Fans of Hudson Soft's Bomberman franchise should be familiar with the Gamecube title Bomberman Jetters. Why I bring this up is because this game is adapted from the anime of the same name. It's not in the US yet (not officially, anyway), but I managed to catch a peak at it, after owning the game for a while.
Alright, when fans think of Bomberman, they usually think of bad guys, a nasty plot, and heroes wielding dangerous Bombs. This anime doesn't deviate from that much. I'm guessing picking up from its predecessor game Bomberman Generations, the story tells of the Hige Hige Bandits and their leader Bagura. Common for antagonists, they are foiled constantly by the titular protagonist team, the Jetters. One of the original members, the leader Mighty, makes a brief return to Planet Bomber, his home, to see his younger brother Shirobon, commonly addressed here as the White Bomber. However, his reunion is short, and somewhat bittersweet, as he is called for a sudden mission. After his mysterious disappearance, the Jetters are short one Bomberman. Dr. Ein, frantic to fill the hole, accepts Shirobon as the new Bomberman of the Jetters.
At this point, the story unfolds first as a lighthearted comedy, then takes a much darker turn, adding a bit of drama to it later in the anime. While the objective is to stop the Hige Hige Bandits, Shirobon also seeks out bomb starts, which helps him use new bombs, as well as seek the whereabouts of Mighty, who he feels is still alive. A couple of running gags are seen, and in terms of characters, more notably for the character Max, there are seen differences between the game and anime. In fact, the game appears to be set some time after the anime, as both Shirobon and Rui appear older in the game. With this reason, it's possible that the anime and the game coincide with one another (much like the Devil May Cry series, save for the recent game in making), the only thing raising doubt being the character Max, the antagonist in the anime who serves a more heroic role in the games.
The anime itself runs for 52 episodes, and features some original characters, as well as those from the other games. Of all the Bomberman media, this title is claimed by viewers as the only adaption that stays true to the games, even with its differences from the video adaptation to the title. Made in 2002, the same year the game released in Japan, it was created under Studio Deen, and even with the voices heard in game for English in the 2004 Gamecube title, the anime is still unlicensed. Shirobon, or White Bomber is voiced by Tomoko Kaneda (seiyuu in Japan), while it's generally unclear about his English voice in-game. Bomberman Jetters uses the same animation in the anime and the game's opening sequence. However, the difference comes in as far as the music used. The Japanese vocal theme "Boku wa Gakeppuchi" was replaced by a similar sounding American rock music in the game.
Bomberman Jetters wasn't well received game wise, and as far as the anime coming here officially, after nearly 9 years, that's still uncertain. Though as an anime derived from it's namesake game franchise, I saw little problems. The anime gets a 8.2 of 10.
2011/06/30
CIII: "Witch Hunter Robin"
Another title that perked my interest, despite how uninteresting it appears to others. Witch Hunter Robin is a title I found back on Adult Swim, and even today, it's still a fond memory of mine.
The members of the secret organization Solomon Tokastu Nin'idantai, or STN, dedicate their services to hunting down those who uses witchcraft in a harmful manner. This happens only when one "awakens", becoming a witch. Solomon's job is taking down these witches, due to their violet behavior. Broken into many branches, the anime follows the endeavors of STN-J as well as one of it's members: 15 year old Robin Sena, a pyrokinetic craft user and titular character. However, what awaits her, as well as her partners, are more than just a simple hunting job...
The anime ran for 26 episodes, created in the Sunrise Studio (the same one behind the Gundam franchise), and licensed by Bandai Entertainment. It deals with the supernatrual, but it's also that of an Occult Detective genre. The English voice of Robin is Kari Wahlgren, while Crispin Freeman voices her partner Amon, and Johnny Yong Bosch voices Haruto Sakaki. These are just a few of the voice actors you'll hear in the anime English wise.
The series is kinda spooky to some, and despite that the performances are flat, as they say, the roles are suited well enough. While others didn't see much in it, I found it kinda eye-catching, because it was kinda dark. Witch Hunter Robin scores a 7.9 of 10.
The members of the secret organization Solomon Tokastu Nin'idantai, or STN, dedicate their services to hunting down those who uses witchcraft in a harmful manner. This happens only when one "awakens", becoming a witch. Solomon's job is taking down these witches, due to their violet behavior. Broken into many branches, the anime follows the endeavors of STN-J as well as one of it's members: 15 year old Robin Sena, a pyrokinetic craft user and titular character. However, what awaits her, as well as her partners, are more than just a simple hunting job...
The anime ran for 26 episodes, created in the Sunrise Studio (the same one behind the Gundam franchise), and licensed by Bandai Entertainment. It deals with the supernatrual, but it's also that of an Occult Detective genre. The English voice of Robin is Kari Wahlgren, while Crispin Freeman voices her partner Amon, and Johnny Yong Bosch voices Haruto Sakaki. These are just a few of the voice actors you'll hear in the anime English wise.
The series is kinda spooky to some, and despite that the performances are flat, as they say, the roles are suited well enough. While others didn't see much in it, I found it kinda eye-catching, because it was kinda dark. Witch Hunter Robin scores a 7.9 of 10.
2011/06/29
CII: "Lucky☆Star"
I never expected to find myself watching this title. The anime Lucky☆Star came as a fastball to me. Oddly enough, however, it began to grow on me.
Lucky☆Star centers on 4 girls, two of which are related. Among these four is Konata Izumi. While she has intelligence and athletic, she is rather lazy, and doesn't resign herself to any sports clubs. To add, she always ends up cramming for tests. The other girls consist of the intelligent Miyuki Takara, and the Hiiragi sisters Kagami and Tsukasa. For what I understand, there is no definite plot, as the anime mainly deals with not only their everyday lives, but the episodes usually reference other anime, manga, and tokusatsu.
The anime is 24 episodes long, localized by Bandai Entertainment and Kadokawa Pictures. Supposedly, the manga records from their first year in high school, though the anime starts initially from the second term for them. In addition, much like the Americanized version of Sailor Moon's first season, each episode of Lucky☆Star has a segment at the end titled Lucky Channel, featuring Akira Kogami, a two-faced character, if you will, and her assistant Minoru Shiraishi, who constantly ties to put up with her when she's not being nice on screen. Aya Hirano is not only the seiyuu of Konata, but she also one of the singers for not only the show's opening but as well for a few of the insert tracks used as the endings. Some songs are recognizable from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, another series in which Hirano voices Haruhi, the titular character. English wise, Konata's voice is done by Wendee Lee, who ALSO voices Haruhi in English. At some point, I'll cover the latter series.
Lucky☆Star perked my interest, and I'm glad I wasn't mislead, though it's a slice of life comedy I didn't think would interest me at first. This series gets an 8.1 of 10.
Lucky☆Star centers on 4 girls, two of which are related. Among these four is Konata Izumi. While she has intelligence and athletic, she is rather lazy, and doesn't resign herself to any sports clubs. To add, she always ends up cramming for tests. The other girls consist of the intelligent Miyuki Takara, and the Hiiragi sisters Kagami and Tsukasa. For what I understand, there is no definite plot, as the anime mainly deals with not only their everyday lives, but the episodes usually reference other anime, manga, and tokusatsu.
The anime is 24 episodes long, localized by Bandai Entertainment and Kadokawa Pictures. Supposedly, the manga records from their first year in high school, though the anime starts initially from the second term for them. In addition, much like the Americanized version of Sailor Moon's first season, each episode of Lucky☆Star has a segment at the end titled Lucky Channel, featuring Akira Kogami, a two-faced character, if you will, and her assistant Minoru Shiraishi, who constantly ties to put up with her when she's not being nice on screen. Aya Hirano is not only the seiyuu of Konata, but she also one of the singers for not only the show's opening but as well for a few of the insert tracks used as the endings. Some songs are recognizable from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, another series in which Hirano voices Haruhi, the titular character. English wise, Konata's voice is done by Wendee Lee, who ALSO voices Haruhi in English. At some point, I'll cover the latter series.
Lucky☆Star perked my interest, and I'm glad I wasn't mislead, though it's a slice of life comedy I didn't think would interest me at first. This series gets an 8.1 of 10.
CI: "X-Men: The Animated Series" & "X-men: Pryde of the X-men"
Needless to say, I'm aware that it's an anime blog, but sometimes before we hear of anime, the make a basic cartoon out of a series beforehand. Such is true in the case of series such as Sonic The Hedgehog, among others. I'll do a review on the animated series X-men as well as its predecessor, both of which deriving from the comic book franchise by Marvel. On a personal note, I can't really verify this as an anime or a cartoon, since the word "anime" is used as a blanket term in Japan, unlike here where it pertains to a specific art style. Some consider this as a cartoon, well, MOST do, so let's stick with that for the time being.
Those familiar with the comics, or have seen my post pertaining to another X-men series, should be familiar with who's in it somewhat. In addition, it's tough for me to explain what takes place, as most of the series, if not all, are loosely based of the comics themselves, some episodes based around a specific saga. The animated series features the team of the commonly known mutants, and many others making a guest appearance. There were even a few cameos, among which being Deadpool, however, at the time, Shadowcat wasn't introduced in the animated series at all. Certain episodes also dealt around social issues, while remaining true to the comic stories somewhat.
The successful animated series was actually the second to be made. The preceding title X-men: Pryde of the X-men. That series featured Kitty Pryde, known to most fans as Shadowcat, in her earlier days when she isn't quite acquainted to the other X-men as of yet. The title itself was a pun on Shadowcat, being the youngest X-man into the group. Staying true to the comics, Magneto is the mainstay antagonist of both titles.
Pryde of the X-Men was made in 1989, only having 1 episode that ended up on VHS after it's very brief run. The reaction was mixed for the most part, but purists, or hardcore fans of a franchise, blasted the title because of how the characters were portrayed. While Kitty Pryde's portrayal was one of them, the biggest complaint came from the accent Wolverine had. Perhaps due to the error on casting, Wolverine had an Australian accent, despite being born Canadian. This, as well as other factors, prompted the creators to go back to the drawing board.
Three years later, X-Men: TAS was released, and it received grand praise. It ran for 5 seasons, showing 76 episodes. They made reruns on television in 2000 with the emergence of the first X-Men live action film. After Saban was brought out by Disney, all of their works, including the Power Rangers series and X-Men: TAS, would be shown on Toon Disney and ABC Family. Currently, the animated series is featured on Disney XD, another channel owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group.
X-Men is a name that everyone knows, and today it's still popular with the release of X-Men First Class earlier this month. That's all for now, and keep an eye out for the review of the third work: X-Men Evolution
Those familiar with the comics, or have seen my post pertaining to another X-men series, should be familiar with who's in it somewhat. In addition, it's tough for me to explain what takes place, as most of the series, if not all, are loosely based of the comics themselves, some episodes based around a specific saga. The animated series features the team of the commonly known mutants, and many others making a guest appearance. There were even a few cameos, among which being Deadpool, however, at the time, Shadowcat wasn't introduced in the animated series at all. Certain episodes also dealt around social issues, while remaining true to the comic stories somewhat.
The successful animated series was actually the second to be made. The preceding title X-men: Pryde of the X-men. That series featured Kitty Pryde, known to most fans as Shadowcat, in her earlier days when she isn't quite acquainted to the other X-men as of yet. The title itself was a pun on Shadowcat, being the youngest X-man into the group. Staying true to the comics, Magneto is the mainstay antagonist of both titles.
Pryde of the X-Men was made in 1989, only having 1 episode that ended up on VHS after it's very brief run. The reaction was mixed for the most part, but purists, or hardcore fans of a franchise, blasted the title because of how the characters were portrayed. While Kitty Pryde's portrayal was one of them, the biggest complaint came from the accent Wolverine had. Perhaps due to the error on casting, Wolverine had an Australian accent, despite being born Canadian. This, as well as other factors, prompted the creators to go back to the drawing board.
Three years later, X-Men: TAS was released, and it received grand praise. It ran for 5 seasons, showing 76 episodes. They made reruns on television in 2000 with the emergence of the first X-Men live action film. After Saban was brought out by Disney, all of their works, including the Power Rangers series and X-Men: TAS, would be shown on Toon Disney and ABC Family. Currently, the animated series is featured on Disney XD, another channel owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group.
X-Men is a name that everyone knows, and today it's still popular with the release of X-Men First Class earlier this month. That's all for now, and keep an eye out for the review of the third work: X-Men Evolution
2011/06/28
C: "Xenosaga: The Animation"
[W00T!! My 100th post!! - Seiko]
Xenosaga was a trilogy of RPG games for the Playstation 2, though there were other games. Never did I anticipate Namco Bandai's RPG to spawn an anime, which wasn't bad in my opinion. Xenosaga: The Animation is basically an animated telling of the first game, titled Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht.
Those familiar with the game can omit this portion. The story deals with a group of characters that battle beings called Gnosis. Among these are Shion Uzuki and the creation KOS-MOS, just to name a few. During the adventures, they travel onboard the Woglinde, meet other characters known in-game, and deal with not only Gnosis, but the antagonist Albedo, related to Jr.
The anime in some ways remain faithful to the game itself, though there are changes that takes place. For starters, Cherenkov, who dies early in the game, is replaced by Lt. Virgil, due to dying earlier in the anime. Another notable trait of the anime is the inclusion of Shion's brother, Jin Uzuki, who serves a much larger role in the game's sequel, Xenosaga Episode II:Jenseits von Gut und Bose. He is portrayed in the anime as he is done in Episode II, while he is only seen in cameo of the first game. The anime last only 12 episodes, so it's pretty short, and at first it was licensed by ADV. However, as with 29 other titles under them, it was later picked up by Funimation after ADV became defunct. To this day, there are no talks of a succeeding title anime wise, while Xenosaga, in general, seemed to have stopped for good after the final game, Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra, was released. Shion is voiced by Stephanie Wittels (who did roles like Lilith of Venus Versus Virus), KOS-MOS by Luci Christian (Kaname Chidori of the Full Metal Panic! series), and Jin is voiced by Christohper Ayres (the current voice of Frieza for Dragon Ball Z Kai). Christohper Ayres is fellow voice actor, and elder brother, to Greg Ayres, who also serves a role in this. In this anime, Greg Ayres voices Gaignun Kukai Jr./Rubedo. It shouldn't be said, but the voices seen here isn't like that of the games. Just a little heads up.
As short as it is, it retains what we know about Episode I to an extent, and like Devil May Cry: The Animated Series, I feel as if the anime didn't botch up the namesake game. Xenosaga: The Animation gets a 7.8 of 10.
Xenosaga was a trilogy of RPG games for the Playstation 2, though there were other games. Never did I anticipate Namco Bandai's RPG to spawn an anime, which wasn't bad in my opinion. Xenosaga: The Animation is basically an animated telling of the first game, titled Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht.
Those familiar with the game can omit this portion. The story deals with a group of characters that battle beings called Gnosis. Among these are Shion Uzuki and the creation KOS-MOS, just to name a few. During the adventures, they travel onboard the Woglinde, meet other characters known in-game, and deal with not only Gnosis, but the antagonist Albedo, related to Jr.
The anime in some ways remain faithful to the game itself, though there are changes that takes place. For starters, Cherenkov, who dies early in the game, is replaced by Lt. Virgil, due to dying earlier in the anime. Another notable trait of the anime is the inclusion of Shion's brother, Jin Uzuki, who serves a much larger role in the game's sequel, Xenosaga Episode II:Jenseits von Gut und Bose. He is portrayed in the anime as he is done in Episode II, while he is only seen in cameo of the first game. The anime last only 12 episodes, so it's pretty short, and at first it was licensed by ADV. However, as with 29 other titles under them, it was later picked up by Funimation after ADV became defunct. To this day, there are no talks of a succeeding title anime wise, while Xenosaga, in general, seemed to have stopped for good after the final game, Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra, was released. Shion is voiced by Stephanie Wittels (who did roles like Lilith of Venus Versus Virus), KOS-MOS by Luci Christian (Kaname Chidori of the Full Metal Panic! series), and Jin is voiced by Christohper Ayres (the current voice of Frieza for Dragon Ball Z Kai). Christohper Ayres is fellow voice actor, and elder brother, to Greg Ayres, who also serves a role in this. In this anime, Greg Ayres voices Gaignun Kukai Jr./Rubedo. It shouldn't be said, but the voices seen here isn't like that of the games. Just a little heads up.
As short as it is, it retains what we know about Episode I to an extent, and like Devil May Cry: The Animated Series, I feel as if the anime didn't botch up the namesake game. Xenosaga: The Animation gets a 7.8 of 10.
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