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"Eyeshield 21" is traditional sports anime about a kid who learns to believe in himself and become a winner, but at the same time it is also a comedy with a bizarre twist - it's about a group of misfit Japanese high school kids forming a team to play "American Football" in their Japanese high school. So you not only have all of the usual "Gambatte! Gambarimasu!" (Do your best! I'll do my best!") sort of stuff, but also an attempt to give a Japanese youth audience a crash course in American-style football. The result is a spectacularly funny comedy, both deliberately - due to ... the wacky cast of misfits - and also unintentionally, because of the ongoing attempts to explain the rules and concepts of American football during the eyecatches and off-and-on during the story line.

First year high school student Sena has always relied upon his older female friend Mamori to protect him. And when Mamori isn't around, Sena has learned to run away from trouble because he is smaller than most of the bullies that bother him. But now that Sena is in high school he no longer wants to be "protected by a girl" and allows himself to be talked into joining his high school's American Football team, which has few players, never wins, and is almost unknown in the high school. But Sena's "running away" has developed him into a phenomenon - he can out run most pursuers and thread his way through most obstacles, including football defensive teams. Because of that, the fanatical and demonic captain of the football team, Hiruma, decides to rebuild the team around Sena, with Sena disguised as the mysterious running back "Eyeshield 21".

What results from this is a fast-paced, unpretentious story with surprisingly adept character development and smart, consistent comedy. Add to this reasonably good animation and a lively soundtrack and you have a nice bit of old-fashioned fun done in a thoroughly up-to-date manner. So forget about anything you ever knew about American High School Football, sit back, grab a bottle of "sports water", and enjoy the action.

"Speed Grapher" is a near-future sci-fi anime from Gonzo that is at times lurid, perverted, nihilistic, gory and vulgar, but that's all part of its deliberate "charm". What we have here is a "chase, capture, escape" action thriller that has been given the sort of glossy superficial trashiness that we haven't seen much of since sci-fi magazines of the 70's, while at the same time the story is, at its heart, an odd mix of romance, lust and longing.

Tatsumi Saiga, a famous but now burned-out war photographer who has recently recovered from near fatal wounds from his last assignment, stumbles upon a true "den of ... iniquities" in Tokyo where the rich and powerful in Japan get to taste the most forbidden of pleasures, and if they are chosen, get to have their innermost dreams made real by a kiss from a "goddess". Saiga unintentionally gets kissed by the young "goddess", who tearfully asks Saiga to save her. That kiss changes Saiga into a "Euphoria", a monstrous being whose innermost wish has now turned into a terrible reality. In Saiga's case, his "wish come true" means that now when he "shoots a photo", his camera truly "shoots" the target with varying amounts of destructive power.

Saiga is not the only person to have been transformed into the "Euphoria" state. There are many others out there who now have unimaginable powers of cruelty and destruction and they are sent after Saiga after he becomes obsessed with answering the plea for help from Kagura, the young "goddess", who is the powerless pawn of her fabulously wealthy and powerful mother Shinsen and her mother's aid and lover Suitenguu. Add to this set-up a slew of baroquely conceived characters, animation that occasionally approaches a dreamlike quality, and a jazzy sound track and you have a dark and sometimes subtly humorous bit of fast-action brain candy that doesn't take itself too seriously and is consistently entertaining. Never-the-less, "Speed Grapher" is not for all tastes and this is a case where "viewer discretion" is definitely advised.

Fundamentally, there are mecha anime, and then there are Sunrise mecha anime, and the TV Tokyo/Sunrise mecha anime "Zegapain" is no exception. Sunrise has a tradition of bringing top rate animation, evocative themes, beautiful girls and complicated plots to its mecha anime, and we have all those and more in this new series.

In the near future, first year high school student Kyou is trying to start a competitive swim team at his school, but his former teammates from middle school are mad at him and no longer want to swim with him. Never-the-less Kyou continues to go to the school's swimming pool to practice, where ... one day he sees a stunningly beautiful girl make a perfect dive off of the high board. But the girl disappears after hitting the water, and when Kyou dives in to find her, she suddenly reappears, kisses him, and Kyou then finds himself in what appears to be a very realistic mecha fighting game, with the girl, Misaki, sitting behind him, telling him how to control the weapons of the mecha. But the more that Kyou plays the "Zegapain game", the more he realizes that the world that he lives in seems to be less real than the game.

Thus starts a mysterious, touching and bittersweet post-apocalyptic story of love that survives death and life that survives time. Nothing and no one is what they first seem in this story that is equal parts a story of human hopes and dreams, a story of the end of time and beyond, and a story of the power of love. And at the same time this is also a rousing tale of heroic action. Zegapain is an outstanding anime that is definitely "not your Father's mecha series".

The anime interpretation of CLAMP's story "xxxHolic" is a marvelously witty and stylishly animated look into the old saying, "Be careful of what you wish for, because you might get it." High school student Watanuki is not much different from most other guys his age. He just wants to outdo his rival Doumeki, and to win the affection of a pretty girl named Himawari who is in his class. But the "difference" in Watanuki is a bit more "different" than normal, because Watanuki attracts and can see spirits, but he can't keep them from bothering him.

This "attraction" eventually brings Watanuki to the very mysterious ... house/shop of an agelessly beautiful witch named Yuuko, who grants wishes for a price. Yuuko takes a fancy to Watanuki and offers to eventually rid him of his problem, but for the price of having Watanuki become an unpaid servant in Yuuko's very strange household. Watanuki very quickly learns that there are many things in the world that are much stranger than the spirits that pester him, as he gains both an education in life, and an odd sort of "family" to replace the one that he doesn't have.

The "xxxHolic" anime excels at mixing humor, horror, romance and pathos in surprising doses and patterns. The cast of characters are likeable and intriguing, and the stories skillfully reiterate classical morality tales. Add to this a very enjoyable sound track and theme songs, and the result is a series that is memorable and demands re-watching.

I usually don't care for stories that have pre-school protagonists, but Hayao Miyazaki easily made me forget that as he wove his magic once again in "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea". This is a beautifully simple story that wonderfully demonstrates all of Miyazaki's strengths as a director and writer. It also demonstrates some of Miyazaki's weaknesses as a director and writer, but those only add to the overwhelming charm of the movie.

What we have here is a thoroughly modern movie that at the same time captures all the timelessness of great story telling. Ponyo is a dauntless heroine and Sousuke is her perfect ... knight. Never-the-less, the screen is stolen every time Ponyo's father Fujimoto or Sousuke's mother Risa are on the screen.

But the real "heros" of the movie are the animation and the way that Miyazaki's imagination is let loose. The scenes of the "living sea" during Ponyo's storm are absolutely breathtaking, as are the scenes after the storm, which are reminiscent of the post-storm scenes in "Spirited Away".

But at the same time, Miyazaki's penchant for bringing in visually disconnected concepts also shows up in the post-storm scenes. The idea of having prehistoric fish and sea creatures appear is initially entertaining, but after a while their constant presence blunts their original surprise effect.

As with many Miyazaki films, "Ponyo" has periods of almost no dialog, particularly at the beginning. Never-the-less, the dialog that does show up is often quite entertaining, such as Ponyo's line when she asks Sousuke if his father is a "bad sorcerer" (implying of course that is what Ponyo thinks of her father).

All-in-all, the film is full of wonderful surprises about the characters, the situations, and the world where they live. This is a great film and definitely deserves to be on the collection shelf of all Miyazaki fans. I won't wait for the R1 to come out; I've already ordered the R2 release. When you eventually get a chance to watch "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea", don't miss the opportunity either.

I finally got around to watching the two DVDs of the "Puchi EVA - Evangelion School" box set. This is a set of 3D CG chibi character stories based upon the characters from EVA, but set in a junior high. The collection is from Star Child, KIBA 91633-4, and consists of a "Nice Rainbow Disc" DVD with 9 short episodes, and a "Xebec Disc" with 15 short episodes. The total time of the material is 134 minutes. The box set was released on March 3, 2009. There are TV ads for the series on both discs, as well as interviews with the creative teams, and ... some rather unique "making of" shorts on the "Nice Rainbow" episodes, and music videos of the opening and closing theme songs on the "Xebec" disc. The box also came with a little model of EVA 1 in its "Evanchou" form, along with a number of accessories, including a Gurren-Lagann drill. (Gainax will be Gainax…)

The best way for me to describe the series is: EVA meets Dr. Slump, directed by Mamoru Oshii, inspired by Chuck Jones, and set in an out-of-control Second Life world. The "Nice Rainbow" episodes are fairly straightforward gag-comedy shorts. The episode where Misato-sensei attempts to wake up a sleeping Shinji in class by throwing chalk is probably my favorite and it channels some of the best of the old Looney Toons escalating "battle" cartoons from the 40s and 50s. The episodes on the "Xebec" disc are much stranger, and at times are profoundly disturbing, but are never-the-less quite interesting thanks to their added depth.

If you liked EVA you really ought to look up these short animations. You don't have to search for subtitled versions because there is no dialog, only music and sound effects. If you haven't seen EVA you should skip "Evangelion School" because it won't make much sense in that case. All-in-all I found it to be an interesting, sometimes intriguing, often hilarious, and always challenging set of little stories.

I just watched the "Lupin III vs Detective Conan" special and it was a lot of fun. The writers pulled off the story much better than I expected and all the characters were thoroughly integrated while the various scenes and actions all captured the respective spirits of the two franchises. Even the differences in character designs were well integrated yet all of the characters retained their traditional appearances. To be fair, the story was much more a Conan mystery than a Lupin adventure, but considering that "Meitantei Conan" is the series that is still on the air regularly and maintains high ratings, that shouldn't be ... too surprising.

The overall story was quite convoluted with what appeared at first to be divergent plot lines, but everything came together well thanks to some nicely developed surprises. There was lots of humor in the story, particularly from the Lupin gang, but the Conan gang had some of their usual high jinks too. Since this was a later broadcast than the usual Conan timeslot there was a bit more fan service and more mature remarks, including a reference to Ran's youthful but never-the-less quite ample "proportions". But as expected, Fujiko got to show her "charms" quite extensively, and as usual Lupin got to drool but not touch.

One of the things that I really liked about the special was that Kogoro got to show some competence. I always feel that it is unfortunate that Kogoro's character is depicted as being so incompetent in the TV series when the overall story line indicates that he isn't an idiot, but only acts like one because of circumstance.

Fans of Lupin III will no doubt enjoy hearing all of the old gang of voice actors at it again, however, everyone's age is coming through pretty strongly in their voices. But Conan fans shouldn't feel too smug, because the voice actors in that series are getting along in years too.

All that aside, the point of a collaboration like this is to let the fans of both series have fun and enjoy a smart, fast paced and intelligently done piece of entertainment. And this special did all of that well. My only regret is that we didn't get to see Fujiko turn her charm on for Detective Takagi - I really wanted to see Takagi explain that to Satou!

Well, "Bounen no Xamdou", aka "Xam'd Lost Memories", aka "Why the F**k Do We Need a Story?" has finally finished. In one sense I must admit that the final episode was consistent with the rest of the anime; and I mean that in the most damning sense because the entire series was without substance. Let me be a bit clearer - the original TV ending to "EVA" was significantly more imaginative, original and meaningful when compared to the ending of Xamdou.

I don't really care how much effort and money was spent on the animation - Xamdou failed terribly as a story. We were never given ... any inkling of why there was a war, why there were competing apocalyptical forces at work, what the "Emperor" was, why the audience was supposed to empathize with terrorists, and worst of all, why so many characters that should have been very dead showed up again in the epilogue.

No matter how many times during the series I gave the writers the benefit-of-the-doubt they returned again and again to metaphysical b.s. that drove my suspension-of-disbelief screaming and running away. Characters pulled their motivations out of their butts at random. The pseudo-science and technology of the world was all eye candy and totally devoid of substance or purpose. Pointless sub-plots crawled out of the depths of triviality to waste any opportunities to provide any consistency to the story.

I definitely want back the 13 hours of my life that I wasted on this series.

“Comet-san”, aka “Cosmic Baton Girl Comet-san” is an anime remake of a classic mahou shoujo live action series from the 1960s. Twelve year old Comet is a star princess who is supposed to be a candidate to become engaged to a prince from another star. But Comet would rather play in the stars than to think about growing up and getting engaged. So when the prince runs off to the Earth instead of choosing a future bride Comet is more than happy at her escape from fate.

The disappearance of the prince is unacceptable to the star worlds and someone must go to find him. ... Comet could care less until she finds out that the prince is hiding on Earth, where Comet’s mother spent time when she was a girl. Comet was always enthralled at her mother’s stories of Earth and so she volunteers to go to Earth, with no intention of actually bothering to look for the prince. Another space princess, Meteor, is also sent to Earth by her ambitious mother because the princess who eventually finds the prince will become his bride.

Things don’t work out well for Comet when she first arrives on Earth. But thanks to some intercession from her mother, Comet gets to stay with a young family and take responsibility for the two young children of the family. At the same time Meteor uses her magical powers to convince an old couple that she is their granddaughter so that she can stay with them while she looks for the prince. Both girls start to learn something about growing up and about love as they learn about Earth and the people on it.

Comet-san is a sweet and funny children’s anime that can enchant kids and grownups alike. The animation is bright, the music is brisk, the voice acting is enthusiastic, and the story moves along at a steady pace. The characters learn about themselves and grow as the story progresses and there is an appropriately satisfying ending.

The series was released as a pair of R2 DVD box sets soon after its broadcast in 2001 to 2002.

“Gozonji! Gekkou Kamen-Kun”, aka “Little Moonlight Rider”, is a comic homage to the original Japanese super-hero TV series of the late 1950s “Gekkou Kamen”. Gekkou Kamen is now old and retired on the moon. When alien evil again threatens the Earth, Gekkou Kamen wants to go back to fight it, but unfortunately his back is too sore and he is no longer able to be the super-hero that he once was. So Gekkou Kamen sends his loyal motor bike Scooter to Earth to find a new hero who will become the new Gekkou Kamen.

Scooter, who has the personality of a matron aunt, chooses a ... rather ordinary 5th grader named Naoto to take on the job. At first Naoto finds the mask, cape and uniform cool as he rides around to the cheers of the older folks in his neighbourhood who remember the original Gekkou Kamen. But soon Naoto finds that things are no longer the same, the Bad Guys are actually quite popular with the locals, and that being a super-hero isn’t as easy as it was in the past. In the meanwhile, a much bigger threat to the Earth is building unbeknownst to either Naoto or even his enemies.

This Tokyo Movie Shinsha/TV Tokyo series from 1999 is a wonderfully funny, thoughtfully poignant, and surreptitiously cynical re-telling of the old super-hero tale. The animation design is relaxed and straight forward, while the background animations have a water color appearance that captures the feel of small Tokyo neighbourhoods very accurately. The music is subtly updated from the rousing original theme and suits the series very well.

Although the series received a release on VHS when it first came out, it has, unfortunately, never been released on DVD.