Newtype USA September cover disk

This month's NTUSA cover disk has three episodes on it, and first up is Red
Garden.

Watching episode 2 often puts you at a disadvantage because you're thrown
straight
into the middle of something without knowing any of the background.  What
you get
thrown into the middle of here is a group of four high school girls being
chased
around a car park at night by a guy in a suit who is running on all fours
like some
demented animal.  His purpose is to kill the four girls, just why isn't
revealed at
this point in the story.
Towards the end of the episode it's revealed that the four girls have one
thing in
common, they're all dead.  But they've all been given borrowed lives by a
couple of
mysterious people who want them to fight for them each night.
I didn't find anything to like about this episode, but if you're a fan of
horror
films you might find the series worth investigating.

Next up is Xenosaga.
This is a sci-fi series set in space.  From the style of the music used
for the
opening sequence this series is clearly out to present itself as an 'epic'
story.
And, at least in this first episode, it manages to pull it off reasonably
well.  We
are introduced to a space fleet manned by humans and a type of artificial
humans
who are in conflict with a powerful and dangerous alien life form.  To
combat this
enemy they have developed a new weapon, but there is some dispute if it is
actually
ready to deploy.  But such matters are taken out of their hands when the
fleet is
attacked by a large alien force.  This series looks as if it has the
potential to
develop into an interesting story.

The last episode on the disk is Ramen Fighter Miki, and it has to be said
that a
title like that doesn't give you any confidence that it's going to be a
serious
story. Of course, not all series have to be serious, but this one is not
only 'not
serious' it's also totally silly.  What we have here is two girls, from
different
shops in the same street, fighting to see who can bring in the most
customers.
This has the distinction of being the first show for a very long time
where I found
myself wanting to hit the 'stop' button before the end of the episode. 
The only
redeeming feature of this show was when the end credits started rolling,
then I
knew it was finally over and I wouldn't have to sit through any more of
it.

== Peter ==
-----------------------------------------------------
"Everyone has somewhere they want to reach."
(Kano Kirishima: Air)