Back to JackCox's Profile JackCox's Profile

The Boy and the Heron finally came to North America. I had the chance to watch this at it's second screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was introduced by Guillermo Del Toro.

The Boy and the Heron feels like Miyazaki saying goodbye even if the Ghibli studio head says otherwise. But it's first and foremost a treatise on mortality. This is a film in theme and scope that is dealing with how Miyazaki himself hopes the world to be left.

The Boy and the Heron also feels like the most personal and the darkest film in Miyazaki's filmography. The film begins with the sound of ... an air raid siren and a boy searches for his mother amidst the wreckage. Indeed there are scenes that shocked me and surprised me. I know Miyazaki has made darker material before but this one really felt like it was going places Miyazaki never had ventured before. It makes me glad to know that in his old age he's grown a bit bolder with what he shows the audience probably reflecting that many who grew up watching him are now of the age of reason and can handle more mature content.

The film definitely feels heavily influenced by Dante Aligheri's the Divine Comedy and indeed in part of the trailer we see such a line inscribed on the stone archway that allows Mahito to enter the tower. It has been pointed out to me that indeed Spirited Away is kind of similar to Dante's Inferno and I wouldn't disagree but I do feel that this book has heavily influenced Miyazaki.

I don't want to get too in depth with the plot because I believe this is a film all of you should experience with knowing as little as possible when you all see it in December. Although the film at times can be a bit messy and confusing, at my age I have learned to embrace the chaos and knowing that sometimes we won't have all the answers. Whether this remains Miyazaki's final film or not is still a mystery but rest assured the director is still at the top of his game.

I had heard so much hype for Kill La Kill, and to admit when I watched the first couple of episodes I thought to myself, why do people like this series? It seems kind of repetitive, of course you soon realize that Kill la Kill doesn't lay out everything in the first couple of episodes. It is a show that has a wild sense of humor along with some really dark material. It is also one of the very few shows I've seen to use fan service cleverly and integrate it into the plot.

In this show fan service means more than things to be put ... into the show to arouse the audience, it actually is a weapon. The characters are completely fleshed out, they are for the most part with maybe the exception of Mako generally well written, but the best written character is without question Satsuki Kiryuin, who is probably one of the greatest female anime characters I've seen, without giving much away her story arc and growth is absolutely incredible.

As can be expected from the same team behind Gurren Lagann (albeit under a different name) the animation is absolutely incredible and it's clear that Trigger put their heart and soul into this.

As for the Voice over performances I watched this one dubbed, I don't think I heard a single voice that sounded out of place, it's one of the best dubs I've watched. The voice actors manage to keep up to the frenetic energy level of the show.

Kill La Kill is maybe the best anime that has aired in the 2010s or so with only Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Psycho Pass and Mushi-shi The Next Passage, to even come close to it. Highly Highly Recommended.

I don't think my opinion on Mushishi is going to change at all, after many years, I was beyond thrilled to have the chance to dive back into this show. Quite simply this show is just beautifully animated, written and acted.

STORY: (10/10) This is an episodic series and is pretty much in the same format as the previous season. I'm a lot older and wiser then I was when I first saw Mushishi I think around 2007, most of the stories of Mushishi I believe are more metaphors about people dealing with their own lives, take for example the third episode known as ... Beneath the Snow it's about a boy who is insensitive to cold and warmth is painful for him, I see this as a metaphor for people who are closed off from humanity or are depressed. Most of these stories are all revolving around philosophy and Mushishi: The Next Chapter brilliantly incorporates the philosophy into it's stories.

ART: (10/10) Mushishi and it's sequel are in a very elite group when it comes to the quality of it's art-work, quite simply it's absolutely beautiful and stunning, the episodes change locals and change the color schemes. The lighting effects are a feast for the eyes, the only knock as has been pointed out has been at times most of the characters look exactly the same, I think it's been somewhat eliminated this time around.

CHARACTER: (10/10) There is only one character in the Mushishi universe that is in every episode and that is Ginko, the Mushishi. I think Ginko is a very interesting main character, he's kind of more of an observer, the brilliance is that each episode introduces new characters and you get so invested in these characters story that you over the course of only 20 minutes emotionally connect with them. it's truly remarkable and I cannot think any other show that manages to introduce characters so quickly, make you connect with them emotionally and put closure to their story in such a short amount of time.

SOUND: (10/10) Toshio Masuda returns to score the 2nd season of this show, he also is known for scoring Naruto, and despite the knocks that show has gotten, Naruto always had terrific music. Here again Masuda incorporates a very nature-like and earthly score. Most of it relies on traditional japanese instruments. Masuda's score is so beautiful and relaxing I could even recommend it to people who are having trouble sleeping. I should also mention the 2nd season's theme song by Lucy Rose entitled Shiver", I think this song is even better then the first season, it plays over gorgeous live action visuals, she has an beautiful voice and the song fits in very well with the mood of the show.

ENJOYMENT: (10/10) In an anime world like today, there comes a time where every season you get maybe one or two truly amazing shows. Very, very rarely do shows come around that are masterpieces. This is one of them, it has things in it that many people can relate to and has universal themes. The characters feel real they don't feel like tropes or stereotypes, they are all real people.

OVERALL: (10/10) The previous season is in my opinion the greatest anime ever made, this show is pretty much a continuation on that, I had the pleasure seven years ago watching the english language premiere of the first season at Anime Expo, it was an amazing experience and I had the pleasure of meeting the director this anime Hiroshi Nagahama, he was an absolute gentlemen and it's clear he absolutely cared about making this masterpiece.

HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Hellsing Ultimate is maybe one of the best adaptations of any Manga into an anime right up there with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Monster. Obviously this is the part where I'm going to make my case. This series took forever to finish spanning almost six years and three animation studios, Satelight animated Episodes 1-4, Madhouse 5-7 and Graphinica 8-10.

I want to state clearly I'm not an expert on the drawing of Animation, but at least to my eye it's definitely well animated except for some of the CGI used on episode 8, but it's such a minor complaint for me.

What does it for me is ... the story of this show, they made Hellsing pretty much the continuation of Bram Stoker's Dracula and for whatever reason this is one of those few times a pseudo-sequel to a book, works. The other thing is that this show develops it's characters perfectly and the twists are not out of left field and actually make sense, so in a way I would not consider this a predictable show, even though some people would consider Alucard invincible. This is exactly why you never give up on a show with a serial-style plot, it's meant to be drawn out long for a reason, should you finish this show in it's entirety you will be rewarded handsomely with great character development.

The other reason I love this show is because of the Characters, the Major is one of the best anime villains, there is no convoluted reason behind his motivations in this, he is a mad man and what I would consider a child playing toys, he simply loves war for the sheer enjoyment of it, the speech in episode 4 is one of the greatest pieces of exposition and introduction to the character and it's one of the best scenes in anime history, I'd love to talk spoilers about this but I think you see in the final episode a man that is a lot more complicated than people think and not entirely "inhuman." Alucard as well is the other reason to love this show. His personality at the beginning has a very blackish humor about it but it quickly changes when he returns in episode 8, you realize him to be really sad about who he is and where he is in life. Alexander Anderson also goes through significant character growth the character at the drop of a hat is almost insane and nuts, then he starts to shift to being at one point the most reasonable character in this show for a little while. I still haven't even scraped the surface of the rest of the characters, but to me those are the three characters I enjoyed the most in this series. Not to mention Walter who is absolutely badass but something happens later that comes completely out of nowhere and in a way is somewhat sad.

The voice acting for this production is great in both languages, there is not a weak voice in the entire cast of either language. I wish I could comment about the English dub for 9 and 10 but they will not be released until October, I'm looking forward to seeing how Ralph Lister handles the version of Walter that appears in these final two episodes, as well as how Gildart Jackson handles an amazing speech that the Major gives in the final episode. Jackson in particular handles the Major's speech in episode 4 brilliantly. Everytime the Major is on screen you can't help but smile as he delivers his crazed rantings. Steven Brand does a great job playing the gentle side and the insane side of Anderson and it's completely convincing that there is a man with a heart of gold deep down below, despite being a classic jekyll and hyde character. There are a couple episodic characters worth mentionting as well episode 2 features a great performance of Josh Phillips as Jan Valentine, who is one of the most crazy and messed up characters in the show, episode 4 features Kari Wahlgren as Rip Van Winkle who has obsession with Wagnerian Opera and has a magic bullet that flies around all over the place. I could go on and on about the voice acting and how great it is but you really just need to see and hear it for yourself. ADR Director Taliesin Jaffe's commentaries on disc are absolutely worth listening to, you will learn so much about the symbolism of this show and how it's a much deeper show then it appears to be. Jaffe went so far as to obtain a Rosacrucian Codex to decipher certain things that appear in the show, like what Alucard's glove symbol means.

I loved this show, I will caution it's incredibly gory, if you don't like gore stay away because there is buckets of blood, this is definitely an 18+ show because of the gore, there's little in sex or nudity but if you are squeamish stay away. Other than that this show is absolutely awesome and I recommend it to anyone.

Never in my life did I think they could make a serious story out of Lupin the III, and then this came along.

If you are expecting the classic Lupin the III series with the same formulaic plot, then to quote Fujiko herself, Cease what you are doing and gaze at me, save for the throwing of your heart. Right away the opening should give you the first clue you are about to enter a very adult story, one charged with sexual energy.

It's very interesting to see the changes that have been made to some of the characters, so I'll get into it:

The biggest change I ... noticed was Zenigata, he's not an idiot in this show, he's actually portrayed quite the opposite, a very tough as nails cop determined to seek justice and not a bumbling moron.

Jigen and Goemon are pretty much the same as the were from the previous incarnations, they are the least changed. Lupin is still his same playful kind of self, but he has a much more serious side in this one as well, this is probably the closest representation to Monkey Punch's Gentleman Thief as there has been on screen.

Of course this show is really about Fujiko Mine and about who she is. Fujiko is one of the sexiest if not the sexiest female anime character ever dreamt up, but what makes her sexy is not just her looks, its the fact that she knows what she wants and she gets it, she is sexual there is no doubt about it, but she's an empowered woman, she doesn't care what others think, she only cares about using whatever means to get what she wants, kind of Machiavellian in a way.

The Animation is simply beautiful, it's got a very comic book like style to it. Takeshi Koike had a big hand in this and so if you are familiar with Redline, you will almost certainly appreciate the look of this series. There are some scenes in later episodes that devolve into surrealism, these scenes while quite disturbing are just amazing to look at.

As for the music, this is an absolute highlight of the series, the soundtrack ranges from upbeat jazz and funk to a beautiful reworking of Bach's Invention of a Minor, and even opera. The soundtrack to this is one of my favorites.

You cannot go wrong with this series, it's one of my favorite series ever made and deserves all the acclaim it's gotten. The only mistake in the entire series may be Episode 7, it is the one episode that seems completely out of place and does not fit with the rest of the series. I'd say almost every episode in this series advances the plot, this one does not. It's a real shame, but it's the truth. Except for that one misstep, this show is pretty much one of the best.

I come into King of Thorn not having read the manga and had primarily been intrigued because of the animation studio behind the production.

King of Thorn is one of the rare movies that manages to pace itself very well, neither boring the audience or giving them too much of adrenaline rush. It's a film that unravels it's mysteries bit by bit without giving it all away.

Story: This is an unabashed survival horror title, it's got the genre's tropes down to a fine art, a facility over-run with thorns and weird creatures that attack survivors. But what's really great about the story of this movie is ... that they keep unraveling mysteries as time goes on, the revealing of these mysteries are done perfectly and they mix these well with the action sequences so that your not sitting around listening to someone explain everything and boring you to death. The only real problem with the story is that near the end it becomes incredibly confusing and you have no idea what is real and what is not.

Art: I want to make it clear the reason this gets a low grade is not because of the absolutely beautiful 2D animation and backgrounds, it gets it because of some really really shitty 3D Animation, There is no reason to have the human beings become 3D out of nowhere and then suddenly shift to 2D, it looks jarring and out of place. This is what really brings down the movie in my opinion, if they kept it to completely 2D, this would probably be a near masterpiece, instead it really harms the movie.

Sound: I watched this on English Dub, there are accents for all the characters except for Kasumi, Shizuka, Peter and Ron. The accents are perfect and are not out of place or take away from the story. Though at times I felt R Bruce Elliott's Italian accent slipped a little into Russian, however that's not as much of a big concern if you've watched the movie. The music on the other hand for this title is incredible, anytime a title makes you want to look up who did the scoring for it, you know you have good music. Toshihiko Sahashi did an incredible job with this soundtrack and payed great attention to detail with it, he included a little scottish flair paying homage to the locale of the Story.

Character: I really love the Characters in this story, when you have a film that makes you care about the characters and what happens to them, You generally want to see these characters survive the hell they have found themselves in. I really would like to go in depth on this but I'm not very eloquent when it comes to talking about other people. I think what I really like about this film is the character development regarding Marco, when you first see him you honestly think this man is an complete asshole but over time you really start to learn he is a flesh and blood human being like the rest of us and that he too carries around wounds of the heart.

Enjoyment: I absolutely loved this movie, I think I could definitely watch it again, if the animation could have just been fixed as well the ending just a tiny bit this may be one of the best Anime Films to have ever been made, I know I won't forget this movie.

Overall: King of Thorn has it's flaws, but it has some of the most beautiful 2D Animation and Music you will experience in your life.

This was a title when it originally came out, I had zero interest in watching, I figured it would be another one of those pervy shows that was just an excuse for the Otaku Crowd to get their rocks off on.

Well first of all, I owe an apology, because after watching it this show clearly is not that, in fact this is maybe the most frank Anime I've seen about teenage sexuality. At times it can be immature but hey are most teenagers not immature? Watching this series there are times where I totally can relate to Kosuda and to a lesser degree Yamada. I ... bet there are many Guys who totally have wanted to just bang lots of women but then they get cold feet when they actually try to go about it. It's interesting seeing a Perverted Female Character for the first time, it's an interesting twist.

Now I should get to the grades.

Story (In Sexual Terms):

The Foreplay (The first 11 episodes) was really hot, I thought it was really leading somewhere and then when it came time to move on to the main act let's just say I was not really satisfied with it. I mean they managed to tease and hit the right spots a few times but then at other times I feel they just could not get me off completely.

Translation: You actually are interested in seeing what these characters are up to but in the End, you feel it's kind of absolutely lead to nowhere and nothing has been resolved.

Art:

The designs are kind of bland, Granted I'm not expecting a Sex Comedy to have high quality animation, but at times you just wish they could have added a little more effort.

Sound:

I watched this in English, I have to say I was pretty pleased with the vocal performances of Brittney Karbowski and Scott Freeman, It never once felt like they were acting and I got completely into what their characters were doing. Cherami Leigh also deserves a shout out for her convincing voice of reason portrayal.

Characters:

It's all about the characters, I personally loved Yamada and Kosuda and liked seeing what was going to happen to them, when a series makes you care about the characters on screen you know it's done something right.

Enjoyment:

I think I was satisfied right up until the end where I was kind of let down.

Overall:

A great experience, This is what all ecchi shows should aspire to be, except with maybe a slightly better story.

Fafner is an anime rife with symbolism, it is a mecha anime somewhat in the vain of Neon Genesis Evangelion. In fact most of this anime reminded me of Evangelion, down to the music and most of the mood of this show, except the one thing that separates it from Evangelion is the fact that it manages to stay optimistic throughout most of the series.

Story:

It takes a couple episodes to get off the ground but I think Episode 6 is when the series really changes things up, you will see a lot of characters perish throughout the course of this series, but in this episode ... there is an emotional shock that really changes the tone of the series and from there you start to realize what kind of a world this place is. In fact what is most interesting is that for many of the battles the pilots are almost helpless against the Festum and they only barely manage to escape with their lives.

Art:

The Animation for this show for it's time is great, now granted it is only 5 years old, it's pretty standard animation, The Battle Scenes are the biggest key in this series and for the most part they succeed.

Sound:

The Music in this series is it's biggest strength, Tsuneyoshi Saito and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra do a beautiful job on the music, of note is the main battle theme "Opening of Nightmare's Gate" which really gets you into the moment the second it starts. As for the Opening and Closing, they are handled by the great Japanese Pop Duo of angela, atsuko (the lead singer) does a phenomenal job on the vocals for both the opening and closing, the closing theme song of this show not to mention the ending animation that accompanies it are among the highlights. I cannot say enough good things about the music for this series, it is definitely within the Top 10 of anime television series scores.

Character:

Tow Ubukata who wrote this series and has written Heroic Age, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Mardock Scramble always manages to make his characters written very realistically, he tries his hardest to ensure that the characters are not predictable and frankly there are not many stereotypical anime characters in this show. But I think Ubukata's greatest character writing comes in the creation of the enemy force known as the Festum, Ubukata manages to give you bits and pieces of information about what the Festum are really about, you eventually come to see that the Festum are not exactly evil in nature but basically are shaped by another reason entirely, one that I cannot give away for risk of spoiling it.

Enjoyment:

This is not a series that is enjoyable per-say, like I enjoy the story-line and learning about the characters through-each episodes but in some ways, this series is bitter-sweet, it's not a happy and not a sad series, you feel somewhat unsatisfied after the ending of it, as of this writing, I have not seen the Fafner Movie but i will probably get around to it and the maybe my feeling of the overall Franchise will change.

Overall:

Fafner is in someways a different kind of a Mecha series, but it does fall within the range of what I call an Emotional Mecha series, it has melodrama, ethical questions and an enemy that does not understand humanity.

A man who cannot remember his own past, he has the face of a panther. Two Twins who were whisked away from their homeland now struggle on their own in real danger, this is the story of Guin Saga.

Story: The Story of Guin Saga is very well-written, the characters grow and change as the story moves along, especially seen in Remus more than any other character, I think where I have to dock it marks is the fact that the story had a bit of a inconclusive ending specifically near the last five minutes of the final episode, I think there was something with ... Remus that specifically stuck out as a sore thumb and didn't conclude it for me perfectly. Granted, there are 130 Novels written by Ms. Kurimoto before she passed on, but this one only adapted around 13. But for the story in the anime it was well paced and planned out.

Art: The Artwork in this anime is beautiful, especially the ending credit sequence, it reminds me of Gustav Klimt's the Kiss and I think it was specifically based on that piece of art work. Now I'm not an art critic and generally I'm judging based on how the animation looks, It's very hard for me to pick out inconsistencies in certain episodes unless it's glaringly obvious. So there are really no animation issues.

Sound: First of all, coming into this anime, the one selling point was the fact that this was the first anime series whose music was composed by Nobuo Uematsu, I don't think I even need to talk about who this man is if you've played any of the Final Fantasy Games. The Music is Perfect, the opening theme is one of the best composed themes I've heard in anime. I prefer to watch my anime in English. Usually the quality of the English Dubs has gotten better as it goes on, this is one of the few instances where there have been major quality issues with this dub, There is a scene with two characters Flori and Amnelis that is supposed to be very serious and sad but the emoting in this scene is just really bad, I honestly blame the director for not doing his job right. The other thing that was bad was the song Malius sings in I think Episode 15 or 16, The Japanese version was perfect but the audio must have been out of whack because the voice actor could not hit the high notes and I had no idea what lyrics he was using, it was incredibly awkward and left a foul taste in my mouth. The other problem with this dub is that many characters had their voices changed after the first set (Scaal, Loluka and many more) I have no idea why this happened but this is a reason this dub is a major mess. The one thing that shocks me is that the ADR Director of this anime (Steven Foster) has done some fantastic dubs like Mardock Scramble and Le Chevalier d'Eon), but this whole dub is a disaster it's like he didn't even try to direct his actors.

Character: The Characters in this show are very complex, they aren't 1 dimensional, they tend to be well rounded and display a variety of emotions, Istavan is brash but loyal. Guin is a voice of wisdom and somewhat of a fatherly figure to Remus and Rinda. Remus starts off as weak but he grows into a strong young adult by the end of the series. Rinda, grows stronger as well. We even see a character like Amnelis who seems to have it all but ends up... well you'll just have to wait and see.

Overall, Guin Saga is an anime for those who like to see well-rounded characters, some fantastic music, beautiful artwork and strong story, the dub needed a lot of work though but if you can look past that flaw or even prefer to watch it Japanese you will enjoy this!

Dear Kyoto Animation,

I watched the first season of the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, why did you not make this movie sooner rather than later? This is without a doubt the best of the three incarnations of it, I admit I stayed away from the second season of this series specifically because of the endless 8 and felt I didn't want to waste my time or money on nearly 8 out of 14 episodes of the same thing. Then this movie comes along, I don't get it. The movie's plot, artistry, music, everything is fantastic. There is not one bad moment in this movie despite the ... fact it is lengthy, Hats off to both Tomokazu Sugita and Crispin Freeman for what seemed like it must have been hours of recording sessions for Kyon. Both dominated this movie. So what changes my mind about this? The fact that this movie is self-aware, a lot of people really didn't like Haruhi the character, Kyon was generally supposed to represent the viewer in all of these various series/movies, this is one of the few times that shows in my estimation what the reaction would be if Haruhi suddenly was to go away. I wish I could write spoilers on here but I cannot, I think a lot of this movie really generally is about living your life as it is and while your friends can sometimes be stupid or can be a little unpleasant about things as long as you have fun with them, you'll have a good life.