What in the hell took me so long to speak about this one? It's been a long time since I mentioned any of Rumiko Takahashi's works, after reviewing both Ranma 1/2 (Review #58) and Those Obnoxious Aliens/Urusei Yatsura (Review #115). InuYasha is one of Takahashi's later works, which lasted a little over a decade.
The story takes place in two eras, but the series mainly has its plot set in one. Kagome Higurashi is a middle schooler who resides in the hereditary Shinto shrine of the family. One day, she is pulled into the Bone Eater's Well by a centipede demon and ends up in Feudal Japan, more specifically their Sengoku period. Fifty years prior to this, a dog demon was sealed by the priestess Kikyo, his body pinned to a try and weakened by her sacred arrow. In present day, call it irony or fate, but Kagome, who is Kikyo's incarnation, would be the one to remove this seal, in a desperation move to save herself from the centipede demon, who targets her for the Shikon no Tama, a powerful jewel that was embodied in her. Making short work of the demon, he would have had the jewel as well... had it not been shattered into various pieces, the shards scattering throughout the ends of the continent. With this, the unlikely alliance of Kagome and InuYasha is formed, their task: to get the shards of the Sacred Jewel. But it won't be a simple task, as others also have their sights on them, and one shard can amplify a demon's power greatly. That said, they have to make sure neither one of them dies in the process... lest they kill each first.
As opposed to a comical angle (though it has it's moments), the story takes a more darker route, much like with her other work Mermaid Saga. It still retains the romance aspect from the majority of her works. In total, it bears 193 episodes. Majority of this belonged to the original TV anime, while the latter 26 was made as InuYasha: The Final Act. In addition, there were also four movies as well as a few video games derived from this, which was made from a 56 volume manga series. In the US, both TV anime and the 4 movies were licensed and distributed under Viz Media, who also did such for the manga. In fact, namely all her manga works saw English distribution under Viz, while the same could be said for the licensing for most of the anime made from them, the exceptions being Urusei Yatsura, Rin-ne, and Rumic Theatre. The TV anime was made in the Sunrise studio. The first TV anime aired on both Adult Swim (a late night Cartoon Network block), and Animax Asia. Also licensed here, The Final Act was televised only on Animax Asia, unlike the former. Richard Ian Cox voiced InuYasha for the entirety of the dub, who I earlier mentioned also took up the voice of Ranma Saotome (male) in Ranma 1/2. A little side note, but some of the voices heard from that anime you'll be hearing again in this one. Some people tend to make comparisons as to who in this anime resembles what from the other anime. Getting back on topic, Kagome was voiced by Moneca Stori (who did other voices like Ranma 1/2's Princess Ori, Gundam Wing's Sally Po, and Hamtaro's Laura Haruna.) In The Final Act, she is voiced by Kira Tozer.
InuYahsa has received its love and its share of hate. I still favor Ranma 1/2 over this, but I didn't mind the darker Mermaid Saga, and this one is also okay in my book, so InuYasha gets an 7 of 10 in general. At some point, I might do a 4-in-1 movie review of this title, so be on the look out for that.
2012/03/27
2012/03/26
Ev9: Art of Video Games
While I still await Sakura Matsuri 2012, I took a chance and went to the Museum and Portrait Gallery in downtown Washington, DC, where they had the Art of Video Games exhibit.
The entire 3rd floor had games to show, the history behind them, as well as a few to play. I was so excited to go in there, and it pleased me. Not every system was showcased however, but it did range from the days of old, featuring the likes of Commodore 64 and Atari, the 90's that featured the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive and Super Nintendo, all the way to present day with the current trio: the Nintendo Wii, Sony's PlayStation 3, and Microsoft's Xbox 360.
Hideo Kojima was there, and this man was the creator of popular Konami series Metal Gear Solid. Game enthusiasts and museum goers alike had a fun time, some of which, like myself, gettiing a bit of nostalgia from seeing the consoles of the past. I'm an all round gamer, but I was enjoyed seeing Sega Saturn there, as it's one of my favorites next to the Genesis. It looks as if it'll be around for quite a while so I may go again. But even if you don't see what you want to see, I feel you may get some fulfillment from this exhibit if you go. This is Seiko Takeda, closing another event post for now!!
The entire 3rd floor had games to show, the history behind them, as well as a few to play. I was so excited to go in there, and it pleased me. Not every system was showcased however, but it did range from the days of old, featuring the likes of Commodore 64 and Atari, the 90's that featured the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive and Super Nintendo, all the way to present day with the current trio: the Nintendo Wii, Sony's PlayStation 3, and Microsoft's Xbox 360.
Hideo Kojima was there, and this man was the creator of popular Konami series Metal Gear Solid. Game enthusiasts and museum goers alike had a fun time, some of which, like myself, gettiing a bit of nostalgia from seeing the consoles of the past. I'm an all round gamer, but I was enjoyed seeing Sega Saturn there, as it's one of my favorites next to the Genesis. It looks as if it'll be around for quite a while so I may go again. But even if you don't see what you want to see, I feel you may get some fulfillment from this exhibit if you go. This is Seiko Takeda, closing another event post for now!!
2012/03/22
ST2: Boycotts, Entitlements... really fans!?
Seiko here again. I cannot believe I have do to another serious session, but alas, I can't ignore what's out there. Now an article recently came to my attention, dealing with Marvel Comics, with their live-action film The Avengers a few months away, and boy, am I excited for it. However, you can't please everyone, and some who grew up on comics may not think of such features in a positive way which I expect. But boycotting and entitlements... I just don't know where to begin.
First off, here's the link to the article in question if you feel like reading:
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2012/02/the_avengers_why_i_m_boycotting_marvel_s_movie.html
Long story short, the author goes into the origins of Marvel Comics, as well as to why he intends to boycott The Avengers when it releases in theaters in May. Majority of his argument deals with Jack Kirby, who worked alongside Marvel familiar Stan Lee. Now to my understanding, he did artwork for Marvel, not getting much back out of it, and not retaining the copyrights from it. To further his argument, he went in on Marvel, remarking the many things that happened to Kirby, the royalties denied when films were made (as well as others this has happened to by Marvel), the lawsuits that occurred, and the general hypocrisy between the superhereoes' "fighting for what's right" script, and the company behind it going the other route.
As usual, as a realist, I won't deny that it is pretty cold of them to do, but the question that boggles me is: "While it may not be right, why should we, as consumers, care?" We are whining about the unfairness of how Kirby was untreated and left in the dust, but at the same time, it's a good portion of us buying their comics, the merchandise, the movies... that said, aren't we kinda hypocritical ourselves? And the sad truth is, it's not just with Marvel that this is happening. A while back, before this even surfaced, Capcom was under fire. Not to crossover into the gaming realm again, but I feel it's a fine time I talked about this seriously. I'm sure some of you know where I'm going with this. The reason's leading up to this differed, but the outcome is more or less similar.
Branching off topic for a minute, Capcom had a rough ride of their own, after Keiji Inafune, the creator of Mega Man, stepped down after his 23 year road of reaching the top (he left to "start his life over", creating start up company Comcept.) Since then, Capcom has took a tumble, starting with the cancellations of both Mega Man Universe and the 3rd MegaMan Legends title, something that was highly anticipated. The cancellation of those two had fans pretty annoyed already, since the last game that was released at all pertaining to the character was the downloadable Mega Man 10. I'm guessing that for the die-hard fans, as well as those fed up with "incomplete fighters" (ala Street Fighter IV and its many expansions), these were the nails in the coffin. For the Mega-fanbase, it was the inclusion of Bad Box Art Mega Man (for those who don't know, check around the net for not only the Mega Man box art for the 1st game, but the character itself in Street Fighter X Tekken) as a Sony-exclusive character. I admit, I was a little upset by that, but more so of the fact that thanks to Microsoft, Xbox 360's version was denied DLC exclusives of their own. Another issue happened on the other side, as Street Fighter X Tekken was "incomplete", since there were on-disc DLC leaked with characters Capcom intends to charge for their official inclusion in game. Even before this, people panned to boycott the company for not appeasing to their fans. Sega suffered the same treatment for a while with the Sonic the Hedgehog games, and BioWare is narrowly avoiding such by redoing the ending to Mass Effect 3, which was made by them and EA (Electronic Arts.)
But those are stories for another day. Getting back to the topic at hand, I'll be a little general first of all, and say that in regards to the artists, they do their work well, but if they freelance for companies like Marvel, this is kind of expected to happen, not to sound condescending. For one thing, they didn't have a copyright to themselves per say. They did the artwork and willfully handed them to Marvel to publish them. It's not as if they had the idea prior to even working there, just to merely submit for Marvel to make a killing of money. All that was done under a salary, a paycheck, if you will. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby didn't own the business, nor did they make them what it is today, and this is something I'll get into a bit later, because too many people are guilty of saying such a profound statement. Kirby and Lee were nothing more than hands hired for work, not sole owners. As such, they did not have intellectual rights over their pieces in the long run. That's like saying that if one worked on the code of a game/program of sorts, by default it's the coder's product. Poor misconception on their part. Perhaps it could be true for an independent coder, but under someone's name, such as Microsoft, things just don't swing that way. If it had, it would be John Doe's Windows 7 instead of Microsoft Windows 7 (yeah, poor comparison, I know.) Besides, had the artist of Archie Comics done that in regards to Sonic the Hedgehog, he would be shot down anyway, since it wasn't even his to start with! Sure, they are greats, but to make a fruitless conflict about it helps no one, especially if you're still intent on buying/looking/etc. with their products.
One last thing. It REALLY annoys me when they say "Without [Insert Name Here], [Insert Company] would be nothing." To that, and pardon my speech, I give a nice cold glass of "Shut up and F**k you!!" One man contributes to a company's success, sure, but that doesn't equal to the fate of the company being on that said man's shoulders, especially if he isn't the big cheese! To idolize someone and recognize him for his greatness is one thing, but it's kind of overzealous as to say that Marvel would have failed if Jack Kirby hadn't stepped in. Who died and said that Kirby was their knight in shining armor? Had it been any other artist, they could have helped Marvel rise or fall. It's like saying Kirby steered this company into great heights, which is simply not true. He drew, edited, and helped them out, it just happened to make a killer income, nothing more! He won no gold medal for saving a company, mainly because he didn't! Such talk is arrogance, even more so if it's a consumer saying such.
This rant is going on forever, so it's time to bring some closure to this before I really get so riled up about it. While it is a shame he didn't get the proper respect, it's not enough to warrant a boycott. But this could be applied to all of the situations I brought up, generally. Second, he did try to capitalize off of his own works, and fell short. Not to mention that he was working under their penny, so while he may have done the artwork, he can't claim intellectual property of them since he was working for Marvel at the time. Still, for so many to get all bent out of shape for what he has been put through, I have nothing against supporting who you love, but this won't halt the release of the Avengers, or any other Marvel works. Rather, it just makes you look like a self-righteous asshole, so quit it. The many issues out there that need fixing right now, and you're getting your tampons in a knot over something that occurred 50+ years ago? Back then, it would mean something to me, but now, it's just an annoyance.
And another side note: what is up with these "We are entitled to this, so the company should just kiss out ass and give us what we want!" complaints? You're only giving them money, you are nothing but a mere consumer, who the hell are you to demand anything!? The way I see it, nobody buying these products dropped a line to tell them what they want, you constantly give money away to support whatever they work on, yet when you find something amiss, you feel to bitch about it. Such ARROGANCE!! They are the one wasting their lives doing whatever they love to do in order to please you, so that said, be grateful. Honestly, you're lucky they even bother to make anything for you at all to play, read, eat, whatever. And you have the nerve to complain... come back when your whiles actually mean anything, then we'll talk!
Again, I apologize if I came off too strong, but that's just how I feel about these kind of things. Hopefully, there won't be another article for a LONG while, so I can try to make more upbeat posts. I'm sure I'll see some backlash from it, but try to be constructive when voicing them so this doesn't turn into a comment spamfest. After all, every opinion will be valued instead of... you know. Anyway, I'm going to find a nice anime to watch to get my mind off of this. Seiko, signing off.
First off, here's the link to the article in question if you feel like reading:
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2012/02/the_avengers_why_i_m_boycotting_marvel_s_movie.html
Long story short, the author goes into the origins of Marvel Comics, as well as to why he intends to boycott The Avengers when it releases in theaters in May. Majority of his argument deals with Jack Kirby, who worked alongside Marvel familiar Stan Lee. Now to my understanding, he did artwork for Marvel, not getting much back out of it, and not retaining the copyrights from it. To further his argument, he went in on Marvel, remarking the many things that happened to Kirby, the royalties denied when films were made (as well as others this has happened to by Marvel), the lawsuits that occurred, and the general hypocrisy between the superhereoes' "fighting for what's right" script, and the company behind it going the other route.
As usual, as a realist, I won't deny that it is pretty cold of them to do, but the question that boggles me is: "While it may not be right, why should we, as consumers, care?" We are whining about the unfairness of how Kirby was untreated and left in the dust, but at the same time, it's a good portion of us buying their comics, the merchandise, the movies... that said, aren't we kinda hypocritical ourselves? And the sad truth is, it's not just with Marvel that this is happening. A while back, before this even surfaced, Capcom was under fire. Not to crossover into the gaming realm again, but I feel it's a fine time I talked about this seriously. I'm sure some of you know where I'm going with this. The reason's leading up to this differed, but the outcome is more or less similar.
Branching off topic for a minute, Capcom had a rough ride of their own, after Keiji Inafune, the creator of Mega Man, stepped down after his 23 year road of reaching the top (he left to "start his life over", creating start up company Comcept.) Since then, Capcom has took a tumble, starting with the cancellations of both Mega Man Universe and the 3rd MegaMan Legends title, something that was highly anticipated. The cancellation of those two had fans pretty annoyed already, since the last game that was released at all pertaining to the character was the downloadable Mega Man 10. I'm guessing that for the die-hard fans, as well as those fed up with "incomplete fighters" (ala Street Fighter IV and its many expansions), these were the nails in the coffin. For the Mega-fanbase, it was the inclusion of Bad Box Art Mega Man (for those who don't know, check around the net for not only the Mega Man box art for the 1st game, but the character itself in Street Fighter X Tekken) as a Sony-exclusive character. I admit, I was a little upset by that, but more so of the fact that thanks to Microsoft, Xbox 360's version was denied DLC exclusives of their own. Another issue happened on the other side, as Street Fighter X Tekken was "incomplete", since there were on-disc DLC leaked with characters Capcom intends to charge for their official inclusion in game. Even before this, people panned to boycott the company for not appeasing to their fans. Sega suffered the same treatment for a while with the Sonic the Hedgehog games, and BioWare is narrowly avoiding such by redoing the ending to Mass Effect 3, which was made by them and EA (Electronic Arts.)
But those are stories for another day. Getting back to the topic at hand, I'll be a little general first of all, and say that in regards to the artists, they do their work well, but if they freelance for companies like Marvel, this is kind of expected to happen, not to sound condescending. For one thing, they didn't have a copyright to themselves per say. They did the artwork and willfully handed them to Marvel to publish them. It's not as if they had the idea prior to even working there, just to merely submit for Marvel to make a killing of money. All that was done under a salary, a paycheck, if you will. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby didn't own the business, nor did they make them what it is today, and this is something I'll get into a bit later, because too many people are guilty of saying such a profound statement. Kirby and Lee were nothing more than hands hired for work, not sole owners. As such, they did not have intellectual rights over their pieces in the long run. That's like saying that if one worked on the code of a game/program of sorts, by default it's the coder's product. Poor misconception on their part. Perhaps it could be true for an independent coder, but under someone's name, such as Microsoft, things just don't swing that way. If it had, it would be John Doe's Windows 7 instead of Microsoft Windows 7 (yeah, poor comparison, I know.) Besides, had the artist of Archie Comics done that in regards to Sonic the Hedgehog, he would be shot down anyway, since it wasn't even his to start with! Sure, they are greats, but to make a fruitless conflict about it helps no one, especially if you're still intent on buying/looking/etc. with their products.
One last thing. It REALLY annoys me when they say "Without [Insert Name Here], [Insert Company] would be nothing." To that, and pardon my speech, I give a nice cold glass of "Shut up and F**k you!!" One man contributes to a company's success, sure, but that doesn't equal to the fate of the company being on that said man's shoulders, especially if he isn't the big cheese! To idolize someone and recognize him for his greatness is one thing, but it's kind of overzealous as to say that Marvel would have failed if Jack Kirby hadn't stepped in. Who died and said that Kirby was their knight in shining armor? Had it been any other artist, they could have helped Marvel rise or fall. It's like saying Kirby steered this company into great heights, which is simply not true. He drew, edited, and helped them out, it just happened to make a killer income, nothing more! He won no gold medal for saving a company, mainly because he didn't! Such talk is arrogance, even more so if it's a consumer saying such.
This rant is going on forever, so it's time to bring some closure to this before I really get so riled up about it. While it is a shame he didn't get the proper respect, it's not enough to warrant a boycott. But this could be applied to all of the situations I brought up, generally. Second, he did try to capitalize off of his own works, and fell short. Not to mention that he was working under their penny, so while he may have done the artwork, he can't claim intellectual property of them since he was working for Marvel at the time. Still, for so many to get all bent out of shape for what he has been put through, I have nothing against supporting who you love, but this won't halt the release of the Avengers, or any other Marvel works. Rather, it just makes you look like a self-righteous asshole, so quit it. The many issues out there that need fixing right now, and you're getting your tampons in a knot over something that occurred 50+ years ago? Back then, it would mean something to me, but now, it's just an annoyance.
And another side note: what is up with these "We are entitled to this, so the company should just kiss out ass and give us what we want!" complaints? You're only giving them money, you are nothing but a mere consumer, who the hell are you to demand anything!? The way I see it, nobody buying these products dropped a line to tell them what they want, you constantly give money away to support whatever they work on, yet when you find something amiss, you feel to bitch about it. Such ARROGANCE!! They are the one wasting their lives doing whatever they love to do in order to please you, so that said, be grateful. Honestly, you're lucky they even bother to make anything for you at all to play, read, eat, whatever. And you have the nerve to complain... come back when your whiles actually mean anything, then we'll talk!
Again, I apologize if I came off too strong, but that's just how I feel about these kind of things. Hopefully, there won't be another article for a LONG while, so I can try to make more upbeat posts. I'm sure I'll see some backlash from it, but try to be constructive when voicing them so this doesn't turn into a comment spamfest. After all, every opinion will be valued instead of... you know. Anyway, I'm going to find a nice anime to watch to get my mind off of this. Seiko, signing off.
2012/03/21
CCVII: "Dominion: Tank Police"
Another old title, Dominion: Tank Police is another sci-fi anime that takes place in a world that would be considered unfit for humans outside. I never thought I would get to speak of this one, since it's been a long time since I've actually watched it, and saw little fanfare stemming from it. Probably the only memorable thing from there would be the catgirl characters (which oddly enough would be because of 4chan...)
Taking place in Newport, Japan, the air is severely polluted thanks to a bacteria gas. As such, people are required to wear gas masks just to get around. This gas, however, does not halt the process of crime. In opposition, there's the Tank Police squadron, which hence their name, uses tanks to get around and bust crime. Rookie Leona Ozaki is just transferring to the Tank Police from the motorcycle division, with a thrilling passion about her work. She also cares for her tank Bonaparte. Compared to the other tanks in the squad, it's a runt, but it get's the job done. Of course, there is also the super criminal Buaku and his two love dolls/partners AnnaPuma and UniPuma, the latter two sharing a mutual hate-hate relationship with Leona.
Dominion: Tank Police also has a few interesting things about the series. Being 3 OVA series, they have a specific order. Dominion: Tank Police, which was made in the Agent 21 studio and licensed by U.S. Manga Corps, precedes storywise to the original manga. This lasted for 4 episodes. The second series, New Dominion Tank Police, was made as the direct sequel to the original manga, with a pallet change for AnnaPuma and UmiPuma. This OVA lasted for 6 episodes, made in the J.C. Staff studio, and licensed by Manga Entertainment for the U.S., though that license is expired now. TANK S.W.A.T. 01 was the final animated entry of Dominion: Tank Police, set before the events of the series' Conflict arc. Conflict was made as a different storyline from the original manga, as AnnaPuma and UmiPuma are allies in this one. It was made in the DOGA Productions studio, licensing done under Kadokawa Entertainemt. Another interesting thing to know that this title was made by Masamune Shirow, who also worked on the popular Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell titles. Toni Barry voiced Leona in the dubbing of all Dominion: Tank Police titles (also the voice of Noa Izumi of the Patlabor movies), though between the titles, she was voiced by different seiyuus in the Japanese version: Hiromi Tsuru and Rei Sakuma.
Dominion: Tank Police isn't a die-hard memorable title, but it was a stepping stone for the popular Ghost in the Shell media, given what it contains. With how great the successor was, this title scores a 7 of 10 in great respect.
Taking place in Newport, Japan, the air is severely polluted thanks to a bacteria gas. As such, people are required to wear gas masks just to get around. This gas, however, does not halt the process of crime. In opposition, there's the Tank Police squadron, which hence their name, uses tanks to get around and bust crime. Rookie Leona Ozaki is just transferring to the Tank Police from the motorcycle division, with a thrilling passion about her work. She also cares for her tank Bonaparte. Compared to the other tanks in the squad, it's a runt, but it get's the job done. Of course, there is also the super criminal Buaku and his two love dolls/partners AnnaPuma and UniPuma, the latter two sharing a mutual hate-hate relationship with Leona.
Dominion: Tank Police also has a few interesting things about the series. Being 3 OVA series, they have a specific order. Dominion: Tank Police, which was made in the Agent 21 studio and licensed by U.S. Manga Corps, precedes storywise to the original manga. This lasted for 4 episodes. The second series, New Dominion Tank Police, was made as the direct sequel to the original manga, with a pallet change for AnnaPuma and UmiPuma. This OVA lasted for 6 episodes, made in the J.C. Staff studio, and licensed by Manga Entertainment for the U.S., though that license is expired now. TANK S.W.A.T. 01 was the final animated entry of Dominion: Tank Police, set before the events of the series' Conflict arc. Conflict was made as a different storyline from the original manga, as AnnaPuma and UmiPuma are allies in this one. It was made in the DOGA Productions studio, licensing done under Kadokawa Entertainemt. Another interesting thing to know that this title was made by Masamune Shirow, who also worked on the popular Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell titles. Toni Barry voiced Leona in the dubbing of all Dominion: Tank Police titles (also the voice of Noa Izumi of the Patlabor movies), though between the titles, she was voiced by different seiyuus in the Japanese version: Hiromi Tsuru and Rei Sakuma.
Dominion: Tank Police isn't a die-hard memorable title, but it was a stepping stone for the popular Ghost in the Shell media, given what it contains. With how great the successor was, this title scores a 7 of 10 in great respect.
2012/03/19
CCVI: "Eiken"
Just when I thought I saw it all. I felt that the majority of Gonzo's works would fit in excess cleavage, and then there are those fanservice titles like Girls Bravo and Highschool of the Dead. However... it seems there's still much anime out there unknown to me, which Seiji Matsuyama's Eiken happens to be one of. I thought Girls Bravo upped the ante with breasts, but that's nothing compared to this title! I saw clips of this in the fanmade AMV Hell series, so it took me by surprise actually finding this title.
Densuke Mifune is the common plain, nobody-type character, and is the male lead in this title. After an accidental run-in with the busty yet kind Chiharu Shinonome, he is forced to join the exclusive and mysterious Eiken Club by the also absurdly busty Kirika Misono. The interesting part is that, aside from being mysterious, it's a female-dominant club, with Densuke as the only male in it! As with any love comedy, there seems to be affection between Densuke and Chiharu, but as usual, there are others who intervene, wanting Densuke for themselves. For a klutz, he has too much going for him.
Before I go in on this title, it has received harsh criticism left and right. The manga was badly received, the OVA series even worse. You can say that in terms of criticism, it's received as the worst anime ever made, which says a lot. And the fact it was dubbed makes me really concerned. Chances are that my final thoughts MAY coincide with the other critics, but that's likely the worst case scenario for me. To be fair, I do see the merit as to why this is such, but I'll get into that a bit later.
Regardless, you might as well put this into being one of the shortest title around, for there were only 2 episodes, much like the previously covered Animation Runner Kuromi. Made in the GENCO and J.C. Staff studios and released under Starchild Records, it was licensed under AnimeWorks, a subsidiary of Media Blasters. It ran it's awfully short span in 2003, and the manga, which was published by Media Blasters as well, wasn't relatively long either, only lasting 18 volumes, which obviously meant more to the story. Dubbed in English, Densuke was voiced by Bryce Papenbrook, Chiharu by Becky Chiang, and Kirika by Cindy Robinson. Aside from the manga and anime, it also had a radio drama series, which was most likely also short in length. Given the content, it's considered borderline hentai much like how it was for Golden Boy, another titled I covered with good marks.
As for the criticism, the title did have enough faults to warrant it. For starters, the mistranslation, which is something rather common for manga. Aside from the misspellings, there were some inconsistencies with the names of characters and the academy itself. During it's 5 year lifespan (2001-2006), it went from a 16+ range to an 18+ range, since after the 3rd volume, it went to more mature levels. The anime, however, wasn't shown any mercy in comparison to its paperback counterpart. I have nothing against fanservice per say, but there are times where it is too much, as was the case with Girls Bravo. Yet, with that in mind, it wasn't badly received like Eiken, which debuted much earlier than the former (which is kind of sad, given Girls Bravo debuted earlier manga-wise in 2000, for the same lifespan as Eiken save for having less volumes.) Where Girls Bravo wowed the crowd, Eiken was a disappointment generally, some declaring this as a nightmare, and a demeaning anime.
All that said, I'll give my take on the matter as well, since most of the time I CANNOT take these critics seriously. Anyone that follows this blog should sense how reluctant I am to share the same views as them. Regardless, the animation is kind of sketchy, the content is beyond highly suggestive, and the dubbing is somewhat tolerable, yet mediocre. It is an old title, however, so I'll be lenient and say that back then, I wouldn't mind it, but it's been 9 years, and I've heard better voice acting since then. I'll say the voice acting is a little less than okay, at best. While it's common for anime to be created from just part of the manga series, with the material, before it surfaced here, I'd expect more than just a mere 2 episodes. Another Starchild Records title, FLCL (Fooly Cooly), was another short one, but lasted 6 episodes with only 2 manga volumes (though in all fairness, the anime began first.) While it is another Harem comedy, it also falls victim to the same traits as the others, but they took it too far in Eiken.
Despite all that, I still feel they went just a little too hard on this one. It may have received an F for failure, but I won't call it something that shouldn't exist. Still, it is relatively bad, so being lenient, I'll give this one a 4 of 10. A disappointing title, but at the same time, it's something I won't run into the dirt completely. Besides, it did find its fans (heaven knows how) so to say it's the worst ever is jumping the gun (and a little arrogant...)
Densuke Mifune is the common plain, nobody-type character, and is the male lead in this title. After an accidental run-in with the busty yet kind Chiharu Shinonome, he is forced to join the exclusive and mysterious Eiken Club by the also absurdly busty Kirika Misono. The interesting part is that, aside from being mysterious, it's a female-dominant club, with Densuke as the only male in it! As with any love comedy, there seems to be affection between Densuke and Chiharu, but as usual, there are others who intervene, wanting Densuke for themselves. For a klutz, he has too much going for him.
Before I go in on this title, it has received harsh criticism left and right. The manga was badly received, the OVA series even worse. You can say that in terms of criticism, it's received as the worst anime ever made, which says a lot. And the fact it was dubbed makes me really concerned. Chances are that my final thoughts MAY coincide with the other critics, but that's likely the worst case scenario for me. To be fair, I do see the merit as to why this is such, but I'll get into that a bit later.
Regardless, you might as well put this into being one of the shortest title around, for there were only 2 episodes, much like the previously covered Animation Runner Kuromi. Made in the GENCO and J.C. Staff studios and released under Starchild Records, it was licensed under AnimeWorks, a subsidiary of Media Blasters. It ran it's awfully short span in 2003, and the manga, which was published by Media Blasters as well, wasn't relatively long either, only lasting 18 volumes, which obviously meant more to the story. Dubbed in English, Densuke was voiced by Bryce Papenbrook, Chiharu by Becky Chiang, and Kirika by Cindy Robinson. Aside from the manga and anime, it also had a radio drama series, which was most likely also short in length. Given the content, it's considered borderline hentai much like how it was for Golden Boy, another titled I covered with good marks.
As for the criticism, the title did have enough faults to warrant it. For starters, the mistranslation, which is something rather common for manga. Aside from the misspellings, there were some inconsistencies with the names of characters and the academy itself. During it's 5 year lifespan (2001-2006), it went from a 16+ range to an 18+ range, since after the 3rd volume, it went to more mature levels. The anime, however, wasn't shown any mercy in comparison to its paperback counterpart. I have nothing against fanservice per say, but there are times where it is too much, as was the case with Girls Bravo. Yet, with that in mind, it wasn't badly received like Eiken, which debuted much earlier than the former (which is kind of sad, given Girls Bravo debuted earlier manga-wise in 2000, for the same lifespan as Eiken save for having less volumes.) Where Girls Bravo wowed the crowd, Eiken was a disappointment generally, some declaring this as a nightmare, and a demeaning anime.
All that said, I'll give my take on the matter as well, since most of the time I CANNOT take these critics seriously. Anyone that follows this blog should sense how reluctant I am to share the same views as them. Regardless, the animation is kind of sketchy, the content is beyond highly suggestive, and the dubbing is somewhat tolerable, yet mediocre. It is an old title, however, so I'll be lenient and say that back then, I wouldn't mind it, but it's been 9 years, and I've heard better voice acting since then. I'll say the voice acting is a little less than okay, at best. While it's common for anime to be created from just part of the manga series, with the material, before it surfaced here, I'd expect more than just a mere 2 episodes. Another Starchild Records title, FLCL (Fooly Cooly), was another short one, but lasted 6 episodes with only 2 manga volumes (though in all fairness, the anime began first.) While it is another Harem comedy, it also falls victim to the same traits as the others, but they took it too far in Eiken.
Despite all that, I still feel they went just a little too hard on this one. It may have received an F for failure, but I won't call it something that shouldn't exist. Still, it is relatively bad, so being lenient, I'll give this one a 4 of 10. A disappointing title, but at the same time, it's something I won't run into the dirt completely. Besides, it did find its fans (heaven knows how) so to say it's the worst ever is jumping the gun (and a little arrogant...)
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