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Super violent, super sexy, and super tasteless, it's not hard to see why Wicked City is both loved and hated as a classic of 80s exploitation anime. It's story is dumb and cliched, but told with enough gorgeous animation and style to make it a pretty fun ride, that is, if you can stomach the content contained within.

The only real sore spot for me personally is the character of Giuseppe Mayart, who epitomizes everything I find annoying about the "Dirty Old Man" trope.

As far as this being a Kawajiri film, I don't like it quite as much as either Nina Scroll or Vampire ... Hunter D: Bloodlust, but I really liked the dark urban atmosphere and can certainly see myself returning to it at some point down the road.

When I first announced to some of my friends that I was watching Monster, I usually said something like, “Monster is a 74 episode animated television series. It is a series about a monster, and the monster is man.” I mostly said this as a joke because it sounded very clichéd, like one of the things you’d read on the back of the DVD case. But now that I have watched the entire series and have had ample time to really think about it, I realize that while that statement might be dumb, it is a accurate statement about the series so if that line ... didn’t make you completely disinterested, I’d personally recommend you to keep reading and hear what I have to say about Monster.

Now before I go on I should warn you all that this review spoils the first five or so episodes of the series. Considering that these episodes don’t even make up 10% of the series, I really wouldn’t consider any of these major plot spoilers. Preferably I would not spoil these episodes but the central plot of the series isn’t really revealed to the viewer until he or she has made it five episodes or so into the series and if I plan to really discuss this series, I need to summarize some of the events of those episodes so that those of you who are not familiar with the show will able to understand at least some of my statements.

Monster is based on the manga of the same name, which was written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It is a Japanese animated television series that began airing on April 6th, 2004 and ended on September 27th, 2005. The anime series is directed by Masayuki Kojima and animated by the animation studio Madhouse. The series primarily follows Kenzo Tenma, a benevolent and talented Japanese brain surgeon who works at a hospital in Düsseldorf and seems to have a very bright future ahead of him at the start of the series. He is on the doorstep of a very successful medical career and is happily engaged to the hospital director’s daughter. But things turn sour as Tenma soon realizes that the hospital’s bias of treating politicians over others has led to the deaths of some unlucky common folk. One night Tenma is ordered by the hospital director to stop operating on a young boy, who got shot in the head, so that he can operate on a politician. But instead of following orders and leaving the boy’s life in the hands of a less competent doctor, Tenma decides to continue the operation and saves the boy’s life. This decision ultimately leads to the death of the politician. Soon after this the director tells Tenma that he will do all in his power to make sure that Tenma will never advance in his medical career. This however soon ceases to be a problem as the director is mysteriously murdered one night and the boy who Tenma saved goes missing. There is an investigation done on the murder and while some suspect that Tenma might have been the murderer, as he was the only one who would have a believable motive, no decisive evidence is found, causing the case to be left unsolved.

Nine years later Tenma has reached the occupation of chief of surgery. One night, when he is checking up on a patient who is connected to a series of serial murders, he discovers that the patient is mysteriously missing from the hospital. Tenma goes out and eventually finds him with a beautiful young man who is the one behind all the murders. But that’s not all, as Tenma also discovers that this young man, who goes by the name of Johan, is actually the boy who he had saved nine years ago. Once Tenma knows this he is troubled by feelings of guilt and decides that he will leave the hospital in order to find and kill the monster he resurrected all those years ago.

One thing that I really appreciated about this show was the way it handled Johan. Considering that the show is called Monster one would expect the primary antagonist to be one who is not only able to commit atrocious crimes but one who is also terrifying. Luckily Monster is a show that manages to create such an antagonist, primarily through two means. The first of which is the actual look of Johan.

While Monster is far from an eyesore, the overall character design for the series is a bit more realistic and therefore more ugly than the majority of mainstream animation. Most of morally good characters aren’t particularly attractive and almost all of the morally bad characters are pretty ugly. But Johan is special as he is arguably the most evil character in the show and yet is also the most attractive male of the whole cast. Johan is a young, beautiful, blue eyed, and blonde haired boy and the dissonance between his appearance and the atrocities that he commits was something that was always unsettling.

The other, and arguably more important, way that the show is able to make Johan intimidating is the fact that he is a character shrouded in mystery. While a fair amount of the series is spent slowly revealing little bits and pieces of Johan’s past, the truth of the matter is that by the end of the series you have probably seen him for less than 10% of the entire series’ runtime. This was very surprising to me as he is the primary villain of the show and is introduced very early on in the series. At first I viewed this as a bad things since it meant that he doesn’t have much in the way of character development. But after thinking about it a lot I realized I actually really appreciated the lack of exposure to Johan. Unlike a lot of villains, he doesn’t get any opportunities to make any long, dramatic, and drawn out speeches where he explains his plans and motivations, which keeps him from becoming a over the top James Bond villain. Not only that but the lack of time you spend with Johan helps him keep this mysterious vibe that makes him feel more like a spooky legend rather than just some attractive guy who likes to kill people. By the end of the series Johan is responsible for countless deaths but you almost never see him take the steps to actually murder someone and while that might seem lazy, it makes it so that he never becomes predictable, which makes him seem all the more intimidating. While almost all the characters constantly talk about Johan, people are very rarely aware of his location or actions even though he is never that far away from any of the characters at any given point and is often subtly guiding them. Because of this Johan always seems to be one step ahead of everyone else and is a sort of a puppet master who can subtly change the plot with invisible strings. While Johan isn’t in much of the show, he undoubtedly leaves a creepy and ominous impression that lasts from his introduction to the very last frame and because of that he is one of the best villains that I have ever seen in a television show.

In fact one area that this series definitely excels in its the characters. With 74 episodes, the cast of Monster becomes extremely big and it is truly impressive how high of a many of them are fleshed out. Most characters, even those who are only appear for one episode, are memorable and given some sort of back-story or clear motivation for their actions. Even now, I can still remember some characters that were only present for 10 minutes or less at the very beginning of the series. I can mostly attribute this to the fact that many of them were so well realized that they felt like real people and thus I could easily imagine them in their lives outside of the events of the show. And this praise can be extended to the central characters of the show. By the end of the series you get such a clear understanding of what kind makes characters like Tenma tick that they become almost like family. This all not only makes the show interesting but also serves to make all the suspense and drama that unfolds extremely engrossing since these two dimensional drawings in some ways feel like actual three-dimensional people.

One thing that should be noted about Monster is that the pacing is fairly slow. Now this is not to say that there are long periods where not much is happening, in fact I felt the show does a good job of doing something interesting frequently enough that my interest was always peaked. It’s just that the show meanders a lot, at least during the first half. There are a lot of episodes in the beginning where Tenma takes time out of his epic quest in order to help out random people. While these episodes are well made as they can be quite emotional and also serve to develop Tenma’s character, I can’t deny that it was annoying how frequently the show seemed to get side tracked just so Tenma could help an old lady cross the street. There are even a few stretches of 3 to 5 episodes where Tenma isn’t even present. While what transpires does end up being very important to the plot of the series, it can sometimes feel like you’re watching a completely different show when these stretches occur. On the one hand I sometimes enjoyed these breaks from the central plot. The characters focused on during these sequences are genuinely entertaining to watch and some of these elongated breaks gave me time to breathe in between the very suspenseful and sometimes extremely dark events of the plot. I however also do have to admit that the inclusion of these scenes is part of the reason why the series is so long and can sometimes feel drawn out. While I do feel that the show’s length makes the whole story seem grander, I can’t help but wonder how much tighter the series could’ve been if some of the fat was trimmed.

But while the show might seem to take breaks, you definitely shouldn’t. As I have stated before this show’s cast is incredibly large and sometimes important characters will be introduced in an episode and then disappear for twenty or so episodes. Even though the characters are well written enough that they are easy to remember and keep track of, I do not think it is outside the realm of possibility for some viewers to get confused if they take a particularly long time to make their way through the series. Plus the story does get fairly complicated in the latter half of the series.

Speaking of confusion that is a feeling that I felt all too often as I was approaching the conclusion of this series. Now for the majority of the series the plot is fairly easy to follow. But around half way through the series, characters begin to uncover a conspiracy that is related to Johan’s past and around the time the last ten episodes rolled around I got completely lost within this subplot. This probably occurred because a lot of information needed to be crammed into a limited amount of time, meaning that in order for the writers to keep a solid pace, a lot of info needed to be included in a lot of short conversations. While this was executed fairly well in terms of keeping the show entertaining, it did mean that it was easy to miss some details when ten fairly complex things are being covered in one 3-minute conversation. Fortunately most of the series, including the conclusion, can be enjoyed and understood even if this part of the story isn’t fully understood. Its just unfortunate that a section of the series that the writers obviously put a lot of time into was not able to leave that much of an impact.

Another thing that I felt didn’t really live up to its full potential is the exploration of morals in the series. Very early on, many characters express a fear that Tenma may end up going down the wrong path if he decides to kill Johan. Also, there are a lot of scenes throughout the series where Tenma will see someone injured and either take them to a hospital, or treat them in some way right then and there. While it sometimes got repetitive to hear Tenma constantly yelling, “We need to get him/her to a hospital!” these scenes do showcase the irony that a man who has a deep conviction to save lives, is now spending an elongated period of his life tracking down someone to potentially kill them. Both of these elements seem to hint at the fact that the writers wanted to put in some deep moral conflict into the series but unfortunately the discussion of morals only really goes skin deep. Characters express their fear to Tenma that he will become that which he hates if he goes through with his mission but they never go any farther than just saying things like, “you shouldn’t kill Johan because killing is bad.” I realize that one of the reasons this ended up happening was because Tenma often goes out on his mission alone, leaving his friends behind. While this serves to make some scenes more intense, as Tenma is not often able to rely on the kindness of others, this also extremely limits his interactions with other characters and thus gives the writers fewer opportunities for characters to discuss morality. I got especially annoyed during one part where Tenma befriends a man who has a goal that very closely parallels his own to stop Johan. At first I got excited because I thought that the show could include some interesting conversations between the two where might start to see their own moral flaws or shortcomings in the other. Unfortunately this character left before anything thematically interesting could really transpire. Also, without spoiling anything, the episodes leading up to the end felt somewhat cheap since events transpired in a way that allowed a conclusion for Tenma’s story to be met without him having to make any of the tough moral decisions which had been hinted at since very early on in the series. While, I do realize that the discussion of morals could’ve slowed down the series even more, I can’t help but feel that the show just ended up dropping the ball when it came to this aspect of the show.

And while I’m addressing pet peeves I should talk about the soundtrack. Now let me start of by saying that I love this soundtrack in terms of the actual music. While it is not exactly music that I would listen to by itself, it is truly amazing how effective a lot of the music can be in accentuating feelings during certain scenes. But while I did love the music I can’t ignore the fact that the way in which some of the soundtrack was used did knock my experience down a notch. On the soundtrack there is a particular track entitled “The Seeds of Time”. Now I actually really like this track. It starts of with strings giving off a very soft and sinister vibe. Then after a while it proceeds to become increasingly more loud and bombastic. It is a great piece of background music for any scene where tension slowly builds up to a thrilling climax. Unfortunately, the people working on Monster also realized this so every time anything vaguely intense happens, this track plays. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem for a two-hour film or a 13 episode miniseries. Monster however is 74 episodes long and the characters are about as good at staying out danger as I am at walking on water. This means that you better get used to hearing that track if you watch Monster as by the end of the series it is probably played for at least 30 minutes of the total runtime. While this is probably just a personal a nitpick, I can’t deny that around the time I got to episode 50 or so I started to notice just how often it was being played and that unfortunately made some scenes loose their punch, at least for me.

But don’t let these complaints fool you into thinking that Monster is a deeply flawed series. In truth when I first finished watching the series I got a warm and tingly feeling that only occurs when I have finished watching something I thought was very good. Although I will admit that the moments leading up to that were making me worried that the conclusion would prove to be a disappointment.

Now I’ll be completely honest here and say that I was not pleased with how the last two episodes were playing out while I was first watching them. As I have stated before I felt that certain aspects of the conclusion of events felt cheap and while I found it adorable how the show tried to give some sort of resolution to all the little threads that were created throughout the series, I wouldn’t exactly call the execution graceful. Plus one half of the very last episode seemed to be devoted to tying up a loose thread that I’m pretty sure didn’t exist up until that point. I was however able to forgive all this once I began to experience the final five minutes of the show. Within that short time one final conversation took place, which not only managed to provide some final closure to the story, but also manages to raise some final haunting questions about some of the more mysterious characters of the series as well as human nature in general. In this sense it is almost like a twist ending as it allows the viewer to think about many of the events that took place over the course of the series in a completely new context. Monster’s ending might have been more like a whimper than a bang, but it is a whimper that managed to be more impactful than most of the bangs that I have experienced.

When I look back at my viewing of the series, I feel that one of the best things I can say about Monster is that I sometimes completely forgot that it was an animated show. In America animation is treated more like a genre than a medium. Usually if a show or film is animated, it means that it is either very juvenile or very crude. While there are exceptions, Americans don’t seem to believe that animation is medium that can be used to tell mature, serious stories. But Monster, to me at least, is the perfect proof that this belief is wrong. Even though the series is animated it is a long-winded and dark crime thriller that wouldn’t feel too out of place next to a show like Breaking Bad. There is really no reason why the show needed to be in animated form and while it may not gain much from being animated, it is a prime example of how animation can tell a mature story without resorting to some brutal violence or sexual activity.

Even though Monster doesn’t reach its full potential in terms of exploring its themes, I do believe it does a good job of commenting on human nature. A lot of stories that try to touch upon the darker side of humanity and society usually resort to depicting worlds that are dark and edgy where the strong prey on the weak in gruesome ways. While these stories don’t always miss their mark, they often go so over the top in their brutality that their worlds end up becoming unbelievable. But Monster’s world is one of balance. For every atrocity that takes place there is a heart-warming miracle. For every brutal serial killer there is a loving mother and child. For every dark and disgusting alleyway there is a breathtakingly beautiful countryside. While this balance does ensure that Monster is not a show that ever becomes too dark nor too nice, it is also one that manages to make all the bad in its world seem worse by juxtaposition. It’s one thing to see savages blow each other’s heads off with magnums, but when the same thing is being done between a savage and a well to do doctor who just wants to make the world a better place, it really drives home how horrible humans can be. Every display of human kindness in the show makes every bit of human depravity in the show seem all the more unexplainable and detestable. Wild animals may kill each other in the wild but that is usually done in self-defense or because of a need for food. Humans however are the only animals, at least to my knowledge, that will kill and torture members of its own species for seemingly no reason and that is a fact that Monster reminds the viewer countless times throughout its 74 episodes. And it is through this that the Monster is able to show that the man is truly the world’s most monstrous animal.

Akira is a 1988 Japanese Animated film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo based on Otomo’s manga of the same name.

In the year 1988 a mysterious explosion destroys Tokyo while supposedly also causing World War III. 31 years later, in the year 2019, a new city, entitled Neo-Tokyo, is built which is in a state of constant chaos due to constant skirmishes between rival biker gangs as well as barrages of anti-government attacks carried out by various revolutionary groups. This is the stetting of Akira.

Within this setting the plot focuses on two major characters. Shotaro Kaneda, the arrogant leader of a biker gang, and his childhood friend/rival, ... Tetsuo Shima, who throughout the film develops strange psychic powers that are frighteningly powerful and prove to cause much destruction.

The first thing that most people will probably notice is the animation of this film because it is of an extremely high quality. Japanese animation, or anime as most people call it, is sometimes criticized for having “limited animation”. Japanese animators generally don’t aim for the same fluidity of motion that, say, American animators usually do. Plus they are often guilty of cutting corners by doing things such as giving characters static faces while they are talking. To be fair though the art in a lot of anime is usually a bit more detailed than what is usually seen in American animation. With that said however none of these criticisms can be applied to Akira because every scene has extremely detailed and fluid animation that, in my opinion at least, rivals that of Disney. If someone asked me to show him or her the animation of Akira I would show a river because that is how fluid it is.

One reason why the animation is especially impressive is due to the fact that a majority of the film takes place at night. Now this might not seem like a significant point to some so let me explain. Similar to those who work on shooting live action films, animators, while working on scenes that take place at night, have to deal with lighting, or at least with presenting the illusion of lighting. This is something that can lead to animation becoming more complicated since, not only do animators have to worry about drawing shadows in realistic ways, they also have to use more colors in order to make everything fit in with the supposed lighting in scenes. It is for this reason that many animators try to avoid doing scenes that take place at night. But rather than taking the easy way out the animators working on Akira toughed it out and made sure that every scene at night was colored in a way that gave the illusion of realistic lighting and the results are truly astounding. It is for this reason that I have the upmost respect for those who worked on animating this beast.

In fact it is because of the animation that I recommend watching this film with the Japanese voices, even if you prefer to watch anime with English dubbing. This is not because the English dubbings available are bad per say, it is just that Akira is a very special case. For almost all anime the animation is finished before all the dialogue is recorded. What this means is that the animation for the mouths in anime aren’t done in a way that follows the delivery given by the voice actors. Instead the animation is usually edited after the voices are recorded so that the mouths move within the time in which voices are heard. This means that mouths will just open and close during certain intervals. Because of this it generally isn’t that jarring to watch an anime with an English dubbing since the Japanese voices wouldn’t really fit the animation for the mouths either. With Akira however the Japanese voices were recorded beforehand so the animators were able to animate the mouths so that they follow the delivery of the Japanese voice actors. For that reason alone I believe that everyone should watch this film with the Japanese audio since it not only will fit the visuals, but it will also allow viewers to really appreciate the extra bit of effort that the animators put into the mouths.

And while I’m on the topic of audio let me just say that the soundtrack by Shoji Yamashiro is pretty amazing. Many of the tracks have a unique combination of techno, traditional Asian instruments, and distorted singing/chanting. This ultimately culminates to create music that is intense enough to accentuate a lot of the chaos that ends up happening on screen while also sounding very unique. Although it should be noted that there are one or two somber tracks that do help calm down the mood on the rare occasion that the film decides to take a breather.

While Akira might stand out from its peers because of the technical quality of its animation, the animation is not the only reason why the film is well known among otaku. The other, and possibly more significant, reason why Akira stands out from its fellow animated brethren is due to its level of violence. In the years that I have been watching animated works there are few non-exploitation anime and films in general that approach the sheer amount of violence that Akira showcases. At times it seems like the film can’t go five minutes without having some violent act taking place, weather it be an explosion, a bout between rival biker gangs, governmental forces gunning down rebellious citizens, or Testuo using his powers to plaster the ground with someone else’s guts. But while the violence might seem a bit gratuitous to some, I actually think it is an ultimately positive aspect of the film. Neo-Tokyo is supposed to be a chaotic and brutal city and if people weren’t getting beaten and murdered left and right then the city would hardly seem as brutal as it does within the film. Plus it also does good job of making the audience never get too comfortable during the intense action scenes since you are always aware that death is never far away from anyone who lives in Neo-Tokyo.

Even though Akira is a very unique and technically impressive film, is isn’t without some flaws. The film is a 2-hour adaptation of an over 2000-page manga and while the film does manage to condense the central plot into the allotted run time, this does seem to present a few issues. First of all, since the film has to cover a lot of material in a relatively short amount of time the pacing is really jacked up. I can really only think of two or three scenes in which the audience is really given a scene devoid of either really exciting action or plot exposition. Now while some might argue that this is a good thing since it means that the film never gets boring, it is also a factor that may serve to confuse some viewers.

Now while I am a firm believer that the majority of scenes in a film should serve to move the story along, at least when talking about plot-driven films, I do recognize the need for quiet time where not much is happening. While these scenes might seem boring and meaningless to some, I believe they can serve an important purpose within many films and stories. They give the audience a chance to take a breather so that they don’t get overwhelmed with plot details or action as well as giving them a chance to reflect on what has happened thus far. But in Akira it seems that almost every scene has characters either spouting plot exposition or participating in some really intense and really bloody violence. This means that the viewer can’t really take time to think about what they had just seen, since there aren’t any scenes that don’t serve to either put the characters in danger or move the plot along. This can be seen as an especially big problem for Akira since many may be tempted to step away from the plot to just admire the fluidity of the animation or the extremely beautiful and densely detailed backgrounds. This is probably one of the major reasons why I see a lot of people call the film confusing. It also doesn’t help that some of the dialogue is a bit more cryptic than it needs to be.

Also, the film doesn’t address some details with the amount of explanation that some may desire. For example, within the film there are a number of people who are fighting the government in a revolutionary movement. While the government of Neo-Tokyo is shown to be rather inept in a few scenes of the film, it is never really explained why people are so angry with the government. Many other details like this such as the affect that World War III on the world, the nature of Tetsuo’s powers, and where these angst-ridden teenagers go when they aren’t hanging out with each other go on unexplained. While I’m sure some won’t mind, I know I certainly didn’t when I watched this film for the first time, I recognize that some may get annoyed with the lack of explanation that the film gives pertaining to some details. While I would’ve hated it if this film were to be bogged down by too much exposition I feel that the film would have been improved if some of these topics were more thoroughly explored. At the very least it would have given the world of the film more depth. Plus it is not like Katsuhiro Otomo didn’t write this story without thinking a lot of this though. Having read it in its entirety, I can truthfully say that the manga did go more in depth with certain aspects of the plot, such as the anti-government movement that various characters are a part of. This leads me to believe that the reason why a lot of things in the film were left unexplained was more due to time constraints than lazy writing. Personally, even though I am usually a strong opponent of people splitting up stories into parts, I believe that the plot of Akira might have been better if it was split between two films. This would have allowed Otomo to provide the audience more calm and soothing scenes, while also providing time to add more depth to the world.

And for my last form of criticism I will just warn people that at a few moments during the third act of the film the dialogue devolves into characters just screaming each other’s names really loudly.

But while these things are certainly flaws, I can’t ignore that they somewhat serve as a double-edged sword. While the unrelenting pace and lack of explanation might serve to confuse and aggravate some viewers, I can’t deny that they also make the film seem even more chaotic. The most common tagline that I’ve seen in promotional material for Akira is “Neo-Tokyo is about to explode”. This tagline I feel perfectly encapsulates the feeling that the setting gives off. Saying that Neo-Tokyo is about to explode suggests that things are building up, that the city is practically bursting with problems and its soon gonna let it all out in a glorious explosion. In a sense the plot and pacing reflects this very chaotic feeling. Within the film the viewer is shown countless problems which are plaguing Neo-Tokyo. These include, but are not limited to, gang violence, poor education, trigger-happy government forces, trigger-happy revolutionary forces, as well as a government in which nothing ever gets done. While the scatterbrain way that the film decides to show the audience all these problems certainly do hurt the plot, at least in my opinion, I also feel they help the setting seem even more doomed. The kinetic pacing of the film as well as the sheer amount of the problems it shows suggests to the viewer that Neo-Tokyo is a city full of problems that no one really has time to solve. The fact that said problems aren’t really ever given full explanations ultimately hinders the audience’s ability to think up solutions to these problems thus they reach a sort of unsolvable status within the minds of viewers. This all ends up making Neo-Tokyo seem all the more ugly and all the more hopeless. In no way am I saying that these points make up for the ways that the flaws within the writing detract from the film’s quality. I’m just saying that it is flawed in a way that does help reinforce some ideas about the film’s setting. Neo-Tokyo was a city built to help Japanese citizens deal with the destruction of Tokyo. It is then is ironic that it seems to be a city constantly on the brink of destruction, at least as it exists within the year of 2019. But while it is a setting that is constantly in a state of turmoil, I am still able to find things to enjoy every time I visit.

While the screenplay might be badly written in terms of plot, it does a surprisingly good job with creating sympathy for the protagonists of the film. I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t too fond on a lot of the characters when I was first watching this film a few years ago. Kaneda, Testuo, and friends seemed like completely unlikeable violent and arrogant teenaged boys who liked to spend all their time hitting rival bikers with steel pipes. But as the film goes on and you learn more about these character’s pasts and their environment, you begin to feel bad for them. While you may be repulsed by their violent tendencies, you realize that these are kids who had to deal with living in the horrible dump that is Neo-Tokyo. Thus they had to deal with all the problems and oppression of the city has while growing up. Because of this, I at least, gained a strange understanding for the anti-authoritative attitude as well as a strange sort of sympathy for the characters. There are also a fair amount of scenes within the film that really show that these characters have a sense of camaraderie and that they actually do care about each other. This in turn makes it easier for the audience to care about them since most of the characters all seem to put at least some significance on each other’s lives. It is also easy to feel bad for these characters since they end up getting involved in a lot of conflicts that they don’t personally want to being in and then just end up suffering because of it. Kaneda gets involved with an anti-government group not because he actually believes in their cause. Rather he just joining them because the government has taken Tetsuo away from him and he believes that following the group will allow him to protect his friend. Similarly, Testuo never really chose to get psychic powers, he just sort of got them and because of that scientists take possession of him so that they can study him. Inevitably these powers end up causing harm to his mental state, his physical state, and the lives of those around him and in that sense his character is extremely tragic. By the last third of the film, despite the fact that I found both characters to be unlikeable at first, I had quite a bit of sympathy for both Kaneda and Testuo and was really rooting for both of them to reach a happy conclusion. This in the end makes it all the more sad when the tragic and self-destructive aspects of their friendship become more apparent. I must also admit that part of the reason that I was able to feel sympathetic towards these teenagers was partially due to the character design. There is just something about the art, probably the more roundish heads, which make the characters seem more juvenile and thus easier to feel sympathy towards, since you think, well they probably don’t know any better. While Akira’s violence might make it seem like it doesn’t value human life all that much, it’s characters do ultimately give the film a sad emotional core.

Now before I begin to wrap this review up I cannot forget to mention the significance of his film. Akira was the film that introduced a lot of Americans to Japanese anime and it is likely that if the film was never made and was never release on home video in America, the international anime fan community would never be as big as it is today. Plus, while Akira was certainly a landmark in terms of Japanese animation, one can see its influence on many American films such as Chronicle and The Matrix. Akira might not be quite great enough to be considered a masterpiece but it has certainly left an impression on culture, or at least the nerdy side of culture, which can still be felt today. Also I must say that the film has what might be the most epic and craziest climaxes that I have ever seen. In fact, I would say that the climax alone makes watching the film a worthwhile endeavor, at least if you aren’t particularly squeamish.

Akira is a film about a lot of things but above all it is a film about destruction. Within the film one can witness the destruction of many human lives, of body parts, of friendships, of cities, of governments, and of societies. Heck, some might even argue that while watching, you can see the film’s plot get destroyed before your very eyes. Yet it is ironic how a film about so much destruction was able to lead to the production of so much beautiful animation, to the creation of some very real and sympathetic characters, as well as, arguably, an entire international community of fans. Perhaps like the phoenix, Akira is a film that proves that new life and thoughts can be born out of death and destruction. Akira is not a perfect film. It’s writing is too flawed for me to give it that high of praise. What Akira really is though is a thrilling, destructive, bloody, and melancholic roller coaster ride and while it may be a ride that is held together by duck tape and staples, it is one that I thoroughly enjoy every time I experience it.

Attack on Titan or Shingeki no Kyojin has become one of the biggest anime, at least stateside, over the past few years. Unfortunately many shows that are popular often get caught up in the hype of fans and when people view it when hype has begun to cool down it is often that these shows often get a lot of backlash since they are not as good as everyone who watched it years ago says it is. Fortunately I think that Attack on Titan is well made enough that it will not be seen as trash by viewers years from now when if it does ... have some issues.

To start out with the good the show has top notch production values. The animation stays great throughout which especially shines during the completely awesome and often brutal action sequences that are sprinkled throughout the series. A word must also be said that the show also has a very unique art style with heavy outlines around the characters which helps the show pop out without doing anything too distracting.

Despite the oldtimey setting of the show the music often has a somewhat electronic feel to it and while some might be distracted the music really helps set the epic mood and at times can get you pumped for the next fight.

While the story is never too out of the ordinary, the world that Attack on Titan creates is interesting enough that you are guaranteed to stay interested in whats going on.

But everything is not perfect unfortunately.

While there are a plethora of characters in the show that are often very interesting, most of the cast outside of the main 3 protagonists don't really get enough screen time to get very developed. It also doesn't help that some characters will just randomly die before you get attached. While one of Attack on Titan's claim to fame s the fact that they often murder characters you often don't get enough attachment to some who die in order to make their deaths have as much emotional weight as they probably should.

The show also has slight pacing problems as the show goes at a almost breakneck pace in the first few episodes until it suddenly decides to slow down. Luckily by the half way point enough happens to make this less of a problem.

Also while this show certainly tries to be epic it sometimes goes into hilariously over the top territory but not too often.

Even with these problems the show is still a great watch. It is quite brutal though so if you can't stand violence stay out. Also the storyline isn't complete yet and at this point a sequel is very likely which is good since I along with many are interested to see where the story goes and aren't willing to read the manga to find out.

So while it may not be perfect Attack on Titan it seems that it is just too big to ignore and that is why I am happy that it is of a very high quality.

Summer Wars is a very interesting anime film. Without giving away too much of the story the plot is about a japanese computer geek/math whiz who gets asked by a girl to go to her grandmother's birthday so that he can pose as her boyfriend. As this goes on he is framed for a catastrophe that occurs on the electronic world Oz, which is very similar to the internet, in which a user name Love Machine is taking many accounts of users. Through the movie the math whiz must team up with his fake girlfriend's ginormous family in order to stop Love Machine from causing ... destruction in both Oz and the real world. Now one of the most striking things about Summer Wars when someone is watching it is just how big the cast of characters is. The family in this movie is truly huge and by the end of the movie you will at least feel a little familiar with the 20+ family members. Now while most family members, except for a select few, are probably only given a few minutes worth of screen time and dialogue, each one is well represented enough that you at the very least get a good sense of what type of person they are. Even with such a big cast I never felt lost on who someone was and I never felt confused or asked, "wait, who is tis guy again?". Now while the majority of the characters, except for maybe the grandma, are not anything spectacular, the fact that so many characters are included, with each having a distinct personality should be considered a triumph onto itself. In terms of plot while Summer Wars doesn't necessarily do anything wrong it doesn't do anything particularly mind-blowing or original either, while watching even though it does do a good job of getting the audience emotionally involved with the conflict at hand it never does anything too outside of the norm which may be a problem for some who are looking for something a bit more interesting or unique plot. In other words, I could kind of predict what was going to happen in a lot of scenes so one could make the argument that this takes away from the tension. The visuals are overall pretty good but special note should be made for the CG used in the parts of the story that take place in Oz. Sure the real world traditional animation is good but the CG looks especially cool in my opinion since you get a lot of scenes with very interesting environments with people's unique and strange avatars duking it out. Sure it may look weird to some but its very appropriate in context and I feel it helps give the movie its own identity. One thing I personally was kind of annoyed at was the use of Oz in the movie. There is nothing wrong with it in theory but there are times when it feels like the movie is going to use it for social commentary and from that perspective it doesn't go quite as deep as I may have liked. Also there is a romance that while it is developed over the course of the movie, ends up feeling not that natural and kind of forced, at least to me. Now Summer Wars isn't the next Akira or Princess Mononoke and it doesn't exactly have anything that will nock your socks off probably. But what it is a very enjoyable romp with a large cast of fun characters that has enough drama, comedy, and suspense to keep you interested for its running time. While there is some fighting in the movie nothing too violent or disturbing happens so a kid about 12 or older should have no problem watching this film. Summer Wars may not be a masterpiece but it is an enjoyable enough watch for me to recommend to anyone who wants to just see something good.

I have been watching Anime for many years and I can safely say that Texhnolyze is one of the most unique series that I have ever seen while simultaneously also being one of the most depressing shows I've ever seen. Texhnolyze is a dark show and while many other shows have been labeled dark I believe this show is one of the few that actually deserves this label. Texhnolyze is not just dark because of its story or plot elements like many other shows, Texhnoloyze is dark because it simply contains no light to the bleakness.
The first part of this is the mood of ... the series. Other shows that are dark or depressing often have points that contain little bits of happiness, redemption, or at the veery least little dashes of humor here and there. Texhnoloyze contains no moments that can be described with the words stated above. While many can complain that this might make the show seem like one big depressing piece of filth I believe its darkness is one of its biggest strengths. The bleakness of it all almost makes the series beautiful in a twisted sort of way. It never compromises itself to appeal to a wider audience and if nothing else one can at least respect that the show was never dumbed down. The pacing in the show is slow and while this may be a complaint to some I feel it is completely necessary. Throughout this whole series there is this a looming sense of gloom and doom and that "this is not going to end well" and the slowness at which the plot progresses helps exemplify this.
Now while I won't risk spoiling any of the plot I will describe the setting in which Texhnolyze takes place. The majority of the plot takes place in the underground city of Lux, which is actually brighter than some may imagine a underground city to look like. Now in this city it is very common for people to get robotic limbs and body parts to replace their old ones. Some use these for violence and love them while others, such as the main character, view them as almost a curse. Now the city of Lux is a home to a number of gangs that end up brutally fighting with each other over the course of the series. While Lux seems to be in order at the beginning of the series there is always a sense that the city is going to be destroyed soon weather it be by major characters or a more mysterious force. The city is very ugly ad not a place you would want to visit and it certainly is a horrid place to live.
All the characters in the story are flawed with many being self-destructive, it is not a very upbeat series as I have said before. Now why am I giving Texhnolyze a 10? Because it is beautiful, despite the fact that I was never happy with the setting or characters in the show I was able to shed a tear when it ended and it was at that point thatI realized that the show had affected me. Its definitely not a enjoyable piece of entertainment but as a piece of demented art about the dark side of humanity and the destructive nature of man it nears perfection. On the technical side animation, looks, and music fit together extremely well. Texhnolyze is certainly a series that many won't like or will not be able to finish but it should at least be given a glance if for no other reason than for its uniqueness. As a final note I would like to say that if anyone tries this series and is turned off by the slow pace that they stick with it for at least the half way point Even I thought it was kind of boring when I first watched it but I stuck with it and now it is one of my favorite animes. Texhnolyze is a unique anime that is hard to explain but if you are into dark stories, cyberpunk, or just sci-fi in general and have a little patience Texhnolyze is at least worth one viewing. As an added note the series can be violent and graphic at points but when it does it is always for a purpose and never felt unneeded to me.