Concerning Devilman II -

As you may recall back in the beginning of March I said that one of the many animes that I was going to review was Devilman II. As you might also guess the reason I'm writing this is, because there is a slight problem with that.

And the problem is my other sister.

You see I had this all planned up: I was going to review Ghost In The Shell and Wicked City before Easter so then I would have time to watch Devilman II in my sister's place and be done with that, but unfortunately I had forgotten my other sister who apparently has to see five hours of TV a day or she will go insane and that is the reason why I have to push Devilman II to next month, I simply just couldn't find a place where my sisters wasn't watching TV thus allowing me to watch Devilman II in order to write the review.

Once again I'm sorry.

Also there hasn't been any videos for a long time, for a great number of reasons which are:

1. I've been lazy.
2. There has been all the other stuff, too many to list so let's just sum them all up as "life".
3. I've been working on my blog.

So hopefully you will accept my most humble and most honest apology that I have written for the longest time and let's just hope that the "life" won't come and mess up all my plans for next month, let them be written or video ones.

Anime Reviews: Wicked City

After Ghost In the Shell I had new found hope in my sister's anime collection and I decided to go on and not to judge a VHS by it's cover, so I went on and saw Wicked City.

I've know that Bennett The Sage already talked about this one too, but don't worry I'm not going to talk about this one that much. But just to get everyone up to speed here Wicked City is made by the man who is pretty much the Brad Bird of anime: Yoshiaki Kawajiri the man behind such classics as Ninja Scroll and Metropolis. 

And yes I'm also aware that Wicked City is based upon a novel by Hideyuki Kikuchi but I haven't read it so that's that and I'm also aware about that 1992 Live action movie based upon this very anime movie, but I haven't seen that one so that's that. 

While we are in the subject of what I'm aware about this movie, I also happen to know that thanks to this movie we have the popular Spawn comic book series, which I'm not a fan of, but my two sisters are so go figure. 

Now that we got all the trivia knowledge out of the way I feel somewhat obligated to talk about hentai. 

Why? 

Because, honestly this movie is the best hentai movie I've ever seen. 

As you might guess I'm aware of hentai, I have Googled the images of Tifa and Aerith. I've read Bondage Fearies, I've seen hentai versions of DragonBall Z, Digimon and so on I've even seen some random pictures of hentai and random animations, hell I even played couple of hentai games and after getting myself familiar with this form of art I can simply say: that I don't get it. 

I mean I used to when I was 13 but I grown up that period, when all I needed was simply a pair of breasts, now hentai is to me simply something unwatchable, every time I see hentai it makes me question space and time and humanity in between it makes me question everything I believe in and everything I learned from the past 20 some years. But If you do get anything out of it then great!

 And now that we are talking about hentai I can at least mention Adventure Duo or Adventure Kid if you live in US. Now I'm not planning on reviewing Adventure Kid in the future because it's just a dime dozen hentai OVA and that's it. It has tentacles, rape, orgies weird kinky stuff and a plot that's somewhat cute in the way that it's at least trying. 

But why am I talking about hentai when I should be talking about The Wicked City, the anime movie made by Japanese Brad Bird? 

Because to me Wicked City is the best hentai that I've seen just because it doesn't make me question my beliefs as all the other hentai I've seen. But that's just one of things that the Wicked City is, because in a core Wicked City is just a dumb action movie, that has a plot that's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too complicated for a movie like Wicked City. 

Ok, so what's the plot? Well there is this secret agent man called Taki who get's this mission to protect an important man called Giuseppi Mayart, who is important. because they need him to sign a peace treaty between demons and humans. Taki also has a partner on this important mission, a beautiful woman named Makie. Taki&Makie are protecting Mayart from demon terrorists who don't want to have a peace with humans because they think that humans are untermensch (not a term used in a movie but you get the point) and did I also mention that Mayart is a dirty old man who just want's to get laid while he is in Tokyo? 

I'm not giving you the twist ending of the movie, because it's really stupid and just drags down the whole movie and it was done way better in Ninja Scroll, God Ninja Scroll rocked! But not the anime series, avoid the Ninja Scroll anime series like the plague! Really it's that bad! 

But back to Wicked City. It really is a shame that Wicked City is just a bad action movie that's just trying too hard because the animation is really good, despite the fact that it's colour scheme is basically just dark blue and black in black with other colours just kinda visiting. 

Aside from that I really got noting to say about Wicked City, it's just a good hentai but a dumb action movie that's just trying waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too hard, with really good animation but non-existing colours.   

Anime Reviews: Ghost in the Shell

After seeing Cowboy Bebop, I decided that I was done with my sister's anime collection, not to mention my winter vacation was coming to it's end, so I had to get back to school. I didn't start watching my sister's anime collection again until fall, simply because if I learned anything from Macross II, that was not to have any expectations on my sister's anime's and if I wasn't going to have any expectations on those VHS tapes then what's was the point of watching them anyway?

But then came fall and I was a big fan of the Spoony One and as I was visiting he's website for the 5000 time of the day, simply to see if he had put anything up there that wasn't one of those V-logs of he's, and that was when I found the Sage's Anime Abandon series to be more specific Mad Bull 34 episode and that was when I got hooked because I just wanted to see what was that mystery anime of he's and it just so happened to be Ghost In The Shell.

Now way back on my winter vacation I had stumbled upon The Ghost In The Shell and thought about watching it and that was when I saw the VHS cover -

Once again it came right down to the lesson I learned from Macross II which I already have explained.

But now to the movie.

I really don't know what to say about Ghost In the Shell. Bennett the Sage already talked about this one in a great detail and I really don't have anything else to say.

Aside from this:

SEE GHOST IN THE SHELL!!!!!!

And I mean it. Even if you don't like anime you owe it to yourself to see this one!

And that is why I'm not going to tell you anything about it, because you should see it!

Ok, I'll tell you a quote from the back of this VHS: "Ghost in the Shell is a movie that James Cameron would do... if Disney would allow him!" that pretty much sums it all up.

Ghost in the Shell is that good old sci fi goodness that James Cameron was known for, until he made the Avatar and the Titanic. Ghost In The Shell is still pretentious as all but that's James Cameron for you and the plot is somewhat hard to follow through from time to time and if you ask me this one should have been two hours long aside from 75 minutes, just because Ghost In The Shell has way too much atmosphere at the expense of the plot.

And yes, I've heard about the rumours that Spielberg is going to make Ghost In The Shell into another movie and not James Cameron and I'm a bit sad because of that too, because it would have been a match made in Heaven if James Cameron was given the opportunity to direct a Ghost In The Shell, but what can you do?

I know this really wasn't much of a review but seriously you have to see this Japanese Blade Runner for yourself because it's just that good, much like Blade Runner - see Blade Runner too!

Quain Laroche#3

It's evening.

I've spent the entire day waiting and thinking.

Who killed that family in the farmhouse?

Where am I?

What 'appened to my parents?

It was useles, I know.

But there really isn't that much that I've could be doing.

I went back to the farmhouse to eat and drink. I really shouldn't go there that often.

Someway I get this feeling that the Farmhouse just isn't safe. Maybe it's where Boche 'as it's way with it's whores.

So the question is, should I care for what they do in that Farmhouse?

It still is warm and nice. Blessed be the France and 'er warm summers.

I see clouds. Is it going to rain?

I 'ope not.

Although it's better to 'ave clouds, that way the Boche can't see us.

I'm waiting near the Jacque's cafe.

I would like to go in but it's not safe, because of the Boche. But if Boche finds me near Jacque's Cafe then they just might take me away anyway.

I enter the Jacque's Cafe.

I feel disgust. It's filled with Boche.

I go to the bar and order a beer.

Jacque seems to be talking to a Boche. 'e seems 'appy. 'es wife is manning the bar. Atleast I think she is Jacque's wife.

Damn Boche!

Those filthy bastards!

Sitting around tables, drinking, lauhging, it get's in to my nerve! I just want to kill them, kill them all.

When will they leave? When will Jacque close for the day?

Time passes.

I drink my beer and try not to kill all the Boche.

It's not going well.

Thankfully none of them 'ave come to talk to me.

Finally Jacque comes and tells me to go in the backroom and wait till 'e 'as closed and send all the Boche away.

I go to the backroom.

There is just a big table, some chairs around it. A bookshelf. I start going through the books. Nothing that I would care to read.

When will the Boche leave? I go and take a seat and light a cigarette.

Ouside it's getting darker and cloudier. I sure 'ope that it's not going to start to rain.

Finally Jacque 'as closed and all the Boche are gone.

Finally.

Jacque comes and we start to leave.

We go through the backdoor.

Rene is waiting, so is 'es brother. Francoi's is not 'ere because 'e needs to sleep so that 'e would be ready for 'es day in work.

Me and Jacque get inside the lorry. The rifles are ready. I check mine. Jacque is nervous. 'e lights a cigarette. I sit and look at the other side. Rene tells us that we are going to ambush another lorry.

The lorry is moving. It's still clody.

Jacque checks 'e's rifle. I'm getting more anxious. I'll check my rifle, it's fine. I check my knife, it's sharp and ready to use, that is good.

Jacque is still nervous. I'm anxious.

I can't wait to find some Boche to kill, just so I can reduce they're number once again. Soon I've killed all of them, soon Jacque's Cafe will be empty from them. Then I can be there, 'ave a drink and relax. That's all I need to do – relax

The lorry 'as 'alted.

Time to come out. Rene and Auguste 'ide the lorry. Jacque end's 'is cigarette and check's 'es rifle. I'm calm but anxious. I can't wait to kill some Boche.

Rene and Auguste 'ave 'id the lorry.

They come back to us. Rene tells us our plan. It's the same as the last time: block the road, 'ide in the bushes, wait till the Boche comes out and then dispose them.

We block the road. Now we wait.

It's quiet. It's dark. We are 'iding in the bushes. It's still cloudy, but not raining. Good.

We 'ear a lorry. Boche are propably coming.

Finally.

The lorry 'alts on the roadblock. Rene tells them to raise they're 'ands and not to do anything stupid. We come about.

I can see the Boche. They are scared.

I'm anxious.

Those pigs are shaking.

Rene asks volunteers to finish the job.

I volunteer.

I take them away. I need some privacy.

Finally I get to do what I wanted to do all day.

Boche are tied and scared. I leer at them. I'm going to enjoy from this.

I take my knife. It's still sharp. I pick one of them and walk to 'im. I cut 'es ear.

Blood is everywhere and the pig is screaming.

But something is wrong.

I can't do it.

I can't do anything else to 'im.

The Boche is crying and screaming, the other is scared and screaming too.

I?

I'm stunned. I can't do anything.

Why?

I'm standing looking stupid yet doing nothing.

Why?

This is what I wanted do all day. But now. I can't.

Why?

I walk near the one whose ear I cut. I try to beat 'im up. But then I 'ear someone yelling at me. But it's too late I'm going to do it. I'm going to beat them up. The Boche killed that family.

They killed so many.

BOCHE MUST DIE!

Auguste takes me and turns me away and start yelling at me. 'es mumbling in panic. I can't understand a word 'es saying.

Why?

Then Jacque comes. 'e sees the Boche and Rene's brother screaming at me. Jacque goes between us and tries to calm Auguste by telling 'im that I was just doing what Rene told me to.

To 'ell with Rene.

This is what I wanted to do. I want to make them pay!

But now, with the perfect chance I cannot.

Why?

Then we 'ear gunshots. I turn and I see Rene. While Auguste and Jaqcue were arguing 'e sneaked up and finished them up. 'e then tells Jacque to get they're clothes and yells at Auguste for leaving 'es post.

When Jacque is done I look at the Boche and wonder.

Why?

I should 'ave been able to make them pay for what they did, but no. I cut one of the Boche's ears off and then I couldn't do anything.

What's wrong with me?

I go back to the lorry.

We load up all the suplies from the now captured lorry to our old one, then we clear the road and 'ide the captured lorry. Rene and Auguste will come back for it – if it's still 'ere.

While were cleaning up Rene tells me 'e wants to 'ave a talk with me tomorrow evening.

We are driving back. I still wonder why?

Jacque 'as light a cigarette. 'es still nervous. I light one for myself too.

Then it starts to rain.

THE END 

Anime Reviews: Cowboy Bepop The Movie

After the disappointment that was Macross II I realized, that watching my sister's anime VHS wasn't going to be all that much fun after all. After Macross II I though that I could go and see this anime called Ghost In the Shell. Why? Because of the cover.

But I thought not, since if I've had learned anything from Macross II it was never to judge a VHS by it's cover. So I decided to go with an anime VHS I knew was going to be at least decent.

That's right.

But you're not going to believe this, if I knew virtually nothing about the Macross, then I know nothing about Cowboy Bebop. I know right, how is that possible? One of the most celebrated animes of recent history and I barely even heard about it. Well it just comes down to one thing:

I live in Finland

And in Finland anime really isn't that kind of thing that one can just see from TV all the time. There use to be that time, but alas the times have changed. Why? Well none of the TV channels know who owns the rights these days. Not to mention anime's really don't get released that often in Finland. The best examples of this is Dragonball, now in Finland Dragonball is just as big thing as it is in anywhere else, but the show was shown only once, there is no DVD-box sets or hell DVD releases of any kind, only things that I can remember are two Dragonball Z movies that were released on VHS way back when and that's it. Oh sure there is the manga but seriously, who reads Dragonball mangas?

Of course Naruto and animes made by Studio Ghibli get they're DVD releases and basically everything that has anything to do with the Finland's favorite anime: Ginga: Nageroshi Gin.

 What you never heard about it?

 Anyways let's talk about Cowboy Bebop: The Movie.

Before I start however here is a quick rundown about the series itself. There is this guy called Spike, this really hot chick named Faye and this guy called Jack and a chick named Ed and the dog Ein. Spike is the main character, I think and he's a really laid back badass, then there is Faye who's basically fanservice, I think, Jack who is a badass, but with a heart of pure gold - I think. Then there is this girl named Ed who is - just weird and a computer genius and they also have a cute dog called Ein.

What's that you say? Who is this Cowboy Bebop? Well Spike and Co. are bounty hunters and in the distant future of 2071 bounty hunters are called Cowboys, and they're ship is named Bebop.

Cowboy Bebop: The movie is about the Bebop crew trying to catch a terrorist named Vincent who's spreading a nanite that is going to kill the entire world. But the Government of Mars doesn't like this because during the war on Titan they used nanites in order to win, but using those nanites is a serious war crime, so the Government of Mars is trying to cover the whole thing, by issuing a reward of 300 million woolongs to those who kill Vincent, but this is somewhat difficult because Vincent knows what he's doing and he used to be a elite soldier  - I think.

And the movie?

It's good. The animation is great, the movie has ton of atmosphere and it's a really good movie. The villain is somewhat lazy though, maybe it's just me but he seems to me to be so one-dimensional and angsty. I me he's plot is to kill everyone in the planet. Isn't that basically, a plot to every single Final Fantasy ever?

Not to mention all the nitpicks I have.

The most obvious one being that there is no chance that we are going travel in space that easily by 2071 and we are going to colonize Mars too? Really? By 2071 we are lucky if we have colonized the moon and paid a visit to Mars. Well at least they have a space program, unlike some other sci-Fi shows I could mention.

 Yeah I'm just kidding.

 The real nitpicks are stuff like how they are suppose to get the tattoo right from such a bad picture? And if the Government of Mars doesn't want to have any evidence about they're war crimes and they are going to kill anyone who is immune to nanites? Then why the hell are they bothering to make a vaccine in the first place?

But aside from those nitpicks I enjoyed Cowboy Bebop: The Movie. So much so that I just want to see the anime. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie is well animated, stylish, classy, action pack and all together really well made anime. But even still it just wasn't enough to make me forget what a disappointment the Macross II was, so I stopped watching them. My vacation was already coming to it's end and there was other things I wanted to do.

Anime Reviews: Macross II

Greetings,

In the February of 2011 I've moved to my very own home. During a winter holiday I went to Turku to see my family. I stayed there with my eldest sister's place and on there I was rather bored, so I started to go through her movie collection which basically consisted from bunch of cartoons, horror movies, genre flicks and animes mostly OVAs. As I was going through her collection I found Macross II. I've saw the cover of the VHS and I knew one thing: I was going to see it! 

Now before I go any further I have to say that I'm fully aware that Bennett the Sage already covered Macross II in he's Anime Abandon series, but for my great surprise in US the Macross II was full length movie cut from 6 episode OVA series and that's exactly the one my sister has.

Now I would like to give some information about the series, but Macross II really is a standalone series in the Macross franchise so I'm not going to talk about it. Ok so here is a quick rundown:
Macross II takes place 80 years after Macross: Do you remember love, which is an non-canon sequel to the original Macross while the Macross II is a canon sequel to an non-canon sequel of the original Macross, but then Macross II became non-canon.

Now I haven't seen the Macross: Do you remember love? and I've only seen the first 15 episodes of the original Macross by now, so yeah - that's the problem! I really don't know if I should tell you that much about the series that I barely know the basics or should I just expect that you've all seen the original Macross.

Nah, screw it I'm just gonna tell you about Macross II

In the beginning we are introduced to our main hero an annoying reporter called Hibeki who became a reporter because ten years ago when the Zentradis last attacked he used to watch SNN's war reports and figured out that's what he wants to do, show people what happens. Every time I hear this I just roll my eyes, seriously a kid sees war reports from the News and decides that he is going become a reporter so he can one day report the possibly attack, not a fighter pilot mind you, just a reporter.

And I'm not even kidding you when I say that this is theme of the OVA series: freedom of speech.

So what else happens?

Well after ten years of silence the Zentradi's attack and the Earth - or UN Spacy - fights it off like it any other attack from the Zentradi: using J-pop. You see back in a days of the original Macross Japan was undergoing a renaissancance of music so they decided to use it in they're show and personally I think it's brilliant! And also it's one of those show where one can hear music through a vacuum that or it's symbolism and it's also here where we meet the Faerie squadron which is completely meaningless in this show aside from Silvie Gena who is annoyed by Hibeki, how I understand her.

Anyways Hibeki get's to pilot a Valkyrie fighter and during that he meets a Marduk woman named Ishtar but none of it's members. Just kidding Ishtar is just a woman. Hibeki then decides to bring her back to Earth and decides to tell her story to the world which leads to the E.T phase, during which we also meet Hibeki's friend: Mash who I'm only mentioning here because he - she - öööh... thing? Or whatever you call transsexuals. Who hangs around with a group of women? Does that make Mash a lesbian? Or what about those women? Wait! Those women, are they - transsexuals too? One might ask now why do I care, but I like to ask you that why would you put a transsexual in Macross II? That's like if in Star Trek Next Generation there was a gay person, wait - why is there no gay people in Star Trek?

Anyways moving on! So that was pretty much the first episode which was a decent first episode, now I'm not going to talk about the last five episodes simply because that would take too much time.

My verdict on this show is that it's stupid. For instance: In the Macross II the reason why Mardukes want to destroy all life on the Earth simply because they think that the culture is the root of all evil. Now if I was Linkara I would now go for a 30 minute rant over the stupidity of this, but since I'm not Linkara I'm only going to tell you what I learned from Open University's basic course of Cultural History: Culture at it's very purest means everything that mankind has ever done in order to survive. Yeah. Now that really isn't an insult because well let's face it the original Macross was stupid too, now once again I haven't seen the entire show but the first 15 or so episodes which we're not anything too special.

And about the theme. It's not handled very well, it's just annoyingly in you're face all the time. Now I know that the original Macross had it's deeper moments every now and then, but the original Macross was at the core just a dumb space adventure. Key word being dumb. But it was still enjoyable and watchable, so I would say that having a theme as deep as the "Freedom of speech" is bit too heavy for Macross, I just want to see some space battles dammit! With good story, characters etc, etc, etc.

Also just because a show is stupid doesn't mean that it's bad. To be perfectly honest Macross II is decent if you just take it for what it's worth. But it's still unworthy successor for the original Macross. Once again only seen the first 15 or so episodes.

Also something I find incredibly odd is that they are showing Thunderbirds in Macross II. Only to have it destroyed in a matter of seconds by Mardukes. As a man who grew up watching Thunderbirds, I will have to ask why? Is it symbolic? Is it a joke? If it's a joke then it's not funny.

All in all Macross II is a dumb but enjoyable and well animated 6 episode OVA-series, just take it for what it's worth and don't think too hard about it. Next time we'll continue in space - with Cowboys.  

March

Greetings,

The plans for March:

First off the anime reviews. These animes are: Macross II the 6 part OVA series, Cowboy Bebop the Movie, Ghost in the Shell, Wicked City and Devilman I&II

Second off, Quain Laroche#3.

Third off, Dragonball Evolution movie review. Oh yes.

Fourth off, the stuff that I've missed from my Star Wars retrospective.

Once again the Tintin video reviews, if all goes well.

So 'till next time Live Long and Prosper Asahamana is out *snap*