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I'm going to have to come back and give this a full review upon completing it, but I feel like I have to say something about this show right now.

This show is constantly compared to Neon Genesis Evangelion for better or worse. As a huge Evangelion fan who is intimately familiar with the TV show there is no way you can watch RahXephon's early episodes and not see the many homages to Evangelion. I specifically say homages because it feels like the people working on this show love Evangelion too. Sure, there are some characters that fill the same roles either by their personality ... or appearance, but there are unmistakable editing, shot framing and designs in these early episode that directly call back to Evangelion in ways that cannot be a coincidence.

At the outset this certainly seems like a quality production with an interesting setting and characters. The lore appears to be dense and the mecha designs are super unique. I hope anyone watching this show can enjoy the overlap this has with Evangelion and also enjoy it on it's own rather than try to compare the two.

I signed up for the site and gave Coolmic $1 to find out if the English version is censored or not. Yep, it is not a peen in sight. I hope I saved you the time and money.

It's a shame that the art is so nice and just full of light saber dick. Not even the nicely outlined light saber dick which I don't mind so much. If you're into size difference I'd say check out the manga over the anime because that stuff looked like a mess from the little bit I saw. I have to admit that I am curious if MC can ... ever take it all the way. Maybe I'll read the rest of it one day, but not letting us see the sausage is a huge *snicker* let down.

I've been a fan of Macross Plus since the days of VHS and then later in life I finally saw the original TV series and DYRL. I've recently decided to watch the lesser loved series like this and 7 just to make sure I wasn't missing anything because sometimes reputations of certain series aren't really deserved. Let's see what the scoop is on Macross II: Lovers Again.

I'm not going to break down the plot aside from just saying that it's an alternate timeline that breaks off from the original TV series / DYRL. There are no returning characters that I'm aware of. I found the ... story serviceable and entertaining enough for a short series. It won't blow your mind or anything, but it does stand above many short OAV series of the time just by having a plot that follows through to an ending. Low bar, I know.

The main feature here as far as I'm concerned is the character art by Haruhiko Mikimoto. Close-ups of these characters should leave you dazzled. The art here is even more refined than what we saw almost a decade before in DYRL, just slightly less animated. There's a level of detail here that in my opinion makes the show worth watching no matter what.

The art in this series starts off above average and hits a peak around episodes 4 and 5 where you'll see high framerate animation with precise, colorful designs that look stunning especially if you manage to catch this show in HD. There are a few segments that an animation lover might want to rewind and watch over a few times just to enjoy the fine details.

Sadly, two problems are present here. First off, the general mecha design (ships, backgrounds, settings) are all great. No problems there, but the Valkyrie fighters design in this series don't quite stand up to other Macross series. There's very technically well-done animation applied to designs that just don't do it for me. I'm guessing this is due to Shoji Kawamori, the original designer of the Valkyries, not being present during this production. I feel bad knocking them because they're very Masami Ōbari-looking (I believe he's involved), which I sometimes love, but in my opinion, they just don't hold a candle to the flowing, solid designs of the original Macross works.

Secondly, something terrible happened with the last episode of this series. The quality of the art and animation took a drastic nosedive. It doesn't help that it follows up the most stunning-looking episode 5 AND it's the final part of the story. I'd love to know the story behind the production because while it remains serviceable and doesn't ruin the show, it lacks any of the spectacle the OAV had displayed up until then. The key art of the characters seem to be done by a different artist and long shots show sloppy artwork that looks nothing like the rest of the series. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

The music in the series is composed by Shiro Sagisu of Evangelion fame. I can't say that it ever really stood out to me, but people in other reviews seem to enjoy the soundtrack so maybe I'll enjoy it more on a second viewing. There's a few idol style Macross songs here aside from the opening theme and they're just fine. Again, nothing stand-out, but it supports this short OAV well enough.

I felt like if the animation continued it's high quality up through the final episode I would have given it an 8, but it was seriously jarring enough to put a damper on the whole thing. I think Macross II: Lovers Again is absolutely worth a watch for any Macross fan and for any fan of 80s / early 90s OAVs. It's an interesting piece of anime history that you may enjoy more than you think you will. It's one of those "more than the sum of it's parts" type of shows. See if you can seek this out in HD and enjoy some old-school goodness.

I know nothing about Blame! or related works aside from the incredible figures produced by 1000toys. I've recently preordered one of the said figures and so when I noticed Blame! was on Netflix I chose to give it a cautious watch. I'm not a fan of 3DCG anime so I didn't expect to enjoy the visual aspect much. Some of the reviews here had prepared me to be let down so I'm happy to report that I enjoyed the movie all the way through.

This movie was such a fun ride! This reminded me of all the awesome stand-alone anime action movies we got back in ... the 80s and 90s. The background art and atmosphere are top-tier and I actually really like some of the character designs. I would always prefer 2D animation, but I never felt like the CG distracted from the show outside of a few small scenes. I suppose it even made some of the creepier robot designs stand out and appear "solid". Background art must be a mix of 2D and CG which appears to do justice to the artwork from the manga based what I've seen online.

I suspect that if you had read the manga beforehand you might have several expectations that this movie may not meet, but if you're new to the material I think you'll enjoy this action-packed, cool looking, scifi dip into the world of Blame! I've already requested the manga from my local library.

I would say that if you are interested in darker / scifi anime just go ahead and give Blame! a shot while it's free on Netflix.