minutes.  There are some that are more action, and one that's comedy, but the overall grouping is amazing.  I rated this anime 93 out of 100, for a 5 star rating.  Ironically, despite what I commented above, poignancy and character development were actually the most heavily penalized categories (though they are still above average).  I heartily recommend this series, especially since you can watch it easily in a single sitting.

Ayakashi Mini-Review

Ayakashi is a lesser known anime, and is generally pretty average in most respects.  It poses an interesting premise, though it's execution leaves much do be desired.  If you're a fan of anime that focus on summoned creatures fighting for the summoner (a sort of pokemon or digimon like approach), then you'd probably like this anime.  I'd also recommend it if you're just looking for another enjoyable anime to watch, too.

Basically, these supernatural parasite creatures bond themselves to an individual, and can then manifest themselves into a physical creature by tapping the host's life force.  This has the expected nasty side effects of, say, slowly killing the person when they are physically manifested.

I overall give this anime a 55 out of 100, which is a 3 star rating.  This is unfortunate, as it had the potential to be much higher.

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Series) Mini-Review

Neon Genesis Evangelion, or simply Evangelion for short, is, to put it simply, a brain fuck.  The entire series is a train that has been derailed.  You wait for it to finally wreck, with a morbid fascination at each bump and jostle that threatens to cause it to finally come to a fiery end, and right when it's about to tip, it's hit by a meteor instead.

The anime follows Shinji, a rather pathetic young boy thrown into the middle of a battleground between giant mecha and giant alien-monster-things called Angels.  The focus is on about 3 primary characters or so, who collectively have enough issues to archive in a 20 volume set, and enough baggage to open up their own airline.  Add to this a world bordering on apocalypse, secret cabals, and an emphasis on Freudian symbolism, and you have a pretty good description of Evangelion.

I give this anime a 54 out of 100, which is 3 stars, though I wouldn't recommend this anime to someone looking for anything other than character growth and a philosophical debate.  The anime has some interesting moral and philosophical themes regarding life, individuality, and abandonment.  Expect to have no idea what's going on, even after the series ends, though.  The character perspectives are also intriguing, though much of the development occurs right at the end of the series.

Glossary

Mecha:  Giant robots.  Most accurately, mecha are generally piloted machines of war in a generally humanoid shape.  They are a common staple in anime.

Tengen Toppa Guren Lagann Mini-Review

Tengen Toppa Guren Lagann, or Guren Lagann for short, is an enjoyable parody of many mecha anime.  I enjoyed this anime greatly, though it has its flaws, to be sure, not the least of them being a sudden jack-knife in mood halfway through.

The series follows Simon and Kamina, two residents of an amiable underground post-apocalyptic community who find a small mech that they name Guren buried deep underground.  With it, they end up journeying to the surface to begin a camp adventure to free the world from its oppressors, lead by the Spiral King.  Halfway through the show, the lighthearted mood suddenly is replaced by a dark drama, which can be somewhat awkward to adapt to.

Overall, I give Guren Lagann 4 stars, a 69.5 out of 100.  It has several weak points, but I would definitely recommend watching it.  There is no actual nudity, though there is the occasional Austin Powers style 'nudity hiding'.  Also, the show isn't at all bloody.  90% of all combat occurs in mecha, and the combat that takes place without mecha never results in fatalities.

Code Geass Mini-Review

Code Geass is my favorite anime.  Favoritism doesn't apply, however, for the simple reason that the high score this anime receives reflects the reasons *why* I like it so much.  I originally watched Code Geass towards the end of 2009, and I've rewatched it at least twice since then.  ...for reference, it is incredibly rare for me to reread or rewatch anything within several years of originally doing so.

Code Geass is arguably a mecha* anime.  I say arguably because although the focus of the combat is on the mecha, the combat isn't the focus of the anime itself.  The mecha could be replaced with some other form of vehicle with little loss to the anime as a whole.  Not saying mecha are poorly used in it.  To the contrary, the mecha make perfect sense.  The anime needs a fast, maneuverable, omnidirectional ground unit.  Cars aren't maneuverable enough, and are too unwieldly in dense terrain.  Tanks are slow, and are hard to aim quickly.  Something of human frame, though, is natural to figure out how to aim, can turn on a dime, and is much more adaptable to tight quarters.

Japan has been conquered by the Holy Britannian Empire, stripped of their national identity, and renamed simply Area 11.  Treated as barely people, the Japanese, or 'Elevens' as they are now known, desperately fight against the dictatorial empire oppressing them through terrorism and hidden rebellions.  With an element of the supernatural introduced, one boy, Lelouch, a Britannian schoolboy of no small gifts, manages to change the fate of the world.  Code Geass is a combination political machinations, tactical conflicts, intrigue, and slice-of-life as Lelouch struggles to accomplish his grandiose goals while still maintaining his cover as a mere high school student.

I overall rate Code Geass as 5+ stars, with a score of 101/100.  For poignancy and character development, especially, it is the standard by which I judge other anime.  It does have violence and bloodshed, and is fairly dark, but neither is particularly extreme for a show rated 'Mature'.  Nudity does not abound in it, but it is for mature audiences.  I definitely recommend it for anyone who enjoys action, intrigue, or political/military machinations.  All three are common enough to keep it interesting, and unlike many action series, the combat does not tend to get at all repetitive.

Glossary

Mecha:  Giant robots.  Most accurately, mecha are generally piloted machines of war in a generally humanoid shape.  They are a common staple in anime.

Elfen Lied *Anime* Mini-Review

I want to preface that this is regarding the Elfen Lied Anime, not the manga.  The anime was very poignant, while the manga threw out the most poignant aspects of the show, devolved into totally unnecessary levels of cruelty and sexual themes, and took the plot in ludicrous directions.

A diclonius (Lucy) using her 'vectors'

Elfen Lied focuses on a sub-race of humans that develop, known as Diclonius to humans.  They are almost exclusively female, and possess two primary distinguishing characteristics:  small horns, and telekinetic 'arms' known as "vectors".  These semi-real arms are incredibly strong, but have a limited range.  The focus of the anime is on a diclonius known as Lucy, and on two normal humans named Yuka and Kouta.  After losing her memory, Lucy is found and taken in by the two normal humans.  The anime proceeds with the interplay of characters, a dark para-government organization, the introduction of multiple similar yet contrasting individuals, and plenty of characterization through character interaction and well-placed flashbacks.

I give the anime 5+ stars, a score of 106/100.  It's a damn good series, but is definitely not for everyone.  Elfen Lied is known as one of the bloodier anime, and for very good reason.  There is continual nudity, violence, and gore throughout the series, which means that anyone faint of heart, or young, should not watch this.

Despite this, it is also extremely deep.  I enjoyed it greatly, and for those enjoying dark and/or poignant shows, I think you would too.  If you aren't bothered by the aforementioned nudity/blood/gore/violence, I definitely would recommend viewing it.

As a mini-review, this is a spoiler-free zone.  The full review will go into far more detail, and will clarify many of the things I see in it.  Additionally, I will eventually be adding a number of essays to this anime over time, more so than for most anime.