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When I think of 20th century boys, I'm always reminded of a quote, my dad told me when I was learning about Freud at school. “Give me the child of seven and I'll give you the man.” This is of course left naturally up to debate and Freud has very little to do with this manga series (I'm not all too fond of him, but that's another story.) The reason why I mention this, is how much does your childhood affect your later life and 20th century boys explores this idea (and others) in a surreal way.

We are introduced to a group of boys ... and one girl living in the early 1970s in a part of Tokyo, who are basically the 2nd post-war generation. Everything is changing, this is the height of the hippie period and science is growing in dynamic proportions. This group of children are growing among this and are influence by these two factors. There are three events referred to repeatedly throughout the series to mark this, Woodstock festival, the 1970 expo in Osaka and of course, the landing on the moon. But somehow nothing really major changes in lives of this group, when these events happen. Homework still has to be handed in and you still have to run from the evil (-iest) twins in the world. One of the first scenes in the manga shows this quite nicely, rock and roll is played in the school for the first time and nothing happens, school continues, not even a teacher complains.

Now adults stuck in their day-to-day lives, where saving the world from evil and playing a sell-out show in Kabuki is long forgotten, mysterious deaths, a deadly unknown virus and the upcoming “Friendship Party” all seem to be linked by a symbol the group created back in their childhood days. The group are now wrapped up to prevent the events they came up as children.

Of course with 22 volumes and another final two to conclude the story, there is much more to this story and plenty of plot twists to keep you on the edge of your seat. And this is also partly its own downfall. When I finished this manga, there were questions that I felt needed to be answered and never were, simply because Urasawa wanted to keep this story interesting by adding more twists while still unsure how to conclude this story and tie up the loose ends.

The art is similar to the art of Western graphic novels rather than typical manga. It is a nice break to the typical moe which is in fashion at the moment in anime and manga. It is quite clean and nicely done, because each character is distinguishable between another through notable facial traits, which doesn't look over done, a good example is Keroyon who has features similar to a frog. The aging of the characters is also nicely done and plausible. The panels flow nicely and even when there's a time switch in the middle of a page, it still looks natural.

This is another good point to make, although I'm not quite as well versed in mangas as in anime, I noticed manga artists tend to refrain from doing time switches in one chapter in fear that it might confuse the readers, but Urasawa does this well.

The group develop throughout the years of the series each showing their individual trials and tribulations of trying to stop “Tomodachi”. They all get to shine and no-one is less important than another, every one is needed to fight against “Tomodachi”. The “bad guys” are fully fleshed out, except for maybe one or two, where it would have been nice to have had a chapter dedicated to them as well.

Apparently a trait of Urasawa, although I haven't read any of his others works is how no character is forgotten, each of them have a purpose. This is definitely one of its strong points, every character has a point and more than likely will turn up later on in the series way to further the plot. Utter genius.

20th century boys is definitely a page turner, if it was possibly I would have read all of this in one day. I didn't know what to expect when I picked this up, so I was certainly more than pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed the series and it was difficult once I picked it up to put it back down again. You were always left on a cliffhanger at the end of each chapter and volume. It was sometimes difficult to catch a breath since the plot never slowed down. There were a couple of things that could have been improved and in my opinion the real ending for me was the two volumes of 21st century boys rather than 20th century boys, since the ending was blunt and rather unclear. But otherwise a manga I would recommend to nearly everyone, especially if you're looking for something to get really stuck into.

3x3 eyes is originally a supernatural manga series of the same name, which spans over 40 volumes, but this OVA made in 1991 gives us a taster of the manga by covering the first two volumes. And they do this quite well, firstly by not falling into the trap of trying to give us a conclusion and neither does it rely on previous knowledge of the manga, which many short running OVAs of long running mangas do. It does exactly what it should do, introduce newcomers to the world of 3x3 eyes and let fans already of the series get an idea of what an ... anime adaption of the whole series would possibly (and hopefully) look like.

3x3 eyes is about Yakumo, a sixteen year old student, who is working in a gay bar, as a cross-dresser in order to make ends meet. He meets Pai, an immortal, who has been sent by his estranged and now dead father from Tibet to help her become human. To really make sure he follows through with this, Yakumo is turned immortal himself and the only way to turn back is by helping Pai. This is the first episode and the basic premises of the plot has been set, you are already pulled into the supernatural world of monsters, immortals and magic with Yakumo. Usually something like this would come off a bit unnatural due to the fast pace of the story and all the elements being introduced so quickly, but somehow it works, especially when you watch all the OVA. The four episodes gives you a good idea of what type of story of 3x3 eyes is and also leaves you on a bit of a cliffhanger at the end just to leave those who haven't read the series to want more.

I thought what was quite well done is after their little adventure in the first episode was how Yakumo still found the whole thing quite unsettling, since he couldn't just get up and leave his whole way life like that. It is realistic for anyone in his position, as it isn't the easiest thing to go off and leave your friends and your whole way of life to go off on an adventure with someone to become human. Most series of this kind have the protagonists suffer this kind of dilemma, but they related it very well to a major point of the series: what's so great about being mortal, or better said what's so great about being human? They tie this in quite nicely.

The art is quite nice and has certainly stood against time and each character is realistic looking, Yakumo actually looks like a Japanese boy. How many times do you get a Japanese boy actually looking like, well, a Japanese boy in anime? Yakumo's eyes is a good example of this, they are mostly closed since they are supposed to be slit eyes, you know the eyes Japanese actually do have. The animators uses the art also to show the split personalities Pai has, by making her have more gentle features to represent her cheerful and child-like personality. The second personality is not only distinguished by the opening of her 3rd eye, but also alter her whole face expression to represent her arrogant and cold personality.

I'll give a special mention to the background of Hong Kong, I loved it! The grittiness of the markets in the final episode is tastefully done.

There is very little to say about the sound, nothing too out of order. A bit dated, but typical of its time, 90s background music with synths thrown in for good measure. It suits the mood of the anime, as it's quite dark, especially the main theme.

Our two protagonists are both interesting characters, who don't fall into the trap of cliché anime characters. Yakumo is a good-hearted sixteen-year-old, who means well. It was nice to find an anime character, who I thought I could actually be friends with. He is just very likable. (Seriously people, most of characters in anime do you think you could actually handle them for more than 10 minutes in real life?) Pretty much by the end of the series, most of his body has been broken in some kind of way, good thing he's immortal, isn't it? So you'd want to like him.

Now, Pai really is up there with one of the most original characters in anime, a schizophrenic girl: one personality is sweet and innocent, the other is stoic and ruthless. Both have their merits and neither of them irritate you, even the colder persona grows on you, unlike another schizophrenic in another series I could mention! Her multi-personality is also reference to the Hindu deity of Parvati, since firstly that's the name of her second personality, who was known to have several personalities. This was another favourable aspect of the series since they used some culture background to help create characters and certain plot devices, but neither wholly relied on it that you suddenly needed to start picking up textbooks or wikipedia -(ing) on the Hindu religion.

The other characters each proved their worth and were all likable. I had a little soft spot for Lee Ling Ling, deputy editor for an occult magazine, but doesn't believe in the occult and just uses it as a vice to make money. And she can really kick ass!

So why did I give it 8 instead of something higher, well, the problem was 3x3 eyes isn't my cup of tea. So why all these positives you may ask? It did everything well and everything I've stated here is the truth, but you see it still does not make me want to go off and read the manga. 3X3 eyes is quite a classic and is something every enthusiast of anime and manga should read or watch at some point, as it's the first to use this storyline and do it better than most. I did want to know some more at the end of the series, since the audience is left on a cliffhanger and I'll definitely go and watch the second set of OVA, but I'll spare myself the manga. This is simply something to do with my taste of anime and manga rather than with the series. I would recommend a watch (it's only 4 episodes long) and see how you fair this!

The 3x3 eyes OVA gives us a good idea about what to expect from the manga and the producers use the 4 episodes to introduce the series quite well without trying to outdo itself. It does what it set out to do and you couldn't ask for anymore than that!

Sadly when I received this series, the information about Japanese Culture which was supposed to be included was not there. This was important in order to receive a fuller understanding of the stories. I tried desperately to get hold of a .pdf file of the information, but sadly I couldn't find it. Although many of the images and symbols probably got lost in the series due to my Westernised mind, despite this I decided it could be a good way for me to interpret it from my standpoint. The stories in itself did not get lost to me and certainly didn't hinder my enjoyment. So ... don't be reluctant to watch this series if like me your knowledge in Japanese Culture is lacking.

Japanese Horror is well-known to most of popular culture through the Hollywood re-makes such as “The Ring” and “Ju-On”. Ayakashi offers something different to the horror genre by giving us three “classic” tales, by incorporating many symbols and traits of Classic Japanese Tales such as Gods, Demons and the all too famous “Yuurei”. Each story offers a different type of story in the horror genre, which gives you a good taster especially since the whole series is only eleven episodes long.

The first of the three is the well-known legend of Yotsuya Kaidan and arguable the most famous Japanese ghost story, which is told with an active narrator (who is the originally the person who penned this story). It has the ingredients for a good horror story: revenge, love, betrayal, murder, and curses. It also has a MacBeth-ian curse.
The art style fitted the mood of the story of revenge, but also the ukiyo-e style suited the story as it had been quite famous in kabuki theater at the time it was written. The art alone also lets you know what sort of story it is.
There are three things that makes this story stand out: Each character proves his or her own worth to the story, no character is left out or forgotten. They are needed in order for the story to be completed. This is a sign of a good story and partially the reason why Yotsuya Kaidan has become such a classic. The second thing, is the excellent use of imagery throughout the story, although I stated this above that I lacked the knowledge of Japanese Culture to appreciate parts of the story to understand it fully, the imagery I did understand certainly made this story stand out. The third thing which ties into the second is the artful way of telling the story. It was the major reason why I liked this story so much. The way the narrator discussed the idea of horror stories and the way the audience perceived it, the responsibility the author and the audience had towards a story. A theme that always gets discussed again and again is how much you are subconsciously and unconsciously controlled by a story as a writer. It reminded me of one of my favourite quotes by John Fowles, “It is only when our characters and events begin to disobey us that they begin to live.” The last two factors is what made this re-telling so good, especially since this story has been filmed, put on theatre x-times and now for the first time as an anime. One needs to pull in the audience through other means than just a good plot, in order it to appeal with a classic story. These two components of an active narrator and putting imagery to good use is why I enjoyed this re-telling of Yotsuya Kaidan story so much.

The second story is based upon a play from Kyooka Izumi called “Goddess of the Dark Tower”. This centres around the forbidden love between a goddess and a human.
This anime represented many of the traits of Kyooka's work such as the supernatural, his narrative style which was similar to traditional rakugo, this can be seen through the two friendly demons and their commentary on what happens in the story, especially at the end of the story. Dramatic dialogues, which were used in kabuki drama is another element of Kyooka's writing, you'll notice this throughout the story. The most striking of all the concepts used in his stories, which is a driving force of the story is that of a beautiful older woman (the goddess) taking care of a young man (the falconer) or that is how I interpreted it. His plays are quite famous in Japan and are still performed now, so this may come to be lost to many Westerners since many of his plays have sadly remained untranslated.
This attempt to put one of Kyooka's into anime form was left much to be desired due to one downfall, but a crucial one and that was the timing. His plays are well-known for their complex plot and suspense. It's difficult to build up a complex plot in three episodes and at the same time build-up suspense. The suspense was not completely lost, but certainly much of it lost, as it was lost by fitting it into such a small time constraint. This time constraint became the reason for many of its failings, this is illustrated especially through the characters. I questioned the logic behind the characters' decisions and plot holes,[spoiler] for example how the falconers' girlfriend is able to enter the castle without any of the goddesses noticing, especially since no-one comes back alive and this statement is made pretty clear about the castle. [end of spoiler] The character development also became lost otherwise it might have explained the lack of logic behind characters' decisions. It made the characters forgettable, especially with such a large cast. If it had the full eleven episodes, it might have turned into something worthy instead of something that felt full of gaps.
The art certainly made up for the rest, as it had a more optimistic feel compared to the first story. As all in all, it has an optimistic ending or better said it ends on a positive note. Not only that, but the art changes in each part of the story to suit the world it is in. The world of goddesses, the world of humans and the “in-between”. The goddesses with their gorgeous kimonos and the enchanting castle that they live in, the whole place is like a fairy tale from afar, but once you become seduced by all that beauty, it's too late. It's illusion. The art used in the world of humans is clearer and defined with more use of primary colours. No tricks, it gives a sense of what you see is what you get. The “in-between” world is different with everything undefined, as the lines are fainter and the colours blend into together.
Sadly this story had been failed due to one component, because of this many viewers would question not only the things I did, but also why is such a story in this collection, although if it had been done under more desirable conditions it would be a horror story, but it comes off more like a fantasy genre fairy tale. The goddesses need for cannibalism appears to be excuse from the directors to call it a horror story and to place it in this collection.

Ah, the last arc, the reason why so many people possibly have picked up this anime. Reviewers and people who recommend this series tell others if the other two stories are not to your taste, skip them and watch the last arc: “It's definitely worth it!” Well, everyone, it certainly lives up to its hype, despite the fact that I had the gg version which apparently made a major translation mistake and would confuse viewers. (What this mistake is I have yet to find out.) I will definitely give it merit for being the best of the three.
The story is based on the famous “bake neko” or goblin cat from Japanese folklore and is an original story from the writers of this anime. The opening scene already winds you into it, where you see a scene of panic and a mysterious man commenting calmly on the situation, while assessing it at the same time. The story is full of mystery, while you and the medicine seller are trying to find out what has happened, which has caused the grudge of this “bake neko” haunting the family. The first two episodes builds the suspense and let's us get to know each individual and the finale reveals the secret of this family.
The arc is full of Japanese folklore and it would have been quite useful for me to have had the .pdf included when I got hold of this series since there was certainly a lot I missed. This is alone seen by the pictures on the wall, this is exemplified when two of the characters speak to each other in the first episode and the camera shoots includes the picture on the wall while the character is speaking. It seems the character is represented by that picture or better said the animal on the wall and the conversation is between the two animals since the second screen shots switches to the animal of the wall and the voice of the character is the only thing heard. As though the animal is speaking and not the person.
Once again, the way the story was told was masterful, as it combines it's beautiful and unusual art to tell the story. The way the characters were drawn and the clothes they wore were representations of the characters they were, simply by contrasting the medicine-seller with his air of arcane and the pompous, sake-drinking uncle. The switching of scenes is beautifully done by using the sliding door, a simple but wonderful effect. It's as though you're watching it on stage and the sliding doors are like the curtains. This enhances the effect of the art, with its rice paper overlay effect and the vigorous colours used. It really is like the reviewer Malyrush states a “moving representation of Japanese ukiyo-e”. The background stays still, while the objects that move in that scene move, this can be seen quite clearly in first episode when the medicine seller arrives in the area that you can see the smoke moves, but the rest is still. Beautiful. It would be nice if anime producers and creators would finally break conventions and experiment with art, as beautiful and unusual art like this could be created and be used to facilitate the story-telling like in this final arc.
This final story is definitely worth a look, especially if you enjoyed Mushishi. It brings across many of the components that Japanese horror is well-known for, the key element being the idea of “what could be out there”.

The music in each story is wonderful, especially in the last arc. But what deserves a special mention is the opening. I'm very picky when it comes to openings and most of the time I skip them because they mostly grate my nerves, but this one. Oh, wow! It starts with traditional Japanese music and then uses that to bring in the rap.. I thought it was quite skilfully done, since combining both genres could have quite easily gone wrong. I absolutely loved it. The opening changed its art every time the arc changed and the best one once again was the final one. Just have a look on youtube for it and you'll see what I mean. The ending was also quite good, but it wasn't quite as good as the opening. It suited the mood of all the stories and used scenes from the episodes you had just watched and also at the same time discreetly previewed the next episode.

This series is definitely worth a watch, in particular if you're interested in Japanese culture and history in anyway. All the arcs represent many issues going on in the Edo period, in particular the misogyny, which also represented the powerlessness of lower ranked people. It is also a breathe of fresh air to a lot of anime with its art and its refreshing way of story-telling. If you're looking for something different or want to try a different style of anime give this a look!

I usually refrain from writing reviews, but I feel this is an underrated anime, which doesn't get the amount of publicity that it should. It is also been a while since I watched this anime, but I'll try to remember certain aspects of the anime worth mentioning.

Story: It centers around four girls, who all go to Roosevelt Academy in New York and all four girls have very little common with each other except they were all friends with a girl called Lise, who is now dead. They also realise that they can't remember the day before, which was the day Lise died and also the ... day they died. The series continues how they deal with this and other problems which arise from their new found undead-ness.

What I liked about Red Garden in particular and I think which made it all the difference is that it was set in New York. The main cast was nearly all female, and there was something feminist about it, in my opinion, they weren't looking for a male to solve all their problems or save them or whatever else, they got on with it.

But to be completely honest, I didn't really like the story, it was interesting up to a certain point, but after a while I just didn't care, especially since they rushed at the end with the last four episodes.

Art: I loved the art! It suited the anime really well. It was unusual and not typically manga style, no big eyes, tiny nose or nose and it had a sort of American comic-ness about it, which I liked. I also liked the change in outfits between episodes, since I like fashion and it was nice to look at, although at times questionable....
The setting were drawn very well, giving it a feel that it was really taking place in New York. I was in New York once, four years ago for a couple of days and I felt, especially if the animators themselves have never been in New York.

Sound: The opening and ending suited the anime unlike some others *cough*Satashi Kon*cough*. The music was nice, nothing all too memorable, but nice. The only thing that really irked me was the break out in song by the characters, I hope the seiyuus don't ever think about embarking in singing careers.

Character: I stated beforehand how the story didn't really intrigue me, what made me want to watch this show is the character development. The girls were realistic, you felt that you may have known people like them back when you were in school ( or if you're still in school.) They didn't just agree with what was happening with them and each of them deal with their problems each in their personal way, nor was becoming friends an easy thing for them and they didn't already isolate their existing friends (when people get super powers they seem to like doing that). The other minor characters were also fleshed out, but not as much as they could be and could have been developed earlier in the show.

Enjoyment: I enjoyed watching this anime, and like I said the character development really made it for me and all the trials and tribulations I went through.

Overall: All in all, a series with a drawing style I really liked and wonderful character style, but a story which I didn't find all that intriguing (this really is completely personal taste, the story was not weak just not of my taste.) I think you should give it a try, although people may say it's a shoujo anime, but I think the way they executed it make it accessible for both men and women. So give it a try, alone for the character development and in my opinion a lovely and different art style.