In the world of anime, there are two kinds of aliens. There are the mean, nasty, ugly ones that will rip you apart like you are a loaf of fresh bread. They are usually slopping over with testosterone and have abandonment issues, but they will still kill you dead, dead, dead (Don’t invite them over for scones and lawn darts, OK?). The second kind of alien are very cute and cuddly female aliens with a pair of twin moons that would stop a supernova. “Cat Planet Cuties” is certainly no different than “UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie”, “Heaven’s Lost Property”, “Waiting in the Summer” and/or “To Love Ru” in this approach.

I first ran into this show at an anime convention, but I came in halfway through the first episode, it was subtitled and I never got to see or discover the English title, so it took me a bit of time to find the show. The manga from which it derives is called “Bombshells from the Sky” and these ladies certainly have some large-caliber lovelies. So, it is set in the future, the completely unfathomable year of…..2010. 2010? Really? We were promised flying cars and we don’t have them and now, we are to have buxom beauties from Betelgeuse coming down from the heavens and THAT didn’t happen either. Man, the future sucks! (more…)

So, it ended up being another giant fighting robot show, but it started out with better promise, so I stayed with it.

“Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse” (and that is a mouthful of a title) looks at an alternative universe of our world and it starts in 1967.

The moon has been colonized (thanks to the Japanese) but is set upon by the BETA (Beings of the Extra Terrestrial origin which is Adversary of human race). This is the best we could come up with? Anyway, we spend six years battling them on the moon, but to no avail. They make landfall in Europe in 1973 and begin a methodical destruction of the world, moving east. We leap ahead to 1998, when Yui Takamura (far left), attending the Kyoto Royal Guard Academy, is training to be a TSF pilot (Tactical Surface Fighter).

Things turn dire as Korea is overrun and the BETA makes a play for Japan. Despite their best efforts from all involved, Yui’s crew is wiped out and Japan falls.

It is now three years later and Yui is a Lieutenant in the Japanese Imperial Guard. She goes to Alaska with a new weapon to defeat the BETA and train new pilots. One of them is Yuuya Bridges (that guy) who dismisses his Japanese heritage. He is a good pilot, but has a chip on his shoulder, owing to the abuse he absorbed because of his mixed heritage. Joining them from Russia are the Scarlet Twins, Cryska Barchenowa and Inia Sestina, who have a secret all their own. (more…)

OK, for a person who dislikes giant fighting robot shows, why did I watch another giant fighting robot show? Well, call me a hopeless optimist, but I am genuinely wishing that I can find a giant fighting robot show that works. Like an honest lawyer, I know there’s one out there, but I haven’t see it as of yet.

OK, it’s the slight future (2016) and Kouichi Hayase (Mr. Intense up there) is bullied and set upon by other students, as bullying is both a Japanese tradition and an anime trope. One day, after school, feeling lost and forlorn, he takes a short cut through the nearby forest and manages to get a GFR to crash into him (not like he is there with semaphore flags, P-L-E-A-S-E L-A-N-D O-N M-E). He awakens to find a naked girl next to him (that’s the clothed one up there, Emi Kizaki). He takes her home and learns he has partial amnesia. Then, other GFRs attack the town. He discovers he can pilot this one and uses it to defeat the enemies. Nest, he learns the shocking truth: he is dead. The machine revived him, but now the two of them share control of this robot. (more…)

What would you do if you discovered that you were more than you thought you were? “Bodacious Space Pirates” (or, “Minisuka Pairēts”, which translates out to “Miniskirt Space Pirates”. Uh, can we pick a title and stay with it?) tells the story of Marika Kato. She is a high school girl living a rather ordinary life as a member of the space yacht club and having a part-time job at a high-class retro café. Oh, it’s the future (couldn’t you tell? That really tall guy with the horns is not being Gene Simmons in a Kiss tribute band) and space flight is normal, like Greyhound Bus Lines normal. OK, you got me, bus lines aren’t really all that normal. Maybe space flight isn’t, either.

Then she learns a secret: Gonzaemon Kato, recently deceased captain of the pirate ship Bentenmaru, was her father. As his only living descendant (that we can prove. Pirates really can’t be trusted), she is to be the next captain of it. But she hasn’t even graduated high school yet and finals are coming up! And who will cover her shift at the café?

And what DO space pirates do? Well, these pirates terrorize luxury space liners, forcing them to heave-to while all the guests are relieved of their valuables…which is fully covered by the cruise lines. (more…)

We’re back at school. Again. Again. Man, I have been in school longer, via these animes, than I was when I really went to school. OK, this one is “Kokoro Connect”. The story involves five high school students, from left to right, Yoshifumi Aoki, Himeko Inaba, Taichi Yaegashi, Iori Nagase and Yui Kiriyama, who are all members of the Cultural Research Club. One day, they begin experiencing a phenomenon in which they randomly swap bodies amongst themselves…for starters.  As these five friends face many different phenomena at the whims of a mysterious being known as Heartseed, their friendship is put to the ultimate test.

Initially, it involved what it is like for a girl to be a boy and vice versa, but they also learn secrets about each other they never knew, despite all their time together. To make matters worse, Heartseed (whom you never see; all it has done is taken over another person’s body when he has to communicate with them) lets them know this, and a bunch of other stuff will be happening. This includes not being able to control one’s actions and reactions, as well as deep-seated desires coming to the surface at inappropriate times. The third incident has to remain hidden, as it reveals some plot-changers.

OK, body-shifting is not new. In fact, not only is it a mainstay of science fiction, hentai also seems to like it as well. But for our purposes here, these tests are meant to do two things: allow Heartseed to see how people react to changes in their environment and to determine how strong these friends really are. (more…)

“Eureka Seven AO: Astral Ocean”, takes place about 14 or so years after the conclusion of the first part of it. Ao Fukai (our hero, dead center) is a 13-year-old boy living in the year 2025 in Okinawa, on the island of Iwato Jima with Dr. Toshio Fukai, ever since Ao’s mother disappeared 10 years ago. When a mysterious organization attacks the local Scub Coral, Ao somehow gets mixed up in the battle and manages to activate an enigmatic robot called the Nirvash while it is being transported by the Self-Defense Forces. Later, Ao finds out that the Nirvash belonged to Eureka, his mother, and embarks on a journey to find his mother and learn the truth about his origins.

Or so we hoped.

Because he is able to pilot this ship, he is conscripted by Generation Bleu, an organization dedicated to fighting Secrets, and joins Pied Piper. OK, let me explain. Every time there is a Scub Burst, these transforming robots/ships called ‘secrets’ come down to destroy the Scub. But they also take out the surrounding area, so there is a huge amount of collateral damage by them. Ao joins Bleu to get to the bottom of it all, but runs into more misconceptions and deceptions than ever before. A lifelong friend, Naru (the lovely lady in the upper right) suffers from a condition caused by the Scub but eventually has to turn against Ao. (more…)

I had a friend tell me that “Eureka Seven” (or, as it’s pronounced in the show, “Erika Seven”) is a really good sci-fi anime. I mean, even the Sci-Fi Channel (now known as Syfy) showed it, and it was really worth watching.

I decided to watch it with him and, quite frankly, I was disappointed with the effort.

The series focuses on Renton Thurston (that rather grumpy one dead center), the fourteen-year-old son of Adrock Thurston, a military researcher who died saving the world. He lives what he considers a boring life with his grandfather in a boring town. He loves lifting, a sport similar to surfing but with trapars, a substance abundant throughout the air, as the medium. He dreams of joining the renegade group Gekkostate. It is led by his idol Holland Novak (the jerk just off his left shoulder), a legendary lifter.

An opportunity to do so literally falls into his lap when a large mecha, called the Nirvash typeZERO, and Eureka (the smiling one off his right shoulder), its pilot and a member of Gekkostate, crash into Renton’s room. Renton’s grandfather orders him to deliver a special part to the Nirvash called the “Amita Drive”, which releases the immense power dormant within the typeZERO called the “Seven Swell Phenomenon”. Afterwards, Renton is invited to join Gekkostate, where he quickly discovers that the behind-the-scenes life of Gekkostate is hardly as glamorous or as interesting as printed in the glossy pages of their magazine, ray=out. Only one thing makes it all worthwhile for him: the presence of Eureka, the mysterious pilot of the Nirvash. Renton, Eureka, and the Gekkostate embark on an adventure that will shape their future as well as the world. (more…)

A brief description of this show could be “Japan’s answer to ‘South Park’”.

“Crayon Shin-Chan” (or just “Shin-Chan”) follows the adventures of the five-year-old Shinnosuke “Shin” Nohara (the guy getting his cheek pulled) and his parents, Hiroito (Hiro), Misae (Mitsi), baby Himawari (Hima) and Whitey the dog, their neighbors, and friends and is set in Kasukabe. Not that it matters. It might as well be in “South Park”.

Shin is the kind of boy that you would fling into a pile of poodle doo…except that he might like it. He is rude, brash, crude, disgusting and perverted and lives in the realm of his tiny world, oblivious to those around him.

The art work is intentionally bad. If you tried ‘traditional’ animation with the writing that is presented (and it is some of the best writing I have heard for a show, as they have dropped all pretenses that this is a ‘cute’ show), it would not work. The art work needs to be as crude as the topics and their presentation.

This is a show where you can give a review, even if you haven’t seen the end, as it is a series of vignettes about their life together, such as it is. The arc where they have to live in a crummy apartment complex while their house is being rebuilt is pretty funny, as all their neighbors are at least as crazy as they are, if not more so. (more…)

There are two kinds of space aliens out there. The first one will rip out your lungs, Jim, as they are mean, cruel, vicious, ugly, primal and oozy. The second are cute, cuddly and busty. Talk about the moons of Mars!

“UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie” follows the story of Kazuto Tokino (the guy in the brown outfit; I hope you can find him between all this femininity) and the alien Princess, Valkyrie (the blonde on both the left and the right). Yes, both of them are her. It seems that while trying to escape a forced marriage, Valkyrie accidentally crashed her spaceship into Kazuto’s family owned public bath house and killed him. In order to save him, she gave up half her soul. The splitting up of her soul turned her into a child, but whenever she kisses Kazuto, Valkyrie returns to her adult form for a limited time, and regains the use of her special powers.

OK, please note the key word up there: bath house. You are guaranteed a tremendous amount of fan service, and right from the get-go. I did not even know if I was a fan before acres of skin were presented to me, plus a stunning transformation sequence (more on that later).

Anyway, a rival of Valkyrie, Hydra (the blue-haired mop up there), followed her to Earth, because she knew that if Valkyrie ran away, she would have to take her place at the wedding, which was not something she wanted to do. However, since cute space aliens cannot pilot their ships, she crashed into a temple. The shrine maiden there, Akina Nanamura, (to Hydra’s left) placed a barrier on her and sealed away HER powers, so she is also eight as well. (more…)

So as usual I’ve been watching naruto shippuden and recently I’ve noticed that I’m no longer simply bearing with each episode.  In fact I’ve found that I have actually been looking forward to each one.

I remember some time back complaining about the filler that started in the middle of the great ninja war arc, while the interruption was indeed annoying the filler was actually pretty good. It could’ve made more money as a movie though, but hey,  I’m not complaining.

As every fan knows, we are back in the ninja war arc and Naruto, along with killer bee are heading towards the front lines. To be more specific, last week was the encounter between Naruto + Killer Bee vs Itachi + Nagato. While it was a pretty cool episode I kinda dislike how soft Itachi is being portrayed at this point. He was kinda better when we all thought he was a cold, unfeeling, yet badass bastard. Sigh, but seeing as his intentions were always good (as we recently found out), I guess seeing this side of him was inevitable. (more…)