(continued from part 9)
X
X: Kamui ****rou returns to Tokyo after a long absence to seek out
a mystical sword, a bitter, cold young man almost unrecognisable to
his childhood friends Kotori and Fuuma Monou. All three will become
caught up in a war for the future of the Earth between two factions of
supernaturally powered men and women - the Dragons of Heaven and the
Dragons of Earth - a war in which Kamui is the most im****tant factor.
It is destiny that he should choose one side - but whichever he
chooses will produce the most dire consequences.
Based on the classic (yet currently unfinished) shoujo manga epic
from CLAMP (CARDCAPTOR SAKURA, CHOBITS), X is a grandiose, morbid tale
of dark shoujo angst with super powers, where every character has an
in-depth, depressing backstory to go with their incredible magical
fights. There is little levity throughout, but it hardly matters
given the calibre of the production - the animation is simply
fantastic for a TV show, and most episodes put you through the
emotional wringer. There are some recurring characters from CLAMP's
previous work TOKYO BABYLON which it may help to have some familiarity
with, although it's not entirely necessary.
The TV series is available on 8 discs from Geneon in Region 1
(there are now 2 4-disc sets available at a slightly lower
price-point), and an inferior Region 4 release on 6 discs from Shock.
(This entry deals with the X TV series - there is also an older
movie version available from Manga Entertainment which, despite
excellent animation, attempts unsuccessfully to compress 18 volumes or
so of manga into an hour and a half of film, and thus fails quite
spectacularly.)
[Entry by Andrew Hollingbury]
xxxHOLIC: The anime interpretation of CLAMP's story XXXHOLIC is a
marvelously witty and stylishly animated look into the old saying, "Be
careful of what you wish for, because you might get it." High school
student Watanuki is not much different from most other guys his age.
He just wants to outdo his rival Doumeki, and to win the affection of
a pretty girl named Himawari who is in his class. But the
"difference" in Watanuki is a bit more "different" than normal,
because Watanuki attracts and can see spirits, but he can't keep them
from bothering him.
This "attraction" eventually brings Watanuki to the very mysterious
house/shop of an agelessly beautiful witch named Yuuko, who grants
wishes for a price. Yuuko takes a fancy to Watanuki and offers to
eventually rid him of his problem, but for the price of having
Watanuki become an unpaid servant in Yuuko's very strange household.
Watanuki very quickly learns that there are many things in the world
that are much stranger than the spirits that pester him, as he gains
both an education in life, and an odd sort of "family" to replace the
one that he doesn't have.
The XXXHOLIC anime excels at mixing humor, horror, romance and
pathos in surprising doses and patterns. The cast of characters are
likeable and intriguing, and the stories skillfully reiterate
classical morality tales. Add to this a very enjoyable sound track
and theme songs, and the result is a fantasy series that is memorable
and demands re-watching.
[Entry by Dave Baranyi]
Y
YAWARA: Matsuda is a s****tswriter who has become disillusioned
with the gossip and scandals he has been exposed to in his daily work.
Things change the day he sees a young girl overpower a purse-snatcher.
It turns out she is Yawara Inokuma, the granddaughter of Jigorou
Inokuma who had once held the all-Japan judo title for five
consecutive years. Though Yawara had the talent, she had no love for
the s****t. She wanted to be a girl like any other girl. However,
Matsuda was compelled to write about her. When he did, Yawara was
thrust into the spotlight and found herself right in the middle of the
world of Judo. Can she balance the ambitions of her authoritarian
grandfather who would have her win an Olympic gold medal with her own
aspirations to be a normal girl?
YAWARA is a show for all ages male and female - for those who love
s****ts and for those who have an aversion to s****ts. Best of all,
it's a show of memorable characters who lead interesting lives in
overcoming the challenges that stand in the way of their dreams.
AnimEigo has licensed this 124-episode series.
[Entry by Phil Yff]
YOKOHAMA SHOPPING TRIP LOG (a.k.a. QUIET COUNTRY CAFE): This is a
four-volume OAV series based on the manga YOKOHAMA KAIDA**** KIKOU by
Hito**** A****nano. It is centred around the character of Alpha, a
robot who runs a coffee shop in the Japanese countryside many years
after some kind of apocalypse has caused the seas to rise and flood
the coasts. The world is in a slow peaceful decline with a
much-reduced population and houses and roads lie abandoned to Nature.
The anime's bucolic atmosphere is juxtaposed with assorted wonders
to jolt the viewer's expectations: odd new species of plants and
animals grow alongside the unrepaired roads, a giant swan-like
aircraft is occasionally seen high in the sky, a female sea-spirit
seeks the company of children. It is a slow, almost plotless
travelogue with visuals and skyscapes comparable to Miyazaki (IMO)
rendered in a watercolour-style form very similar to the manga.
[Entry by Robert Sneddon]
YOU'RE UNDER ARREST! (a.k.a. TAIHO ****CHAUZO!): The adventures of
Natsumi Tsujimoto and Miyuki Kobayakawa, two female police officers on
the Bokutoh City police force and their day-to-day adventures. Set in
a more or less present day city. Good animation and artwork. Good
clean fun. Little if any violence or gore, and only some innocent
flirting on the ***ual side. Both OVA and TV series has been made.
Based on a manga by Kosuke Fuji****ma, the same guy who did OH MY
GODDESS! There's also a TV series that hasn't been released yet in
the US. Four OVAs. From AnimEigo.
[Entry by Ben Cantrick]
[The TV series has been released by AnimEigo. There is also an
excellent YOU'RE UNDER ARREST movie, which has a tone somewhere
between the YOU'RE UNDER ARREST OAVs and the PATLABOR movies, and a
series of "Mini-Specials" that are almost completely humourous - these
have been released by ADV Films. - Rob Kelk]
YUKIKAZE: Humankind has been at war with the JAM for over thirty
years. We've forced the JAM back through their original hyperspace
****tal and taken the fight to their homeworld of Fairy. However,
despite the near-continuous conflict, no-one knows what the JAM look
like or what they want. To the rest of humanity, the battle has gone
on so long that it's become just another background feature. Yet the
pilots assigned to the Fairy Air Force are about to be reminded that
the enemy is still around ... and closer than many may suspect.
YUKIKAZE's story centres on a mysterious, pale-faced ace called
Rei, who has a very strong connection with the Artificial Intelligence
system that co-flies his aircraft - or at least, is *supposed* to
co-fly his aircraft. Rei loves his aircraft. *Really* loves his
aircraft, to the extent that he dreams about its ****d female avatar
locked up in a cage. Kinky. This connection worries Jack, the
closest thing Rei has to a friend. (And this is why YUKIKAZE is also
known as "Brokeback Air Force" on the Macross World forums - Jack is
perhaps just a little too interested in Rei.)
Fortunately, as a distraction from similar disturbing lines of
thought, is the air combat. Forget the men. YUKIKAZE is *gorgeous*.
There's all sorts of little details that military aviation fans will
adore, such as the authentic warning tones in the cockpits and the
best HUD depiction I've yet seen in anime.
Added to this are the planes, which are beautiful. The creative
staff have apparently stated that they knew the rules of aerodynamics,
and ignored them anyway. Be thankful, because these are probably the
greatest anime aero-designs since Kawamori first picked up a
mechanical pencil, and the aerial combat scenes are the best I've seen
since MACROSS PLUS.
Speaking of MACROSS PLUS, one might get a sense of deja vu with
certain story elements, particularly when the Yukikaze find themselves
in competition with a new unmanned fighter. However, YUKIKAZE is
based on a novel first written in the 1970s and thus predates even the
original MACROSS series.
YUKIKAZE does have a few flaws; like many modern anime it mistakes
lack of explanation for creating an air of mystery, and the characters
so far have have about as much substance to them as vapour contrails,
but that's okay. One rarely watches anime of this kind for the
character development.
YUKIKAZE. If you like fast jets with improbable flight surfaces,
it's probably for you. Bottles of tanning oil optional.
[Entry by Justin Palmer, edited by Rob Kelk]
YUUGEN KAISHA: see PHANTOM QUEST COR****ATION
Z
ZEGAPAIN: Fundamentally, there are mecha anime, and then there are
Sunrise mecha anime, and the TV Tokyo/Sunrise mecha anime ZEGAPAIN is
no exception. Sunrise has a tradition of bringing top rate animation,
evocative themes, beautiful girls and complicated plots to its mecha
anime, and we have all those and more in this new series.
In the near future, first-year high-school student Kyou Sogoru is
trying to start a competitive swim team at his school, but his former
teammates from middle school are mad at him and no longer want to swim
with him. Never-the-less Kyou continues to go to the school's
swimming pool to practice, where one day he sees a stunningly
beautiful girl make a perfect dive off of the high board. But the
girl disappears after hitting the water, and when Kyou dives in to
find her, she suddenly reappears underwater, kisses him, and Kyou then
finds himself in what appears to be a very realistic mecha fighting
game, with the girl, ****zuno Misaki, sitting behind him, telling him
how to control the weapons of the mecha. But the more that Kyou plays
the "Zegapain game", the more he realizes that the world that he lives
in seems to be less real than the game.
Thus starts a mysterious, touching and bittersweet post-apocalyptic
story of love that survives death and life that survives time.
Nothing and no one is what they first seem in this story that is equal
parts a story of human hopes and dreams, a story of the end of time
and beyond, and a story of the power of love. And at the same time
this is also a rousing tale of heroic action. ZEGAPAIN is an
outstanding anime that is definitely "not your father's mecha series".
To a much greater degree than its titular mechas, ZEGAPAIN deals
heavily with subjects like quantum computing and artificial
intelligence. Its treatment of the A.I. is top-notch; the concepts
thrown around in ZEGAPAIN, such as "entangle", "wet" and "dry" damage,
Deutera, and transmission losses, are used accurately according to the
real-world concepts they describe, and are incredibly spot-on for a
mecha show. One look at the technical consultants for the series,
though, and you'll know just how far the creators went to ensure
accuracy. (There's an astoni****ng depth of emotion displayed by the
characters, but having an A.I. expert sitting next to you to explain
the terminology enriches the experience immensely.)
[Entry by Dave Baranyi and Jorge A Pratt]
ZEIRAM, THE ANIMATION: see IRIA
ZETA GUNDAM: see GUNDAM
ZIPANG: The Mirai, the newest and most powerful Aegis-class
frigate in the JDF's 21st-Century fleet, quietly slips anchor from
Yokahama Naval Yard and sets off to join the US Navy in joint armed
naval practices off of Hawaii. The Mirai's officers and crew are
experienced seamen, committed to defense of Japan and to the
maintenance of peace in the modern world. Then, halfway to their
rendezvous point the crew of the Mirai are jolted by a sudden power
surge as the Mirai goes though a strange mid-ocean storm containing
auroras. As the crew gets over the inexplicable incident they are
faced with an even more unbelievable event - out of nowhere appears a
huge ****p that is racing directly towards them. The crew of the Mirai
reacts with the efficiency of their years of training and they avoid a
collision, but as the mystery ****ps p***** nearby in the night the
Mirai's crew all stand and look in fear and awe, because the ****p
cruising by is none other than the largest battle****p ever build, the
IJN Yamato.
Thus starts the gripping sci-fi drama ZIPANG, in which a modern
21st Century combat ****p of the Japanese Defense Force and its crew
are suddenly and unexpectedly thrust into the middle of the largest
and most destructive world-wide conflict ever - World War II. The
crew of the Mirai quickly realize that they have not seen an illusion,
in fact, the next morning they become silent witnesses to the
destruction of the Japanese carrier fleet at Midway. But they are not
destined to remain static observers, as first they stop and save an
IJN Intelligence officer from a sinking floatplane and then they have
to avoid the torpedoes of a prowling US submarine.
Just by being there the Mirai and its crew start to immediately
change history. Very quickly both sides are looking for the "mystery
****p". The Americans are scared of yet another Japanese "super weapon"
coming upon them unexpectedly. And the Japanese want to know just
what is this ****p that has a Japanese crew but seems so foreign. The
many details of the early part of WW II in the Pacific are brought
into play, particularly the distrust between the Services on both
sides and the fatalism of the leader****p of the IJN after the debacle
at Midway. But the story becomes very human too, due to the
comparisons and contrasts made between Yosuke Kadomatsu, the second-in-
command of the Mirai and Takumi Kusaka, the young IJN intelligence
officer who has been given a second chance at life and a detailed look
at a future that may be, but doesn't have to be.
ZIPANG is a brilliantly conceived and executed tour-de-force that
develops a true clash-of-cultures then deals with it intelligently and
honestly. Punches are not pulled, nor are there any copouts. This is
a story about war and it deals with both the bravery and the horror on
many levels. Breathtaking action and serious drama are given equal
billing and the viewer is forced to consider what choices he or she
would make in similar situations. And while a viewer who has some
level of knowledge of the War in the Pacific will find much to enjoy
in this series, the humanity of the characters and the questions that
are asked make ZIPANG a compelling story even for those who only have
a cursory knowledge of those events some sixty years ago that shaped
the world we know today.
[Entry by Dave Baranyi]
ZZ GUNDAM: see GUNDAM
--
Rob Kelk <http://robkelk.ottawa-anime.org/>
e-mail: s/deadspam/gmail/
"I'm *not* a kid! Nyyyeaaah!" - Skuld (in "Oh My Goddess!" OAV #3)
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear
of childishness and the desire to be very grown-up." - C.S. Lewis
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