There is a scene in “The Mummy Returns” where one of the minions, Jacques, goes “It is cursed! It is cursed!” That is how I feel about C³. That stands for “Cube x Cursed x Curious”. Now, I gave an overview comment of it a while back; this is the full review and it is another Frankenstein’s monster, in that it is made up of bits and pieces from other shows.

Yachi Haruaki lives by himself, as his father is always away on these buying sprees, where he finds rare and unusual objects. One day, another of these trinkets arrives, this one being a cube, black and heavy. Since he gets all kinds of weird objects, he thinks nothing of it. Later on that night, he is awakened by noises to find a naked girl, in his kitchen, noshing down rice crackers.

It is discovered that she IS the cube. Given a name, Fear Cubrick (Ice Blue on the right), we learn that she is a cursed tool, used for centuries to torture and kill thousands of people. She has been sent here in the hopes of purifying her and removing her curse. And for some magical reason, Yachi seems to be curse-resistant and the house is located in a kind of No Curse Zone, so nothing affects them (except a direct attack by some Guardian of Justice or what have you.)

Sadly, there are those that wish to destroy Fear and she is almost immediately under a direct attack by some Guardian of Justice or what have you. Peavey Barowoi tries to kill her, as Fear is mean and evil and vile and does terrible things to kittens and puppies. Coming to the aid of Yachi is Konoha Muramasa, a childhood friend. She and Fear are at loggerheads, as Fear constantly refers to her as ‘cow udders’. (more…)

Admittedly, I am a late arrival to anime, despite my background. I was just a wee sprite when I first saw Astro Boy on NBC in 1964 and I was not impressed. It took me another 40 years before I finally decided that I liked anime. Do keep in mind that I had numerous runs-in with it in the ensuing years, and treated badly most of the time.

Since 2004, I have been rather keen on it, watching almost everything I could lay my hands and eyes on. There have been some notable failures (“Fantastic Children”), total mistakes (“Gundam Seed Destiny”) and wonderful surprises (“Mahoromatic”), but with the latest crop of shows out there, I find myself playing the Frankenstein Game.

Two that really get to me are “C3” and “Maken-ki! Battling Venus”. On the surface, there is nothing wrong with the show, but I find myself seeing other shows in them. (more…)