Nope, I’m talking Jin-Roh. It’s out of the same mold of the Ghost in a Shell movie, except less techno-driven.

It’s about a kind of SWAT team officer, Kazuki, who gets involved with the sister of a terrorist. He was actually on duty and at the scene where the terrorist girl was killed. Because of his hesitation to kill her, she actually blows herself up with the bomb she was carrying, he gets sent back to basic training. That’s when he meets the terrorist’s sister and falls in love with her. Getting involved with the sister of a terrorist who you just busted doesn’t look good for your career as an officer. That’s where the conflict lies and also the government secretly spying on him.

Not a lot of action but the characters are well developed and are very human. So they will relate to the audience. I’m not a real big fan of these types of anime but it was worth watching. It is a kind of long movie and gets kind of confusing in the end. The animation is clean but looks older than an anime made in 1999. I would not recommend it for the casual anime fan, just us hardcore junkies.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Premium OVA Collection
Irresponsible Captain Tylor Ova Series Remastered DVD Collection
Lucky Star OVA
Moribito Vol 5: Guardian of The Spirit
Samurai Deeper Kyo: The Complete Series
Slayers: Seasons 1-3 Box Set

One of the most beautiful and best anime ever done. It was the first feature length anime by Gainax, the creators of Neon Genesis Evangelion and Tengen Toppa Gurran Lagann. This is one of the first movies that got me hooked on anime, or Japanamation as it was known in the 80’s. Set on a parallel Earth in the past it is a story of the beginning of space exploration. Kind of like the story of NASA on a parallel world. The animation quality was excellent for a movie done in 1987. It actually holds up really well, and I would say better than a lot of anime today. There was nothing computer generated but the quality of it still amazes me. They really play up that it is not the Earth as we know of, with the really outlandish costumes and machinery. It has that original Star Wars lived in look which makes it unique. You cannot call yourself an anime fan and not have seen this movie. It is hard to find but if you get your hands on a copy don’t hesitate to pop it in and watch.

Pokemon Elements, Vol. 1: Grass
Pokemon Elements, Vol. 2: Fire
xxxHOLiC: The Complete Series Box Set

This anime is kind of like Cowboy Bebop on the South Seas, but with less humor and more violence. A lot of shoot’em up action and the characters are well developed. It is about a corporate employee nicknamed Rock who gets kidnapped by South Sea pirates. Thru a set of twisted consequences he ends up joining the crew.

The Lagoon Company, as they are called are actually mercenaries who do just about any job if the price is right. Revy the main muscle of the group is a young woman who is very adept at blowing people away. Girls with guns, yeah! She seems like a tough character but she is actually very emotionally scarred and somehow develops a connection with Rock, who is the typical cookie cutter corporate guy. Revy’s rough around the edges personality rubs off on him and he actually becomes a complex character. Dutch, the captain, and Benny, the tech whiz, round out the crew and they are pretty good supporting characters. The main characters are really Rock and Revy and how their relationship grows and how they different they are. But those differences are what make this series compelling.

There are some negatives to this series. There is a lot of dialogue and the action is not constant. I think this series would be a lot better if the stories and plot moved along a bit faster. Some episodes take too long to get to the action or thru the plotlines. If you can sit thru the quiet parts of the series it is a good one to invest in.

Marvel and  Japanimation studio Madhouse are teaming up to bring Marvel Super Heroes to life like never before!

They have teamed up to create four new anime versions of Marvel characters. The teaser trailers for Iron Man and Wolverine will premier at this week’s San Diego Comic Con International. The series is expected to premier in Japan on Animax in the spring of 2010.

“These Marvel Anime TV series are being created as a way of merging the Marvel super heroes of western culture with the bold animation tradition of Japan. The resulting product will be four visually groundbreaking anime series featuring popular super heroes redesigned and repurposed as emerging from the fabric of Japanese culture.”

Echelon Conspiracy
Hayate the Combat Butler: Part 1 (Sub)
Kyo Kara Maoh!: Season 2 Box Set
Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Season 1, Part 1
Naruto Uncut Box Set, Vol. 15
Rozen Maiden Traumend: Box Set
Strawberry Panic Litebox (slimpack)
Suzuka: The Complete Series Box Set

This is a really great movie. The only reason I watched this anime was because I wanted to watch something with my daughter that didn’t include robots and warriors. I was drawn into this movie and really enjoyed it. The animation is superb and so is the character development, and the sci-fi element is not overdone, which could have ruined the movie. They act like real life, original people, not the basic cookie cutter anime characters.

The story follows Makoto who is a high school girl and her relationship with her two best friends, Chiaki and Kosuke. Because of a bicycle accident she discovers she can time jump. Realizing this she uses her abilities to her advantage, like any teenage girl would do. Because of it, every time jump causes a different reaction, which means she has to time jump again to fix it , which starts a whole new set of circumstances, whew! I know it sounds confusing and it is. The key is that all the different events are actually based on the realism of the characters.

There is a surprise ending that I won’t give away. So just wanting to spend some quality time with my 6 year old daughter, I was rewarded with a great anime movie. It is not your traditional action packed anime movie but the plot moves quite well. This movie won multiple awards at all the film festivals it was entered in. Although this movie is a little under the radar to casual anime fans, I would definitely recommend it.