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This manga is a beautiful visual metaphor for the childhood abuse faced by Laura. She was abandoned by her mother since she was a baby and was then raised by a "wolf" who groomed and violated here.

The abuse is never shown but is instead implied with psychedelic imagery. I loved the avant garde artstyle used throughout the manga. It perfectly compliment the poetic and compteplative tone of the narration. When Laura stabbed the wolf at the end, I saw that as her overcoming abuse and finally claiming her personhood. It almost feels like a modern fairy tale in its presentation.

Released in 2005 to promote the Indy Racing League, Oval x Over remains an overlooked gem in Hiroyuki Imaishi's resume. That's mostly due to the fact this short has remained untranslated until 2019 when distributor Anime Unlimited included it in a short film compilation. It took over a decade but fans finally understand what this short was about.

The story is that a racing tournament is being heldnto determine who's the fastest in the world. A man named Arth is a longtime champion of this race and two fearsome competitors, Glavis and Bern, fervently want to rob him of this title. That's honestly all there ... is to it. Most of the enjoyment comes from the insane visual and off kilter animation. Oval x Over uses the same art direction as the then recent Dead Leaves movie which means lots of heavy shading and an underground comic-book aesthetic. I really loved Imaishi's old style since nothing he's produced afterwards has the same look to it.

This was also the last time Imaishi collaborated with Imaitoonz which is shame cause the two have a string synergy together. His advant garde style meshes perfectly with Imaishi's frantic energy. There's never a dull moment on screen with this high octane visual feast.

The latest one piece film is a visual and musical feast for fans old and new alike. The center focus is on Uta, a childhood friend from Luffy's past who is none other than Shanks' (adoptive) daughter. She uses her talented singing skills to charm the audience and usher in a new era of peace. But at what cost will she manifest her dreams?


Uta is an exemplary example of an anti villain done right. She grew up seeing how much despair pirates cause with their mayhem so she set out to make songs to soothe the hearts of their victims. She genuinely wants what is ... best for the world but goes about it in the worst way possible. I loved the dynamic she had with Luffy. It started out as a cheerful reunion between two distant friends before their clashing ideals results in conflict. Luffy embodies the idea of freedom while Uta uses forceful measures so everyone follows her version of happiness. This contrast makes the drama all the better. Seeing Uta devolve from a high spirited girl to a broken martyr was so gut wrenching to sit through. I truly feel that she's one of the best female characters in the entire franchise from just one movie alone.

The animation and music were also stunning throughout the entire movie. Uta's musical numbers were vividly animated and full of detail. Character designer Masayuki Sato elevated Oda's designs to the next level and brought them to perfection. I wish he was the main character designer for the anime, but the art has improved ever since the Wano arc began so I'm content. The animation goes full throttle during the final battle against Tot Musica where all the straw hats and Shank's crew team up, albeit indirectly. One piece has never looked so eye catching before. Buffy briefly tapping into gear 5 in the final battle was icing on the cake.

Ado absolutely killed it on this soundtrack. I've been a fan of her since discovering usseewa and she doesn't disappoint at all. Each song captures how Uta feels at the current moment in the film and sheds light on her character. My favorite songs are the victorious sounding "Backlight" and the captivating haunting " Tot Musica", which is also the name of the ultimate villain in Red. Fun fact, Tot Musica was composed by legendary composer Hiroyuki Sawano, the same guy who worked on titles like Promare and blue exorcist. He's not the only high profile name on the list either. New Genesis is composed by Yasutaka Nakata, a man who played a pivotal role in the 2000s J-pop scene. I'm hoping these ambitious musical collabs become more common in one piece soon.

Overall, One piece film Red outshines all other films in the franchise with its gripping character drama and impeccable soundtrack. You can officially watch the movie on Vudu.

Within the first few minutes, it becomes apparent that this movie has a hard time determining its audience. Fans of the manga will be peeved by the various edits done resulting in potential favorite scenes being cut out. Viewers who haven't read the manga will feel confused by the fast pacing and lack of explanations. At the end of the day, this movie is an exhilarating thrill ride from start to finish.

How much you enjoy the story is dependent on your familiarity with the manga. As a standalone piece, this movie is the tale of a brave teen who finds himself trapped in a horrific ... survival game. Manga readers may see this as a rushed and clumsy adaptation of a fan-favorite arc. It would've been much better if Gantz: O was instead a cinematic miniseries akin to Digimon Tri with more time to flesh out the plot.


The film begins with manga protagonist Kei Kurono being killed off by a huge yokai alien before the scene switches to Kato getting killed by a knife-wielding maniac in the subway. This is the most noticeable change since Kato in this continuity is unfamiliar with the Gantz game while in the manga he had experienced prior to this arc.

The characterization is a bit messy due to the compressed nature of the movie but the core personality traits are still there. Nishi is still a complete sociopath, Kato is a noble hero and the Osaka team are careless hedonists. Reika has weaker characterization than the others due to her spending a lot of time reminiscing over the dead Kurono. This is mostly Hiroya Oku's sexist writing because even in the manga, Reika's personality mainly revolved around Kurono.

The action scenes are the definitive highlight of Gantz O. Every scene is backed up by gorgeous cg animation courtesy of Keiichi Satou. The man is no stranger to cg animation and even worked on the saint Seiya legend of the sanctuary movie prior to Gantz. The character models are expressive and fluid throughout the film which makes them feel like real people. Fight scenes are depicted with all the gore and brutality of the original manga. Bodies are crushed to bloody pulps and limbs are sent flying. Battle junkies everywhere should be able to enjoy this movie.

Wanna know something that never gets old? Saving the world from a league of supervillains with the power of an Egyptian giant robot and super-powered individuals! That's the premise of the Giant Robo OVA and oh boy is the execution glorious.

This seven episode series details the inexplicably badass adventures of Daisaku and the Experts of Justice as they face off against Big Fire, a secret society bent of world domination. With all the hamminess and ludicrous fight scenes, Giant Robo often feels like a Saturday morning cartoon with Hollywood movie levels of scale. Subtlety isn't a concept here. Everything is loud and in your face, ... just the way I like it.

The ensemble cast of characters is also incredibly endearing. Daisuku is an idyllic kid hero, Ginrei is a smooth operator who knows how to get what she wants, and chief Chugo is a suave piece of sexy eye candy that's the highlight of the entire ova for me. Big fire consists of villains who have so much fun being evil you can't bring yourself to hate them. A special mention goes to Alberto with his butt shaped hairdo who is as pompous as he is cool. Even his crony knows how to kick ass and give the heroes a threat. It's hard to believe that all of these characters are taken from Mitsuteru's Yokoyama various manga series cause this is the most organic(and badass) crossover I've ever seen.

Giant Robo is a retro-futurist masterpiece that combines everything awesome about the mecha genre.

The stage is set in the 1920s of Japan. Midori is without parents and selling flowers is her only source of income. Poor and destitute, Midori readily accepts Mr. Arashi's offer to join his circus; completely unaware of the horror to come.

Shojo Tsubaki is a story thoroughly drenched in controversy. You'll hardly find a conversation that doesn't revolve around how disturbing and grotesque it is. It's not unwarranted seeing as how the bulk of the story is about Midori suffering. The girl seriously has it rough: Dead parents, dirt poor, deprived peers, added alliteration. Seriously messed up stuff. Any moment of happiness she finds is ... quickly eclipsed by another traumatic experience.

This is essentially an exploitation film in anime format. Some will argue that " Shojo Tsubaki is actually super deep and it's a reflection of the darkness of humanity!" And that's where I call bs. You could make that argument about literally every piece of torture porn under the sun. If the purpose was to expose humanity's darkness, the manga shoots itself in the foot by being so voyeuristic about everything. Suehiro Maruo's involvement with the eroguro movement provides the clearest perspective on what this manga was about. He's simply the type of man who loves to combine the macabre with heavy sexual themes.

Midori truly is one of the most pitiable manga heroines out there. She suffers abuse throughout almost every moment of her narrative and the tale ends with her completely alone in the world. It was as if the universe itself conspired to torment her. One positive to come out of this tragedy is Tokuriji Muchisate. He's a despicable rapist like the other circus freaks but his character design is just so striking. It's a simple yet effective take on mummies and the traditional Japanese military uniform.

In essence, Shojo Tsubaki is not a fun read or watch. I usually enjoy the surreal works of Suehiro Maruo but he really dialed the nihilism up to 11 with this one.

Every few years there comes a hentai that breaks the Internet and this manga is no exception. Titles like Bible Black and Euphoria disgusted many with the levels of depravity they indulged in. Metamorphosis is much tamer by comparison but it is still a tale that will leave readers shocked.

Metamorphosis feels like a tale that could happen anywhere. Saki Yoshida is an average girl who desperately wants to be loved. Her naive perception of what true love is sends her on a downward spiral of sex, drugs, and abuse. Her boyfriend Hayato only used her for her body and the money she brought in. ... Her friends slut-shame and ditch her at the drop of a hat. Even her parents end up doing the worst to her. Everyone in Saki's life exists only to drag her deeper into depravity.

ShindoL captured the hearts of readers in a way thag most hentai can't. Many simply accept the problematic misogyny of hentai to be a staple of the genre and don't think twice about it. Metamorphosis is unique in that most readers have expressed sympathy for the trauma Saki suffered and condemned all of her abusers; a far cry from the usual response hentai readers have. Metamorphosis is viewed as more than just porn and is treated with the same level of maturity as any other story.

In essence, Metamorphosis is a grim coming of age story that highlights how drugs and naivety can lead to someone's downfall. The pain Saki endured was so visceral that many argue that the manga is torture porn and it's hard to refute that. If you're in the mood for a manga that takes a bitter look at the darkness of humanity, this is for you.

This is a manga I found increasingly hard to write a review for the more I thought about it. The initial few chapters and overall quality of the story is indeed above average, this manga includes a scene that has completely soured my enjoyment of the series and all potential readers should be warned before reading this: The protagonist hires a group of men to rape her bully. More of that will be discussed later in the review.

Kanae has it rough. The harsh treatment she receives from her "friends" reminds her of her severe bullying history and Kanae's mother talks down to her like garbage ... for not being an exemplary student. Even her brother hates her because he feels that his mom forces him to study extensively to make up for Kanae's mediocrity.

The only light of hope in her life comes in the form of Hiroshi, a cute baseball player she develops a crush on after meeting him at a mixer. This crush on him turns into a domino effect of drama and degradation

This manga is in many ways a spiritual successor to Metamorphasis by ShindoL. Both featured troubled socially awkward girls plagued by abuse and bullying. The problem is that Kanae becomes less sympathetic as the story progresses. The first chapter already establishes her being a teen prostitute and get angry at Hiroshi when he becomes concerned for her. It's implied she chose this lifestyle on her own rather than getting roped into the profession like Saki from Metamorphasis.

The manga keeps showing vignettes of how bad Kanae's life is, but readers are never given the full details. We aren't shown enough of her backstory to understand why she is the way she is. We know that her current friends are fake as hell and her family hates her, but it feels like more bark than bite.

Seeing the mental breakdowns of the characters as they confront their own trauma is certainly a highlight. Even Ichika, the previously mentioned bully, gets her sympathy points. Speaking of which, let's talk about her and the downfall of the manga.

Ichika got into a messy love triangle with Kanae because she also had a crush on Hiroshi. Ichika bullied Kanae into backing off from Hiroshi and that infuriated Kanae. She used her connections to get a group of men to abduct and rape Ichika while Kanae watched the whole thing with sadistic joy. That scene was godawful. Ichika may have been a horrible person, but nobody deserves to be raped. Kanae becomes much more morally repulsive than her own bully. Because of that one scene, I can't give this manga a high review.

This OVA is certainly the black sheep of Devilman anime. It follows a drastically different route from the previous ova's and the original manga, leading fans of both to feel confused. Even the Amon manga it's based on does very little to explain the dramatic situation.

The apocalypse of devilman can be best described as a character study of Akira Fudo following the apocalypse caused by Satan. People are wreaking havoc in the streets of Japan and killing those they consider to be demons. Miki and her brother fall victim to these cruel attacks and Akira's faith in humanity has been shattered.

He's no longer the ... hot-blooded and compassionate hero fans know him as. Akira has grown jaded to the world that betrayed him. To make matters worse, Amon, the demon that gave him strength, is regaining dominance.

Amon serves as the embodiment of depravity and represents the darkness of Akira. Amon is what Akira would be if he lost everything that made him human.

This ova doesn't work too well at telling a story but it is a good character analysis for Akira at his lowest.

As expected from Oshimi Shuuzo, Kusakabe-san offers a look inside the dysfunctional relationship between a disturbed man and woman.

Our introduction to Kusakuba is a strong one; laid out in front of the nameless protagonist's apartment with proclaiming she had just been raped with a carefree grin on her face. This is probably one of the more subtle bouts of insanity displayed in an Oshimi manga. The two waste no time in starting a sexual relationship before they actually begin dating. It's also implied Kusakabe has an eating disorder due to her alternating between not eating and then binging followed by purging.

Kusakabe is a complete enigma. ... We don't know why she does what she does or what her backstory is. It's probably better than way. There's no reason to explain her insanity because her worldview only makes sense to her. The protagonist isn't much better as he feels worthless without her and doesn't besides yell when Kusakabe brags about how many men fucked/raped her and how it was better than the sex they had. These two are hot messes who probably only have each other to confide in.

The short length of this one-shot is its biggest hindrance as there isn't much room for character development to make the pairing feel alive. We only know the bare bones of who they are and can only speculate what in life led to where they are. If nothing else, this manga shows that even two losers in life can find true love.