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Narrative: 8/10
This is not simply a collection of music videos to go along with an album; this is an entire full length story complete with action, drama, love, and a thoroughgoing ending. It’s not the craziest story ever, nothing more ambitious than your standard action movie, and It’s simple enough that you can easily follow along even with the complete lack of dialogue in the film. It has very solid pacing, especially since there was the additional task of syncing up the actions of the film with the songs being played. I was half expecting to fall asleep during the film before I decided to ... watch it. But fortunately the story was more than engaging enough to keep me focused throughout the entire film.


Characters: 7.25/10
This is not a character driven story, and since there’s not a sputter of dialogue spoken by any of them, it leaves much to the viewers imagination on the personalities of the cast. But despite the short length there was enough world-building to flesh out the main cast, and make you truly sympathize with our little alien friends.


Presentation: 6.75/10
The art was pretty great. The characters and environments were all drawn well and had excellent designs, from the funky alien space environments, to the more contemporary modern society, it felt right, and did a good job immersing me in both the world and the story. The atmosphere felt very appropriate to the music, and it all came together with the plot to make quite a treat for both the eyes and the ears.
The animation wasn't quite as hot however. Some parts were quite pretty, others just weren't animated very well. Overall it wasn’t really bad, but it would’ve definitely benefited with a bit more polish (although I’m no animator what do I know). There was a fair amount of CG used, but it’s use felt appropriate and didn’t clash with the 2d animation.

Sound: 10/10
I would expect the music for an hour long music video to be good, and fortunately for us all it’s performed by none other than Daft Punk. It goes without saying that any anime with music by Daft Punk is going to be a cut above the rest, even if their music isn’t quite to your taste.
Other than the groovy tunes blessing your ears you won’t hear any kind of dialogue or anything, save for just a couple SFX here and there which never distracted me or took away from the music.



In conclusion, If you’re ever in the mood to listen to some Daft Punk… do it the right way and give this anime a shot. The pretty visuals, surprisingly decent story, and of course the music will keep your eyes, mind, and ears happy for a little over an hour guaranteed!

One of the most ridiculous anime I've ever seen. It's like a 1968 Newgrounds animation; it's aged really well and it actually made me laugh a couple times. There is no story, just some short humorous clips strung together. No idea if there's any deeper meaning that went over my head, but I still really enjoyed it.

The animation could have been better even for 1968, but it has some cool real-life footage and photographs thrown in, and has some really bizarre surreal scenes and imagery. It's only 5 minutes long and a quick youtube search away, so If you enjoy dementia or avant-garde anime, ... give it a shot.

NARRATIVE: 7.25/10

A short story, yet 50 minutes was all that was needed to flesh out the world and to bring a climactic ending a bit more grandiose than what I would have expected. The preternatural aspect of the film is evident right after the intro sequence ends, and continues right up till the end. I won't summarize the story here, but it was very well paced and features all the story elements / structure you would expect in a feature-length film. While the story, setting, and characters all really do work well together, I felt there were multiple scenes that while entertaining, and succeeded in ... building and fleshing out the world, really didn't add anything to the plot, and there were a few too many filler scenes of "everyone wants to eat the lil plant dude". Perhaps some of the events in the anime were a little to mundane in contrast to the wacky world and characters, but at the same time it feels more realistic and grounded that way. All things considered, every little detail of the film still comes together so nicely, and is so engrossing that you really just forget about all that.

CHARACTERS: 7/10

A regular young girl alone, surrounded by a number of strange almost dangerous feeling oddball creatures of all kinds. Not many of the characters in the film are very friendly; most of them seem to just live their own lives, and who aren't revolved around the main character. Many don't serve much purpose and don't drive the plot forward in any meaningful way, but rather exist as antagonists who have no real desires or driving force other than to consume that which the girl seeks to protect. The peculiar cast while ultimately insignificant, were great at creating the dream-like setting, and each one was indeed very unique and felt like they were their own fleshed out people in this living-breathing world.

PRESENTATION: 10/10

10 years in the making and it really shows. You could take any still from this film and hang it on your wall, it's that good. Most of the animation is fairly choppy but it still works well with the art style and doesn't detract from the experience at all. Plus there are multiple scenes which are very fluently animated and look absolutely gorgeous. I can't imagine how much work must've went into animating all this, and it's a shame this masterpiece hasn't gotten much attention. If realistic hand-drawn art is your thing you cannot pass this anime up. Kurosaka's art is at it's peak in this film and with it, all the oddities, and grotesqueness you would expect, blended with the unique fully hand-drawn and animated cells, bring a real treat to your eyes the whole way through. Stunning.

SOUND: 8/10

Many of the sound effects used were generic stock sounds I've heard hundreds of times in other media, but they were all used so expertly that it really didn't matter. There aren't too many sounds in this film but every sound effect clearly has it's place and purpose. The music fit the atmosphere quite well. Most of the film has mainly oriental / orchestral sounding atmospheric tracks that gives the whole setting a almost peaceful feeling, and takes some of the edge off the gory art and somewhat disturbing scenes. The music helps the anime feel more like a fantasy dream world rather than the more depressing dystopia the plot and art lead it on to be. Oh yeah I loved the voice acting performance for the main character too, it was really well done and had just the right amount of energy.

OVERALL: 8.15/10

This film strikes the balance of being eccentric, and disturbing enough to pull you in, yet grounded enough in reality with believable actions and circumstances to immerse you in the draw-droppingly gorgeous world that is presented to you, and has enough of a story to keep you interested until the conclusion. If nothing else, watch it for the beautiful, gross, and twisted animation that Kurosaka is known for.

NARRATIVE: 5/10

This anime would likely have been better off as a short series rather than a movie. (I do realize this comes from a Light Novel though). There simply wasn't enough room to develop the characters and plot enough, leading to plot holes, underdeveloped side stories, and poor viewer engagement. The story itself was pretty good though, and the pacing was about as good as it could be for such an ambitious story in a measly 1 hr. 20 min time frame. The action scenes were enjoyable albeit a little short; They could've been utilized in a better way to deliver the plot, but they ... are largely inconsequential.


CHARACTERS: 3/10

As stated in the narrative section, character development was quite poor due to there simply not being enough time to develop them. After finishing the film I still have no idea who "D" really is or why he's killing vampires, and the "relationship" between D and Doris was nascent at best; I would've liked to see it pushed a little more. The character that got the worst treatment however was Ds talking sentient face-hand. What was this thing? Zero information is given on what he is, what he does, or why he even exists. His only significance to the plot is delivering snarky dialogue and eating spiders and dirt (?) to save D when he's in a pickle; although I admit it's a pretty cool character concept. At least the evil two vampire siblings were well written. Ramika started gaining some humanity throughout the film, and realized she is more than just vampire, and Rei-Ginsei vainly tried to increase his family standing which ultimately lead to his demise.


PRESENTATION: 7.5/10

The animation is pretty alright, I wan't blown away by it, but it definitely did it's job. The art however is where this anime really shines. everything was well drawn with plenty detail, and the character designs are done by the king himself Amano Yoshitaka. It was able to pull off the extremely dark Gothic Castlevania-like setting with great justice. All-in-all the setting combined with the visual themes and gory violence really makes for an immersive and memorable atmosphere. Of particular note is the scene when D walks through the hallway with all the wonderfully portrayed grotesque rows of macabre monsters, which really solidified the mood for me.


SOUND: 5/10

I watched the dubbed version on VHS, which I suppose had decent voice acting for the time. It wasn't that great honestly but I didn't let it affect my enjoyment too much. I don't typically care or put much thought into music or SFX in anime, but of particular note in this anime is lack of music in a lot of parts, which I think helped contribute to the desolate feeling of the world.


OVERALL: 5.0/10

Vampire Hunter D was a real treat for the eyes and left quite the impression on me, it has good character design, pretty cool fight scenes and plenty of violence and gore, but is plagued with severely underdeveloped characters, plot holes, and is far too short.

STRUCTURE / PRESENTATION: (4.8)

Daphne is an episodic anime with a big 4-episode conclusion at the end. This episodic format fits well with the series, for it's mainly just Nereids doing odd jobs and getting Maia out of trouble. The great story was probably good enough to turn this from an episodic to a serial anime, but in the end, I believe the choice was justified, giving the show the ability to basically have as many episodes as it wanted, while still remaining flexible enough to add in whatever kind of story they wanted. But that is just what I would expect from an episodic ... show of this nature. However I would've maybe liked to see some more mini story arcs that lasted for at least 2 or 3 episodes just to ease up the monotony a bit.

STORY / SETTING: (7.2)

Up until the 20th episode, the story was just basically the cast saving people, and beating up bad guys. Clearly nothing that hasn't been done before, but some formulas just never get old. The mini-plots in each episode weren't super original or exciting, but it did the job. The idea of Maia having amnesia and forgetting her childhood could've been spread out a little more throughout the series as it was only really mentioned in eps. 11 and 12, and at the end. The mysterious figure made a few appearances though, which helped remind me that there was at least a little bit of story happening behind the scenes. The ending really took me by surprise though. The last four episodes were a real treat to watch. Everything was wrapped up very nicely, and the plot twist at the end utterly shocked me, and the way the truth was reveled was very nice indeed. I would've rated this section much lower if not for the epic conclusion. The setting was certainly intriguing, but it could've been utilized much better. The story and various episodes DID make a little use of the vast oceans, and floating cities, but they really should've squeezed a little more out of it, because there was still so much more more milk in the tank at the end of the series setting wise. Even still, the setting really did grab my attention, and is what made me want to watch this in the first place.

CHARACTERS: (4.3)

I would expect the characters in an episodic anime such as this to be varied, interesting, and to be able to synergize well with each other. Was this the case in this show? Well, kind of. Gloria, Yu, and Shizuka were well made, and I loved their designs and personalities. Rena and Maia on the other hand, not so much. Rena; despite being the leader of the group, we don't see her as often as we should, and when we do, she's sitting in an office yelling at her underlings. She has a good character, but it really wan't utilized well. And finally we get to Maia. The main character Maia was without a doubt the worst character in the whole show. I get the idea of intentionally creating the main character to be bland and uninteresting to make the other more unique characters shine that much brighter, but this tactic only works well in large-scale anime with a huge diverse cast like Hunter X Hunter or One Piece. I don't know if this is what the producers were going for but Maia is the most annoying, clueless, oblivious, and most air-headed character I've seen in a long time. For the entire show she's just moping around depressed over the tiniest thing, and then she gets herself into trouble for the 47th time, and the crew has to go save her again. The way she reacts to the little events in the series, and her use of language, and her portrayal of emotions just really makes me cringe. They could've used ANY character but her for the main. As far as supporting characters go, there was nothing to complain about. The trio (later a quartet) that kept kidnapping Maia every now and then were a fun, and interesting bunch, and the various staff at other Nereids branches and the Ocean Agency were good too.

AUDIO / VISUAL: (6.2)

The art was a solid pro throughout the series, and while the animation was only average, the art made up for it. Facial close ups looked really nice, and the style really helped to distinguish the characters from each other and bring out their best features. The music is about what you would expect from this kind of show. It was used tastefully, and although it didn't take precedence over the art, nor the animation during high action scenes, it helped add a nice sweet layer on top of things.

OVERALL: (5.6)

This show is a gem. A dull one. But still a gem. It could shine much brighter if only not for the horrible MC, and the lack of utilization of the otherwise brilliant setting.

STRUCTURE / PRESENTATION: (7.0)

Gokusen is a semi-episodic semi-serial anime in the sense that each episode is usually someone getting into trouble and Yankumi having to go and save them or something like that, but slowly in each episode you can really see these rowdy students getting used to their new teacher and even starting to like her a bit, as well as Yankumi bonding with Shin, and (failing) to hide her identity to the school district. This style did this show justice as it highlighted some of the best parts, being able to fit in some good action fighting scenes in each episode, and since ... each episode usually deals with a specific character, you really get to bond with them and understand them a bit more.


STORY / SETTING: (4.0)

Honestly the idea that the students were brainless hot-headed thugs didn't last long enough. It was really only present in the first two episodes, and after that they already warmed up to their new teacher, and kinda became softies. The affection towards their teacher grows stronger and stronger in each episode. That aspect could've been paced or spread out a little better, but it was pretty alright. One other thing I noticed (or rather didn't) was the importance of Yankumi keeping her identity hidden to the school. Shin realized it almost straight away, and the other students knew something was up pretty early too. It didn't really feel like she was trying very hard, or perhaps just didn't care, because wow it didn't last long at all. I did really like the story though. It may not be the most original but it did leave me wanting to see what would happen next. The setting on the other hand was quite boring. The school may as well been a 2 room building. The classroom and the teachers' office are pretty much the only parts we ever see, no hallway shots, or pans around the school, or anything. Besides the school and the Ooedo hideout, there are few places which hold much significance and they are few and far between. It really was quite bland.

AUDIO / VISUAL: (5.0)

The art is abnormal compared to what you see in most anime, as the characters aren't your typical "Aryans" and look more realistic (yet still goofy). Overall though it was average, and so was the animation. (For 2004 at least.) There wasn't a whole lot of music, but there wasn't a time when I think it needed any when there wasn't any. Voice acting was slightly above average, portraying voices which fit the characters quite nicely.

CHARACTERS: (3.5)

Honestly I had a tough time identifying all the different characters in the class from each other. Half of them look the exact same, and their personalities couldn't be more copy paste. No student stood out to me more than any other, and there wasn't a single time when one student couldn't been in the shoes of another during the story, as they're all the exact same (Besides Shin). Yankumi is pretty cool but it's kind of hard to believe she's the leader of a famous Yakuza clan when she's so clueless and laid back sometimes. Yeah, It's part of her personality, but the way she treated the issue and the fact that she was so bad at hiding it, really didn't make me feel the importance of it at all. The quirky personalities of the staff of the school and the Ooedo clan gave some comic relief, and some lightheartedness. One character I especially like is Fuji the dog. The fact that he's a bipedal talking dog in an otherwise realistic show is the least of my concern when his prime voice acting, and red track suit are a welcome addition in almost every scene, and his inner monologues help shed some insight on the situations as well.

OVERALL: (4.9)

Gokusen doesn't excel in one area, but it's quite a charming show that had me keep clicking "next episode" despite it's many shortcomings. I wouldn't recommend it, but If you want to give it a try, it won't be a complete waste of time.