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eX- Driver is not a great series. The characters aren't well crafted or deep. The story is grounded in an interesting concept, but ultimately winds up shallow and derivative. If you are looking for an anime you will bill as a must see, go try and find something else. What eX-Driver is, is popcorn fun and that's okay.

The highlight of this series is the animation, setting, and action. As a glance into our possible future, the world is filled with automated vehicles. Very few people actually know how to drive a car so every vehicle is equipped with an AI that gets them to their ... destinations. It's when the AI shorts out that the vehicles become a danger to the society around it. That is where the organized team of youths driving petrol powered cars show up to disable the vehicles that have gone out of control by knocking out the sensors on the vehicle run amok.

Sure this is a bit out there, but there is a crazy amount of detail that was put forth by the team to make this work. Here's an example for you. The team consists of 3 people driving a left hand drive Lancia, a right hand drive Lotus, and a single seater Caterham 7 so that they can basically flank all sides of the car they are approaching. Little details that nobody really should pick up on, but are sprinkled in there to make the system work. Which it does. The logic is all there as to how this society functions around these cars as vehicles move out of the way in emergencies and lock up to let the ambulances or eX-Drivers get through to help the people in need.

Its that the story just winds up falling in to tropes that were a bit stale even when this was produced. Instead of information on why car AIs seem to go out of control on a weekly basis or why children are chosen to hot rod about in high speed chases we get sexy motorcycle ladies, bickering between the crew, and jealousy over who gets to be in a TV show.

eX-Driver has a shocking amount of attention paid to it, but not a lot of depth applied. Which is why you should be grabbing that popcorn and sitting down to watch a fun sci-fi action car chase movie because what works here really does work well. I could easily detract points from this series because of what it should be. However, what it is really is a fun little show with cool looking cars skidding about.

Dragon Quest: Your Story is a really bizarre film. Based on the classic Dragon Quest V, it should just be a summary of the game and that's the feeling you will have for most of the film. Oddly enough it dares to be more than just a summary film and unfortunately that's where it falls from being something enjoyable to leaving you scratching your head wondering what exactly just happened.

As a tale about Dragon Quest, it struggles. It handles the big moments fairly competently, but a good story isn't just about the big moments. It's also about the little transitions that got you to those ... moments. That is where Dragon Quest: Your Story stumbles for anyone that hasn't watched or enjoyed the classic video game.

There are very few scenes that transition you from moment to moment in the movie. It's like the animators had been told they have to put specific scenes into the film and they put them in order and then they told the editor to make it work while they had a beer after work. It's poor story telling, but overall it's just sloppy. If it was a time constraint thing, I might understand but the movie makes that painfully aware that's not the case.

Sadly, the ending of the film dashes that assumption as an unnecessary and unappreciated twist that lends the title a bit more weight hurts any hopes of really needing to revisit the film in the future. I'm not going to spoil it because the film takes such a left turn it should be experienced by those actually curious to view it. I will say that the somewhat poor implementation capped with a sloppy ending hurts what should have been a big debut for a Dragon Quest film in the West.

With all the negative aside, the film is pretty. Sure it isn't quite legendary artist Akira Toriyama's classic designs come alive on screen, but the art we are given isn't a disservice to his original creations. The sound is what you have come to know and love from Dragon Quest's numerous classic titles. For all extents and purposes, those animators and the sound crew did their job the way they were supposed to. When you are experiencing the battle with Bjorn, it really does feel like a fun little film.

For Dragon Quest fans, this is a particularly aggravating film and for those that aren't, it's a bit confusing. It does a lot of things right when it comes to animating a film, but stumbles when it actually came to making the film work.

Art - 8

The art itself while stylistically bland and sometimes rough is fairly elaborate. Backgrounds usually are filled in with motion or scenery bringing you in to the scene instead of the stereotypical white background shot. There always seems to be something going on behind the story making it feel like an actual part of real life. Each and every place is filled to the brim with small details that generally go unnoticed but never seem to detract from the scene.

The style itself also plays very well with the message of otaku life. Characters are unique looking but somewhat ... plain. Making it easier for the proclaimed beautiful characters like Saki or Kousaka to stand out from the fashion disaster of Madarame.

Characters - 9

If there is one thing Genshiken does right its the characters. Its story focuses mainly on how these characters progress through there college life, so this is the most pivotal part of the story. Each character is in one form or another completely different from the other. You have a gaming otaku, a manga otaku, an anime otaku, a cosplay otaku, and these characters never seem to infringe on any other character. Each character instead seems to compliment another character in some form or fashion. A down to earth saki compliments an in the clouds Kousaka. The laid back editor Sasahara pairs well with the chaotic Ogiue. Even as the plot moves foward and we see the ultimate otaku Madarame have an unreciprocated crush on his polar opposite Saki that seems somewhat natural even in its most awkward of moments.

Story - 8

As I said above, this manga is a collective character driven manga. So the story is propelled by the characters themselves and not through any real fluid progression.

The first chapter of Genshiken is probably the worst chapter in the series. Its very awkward and the characters seem wholly unlikable at first. Its a great way to show the timidity of Sasahara in what he is trying to join, but its feel is off and is not an excellent example of the series. Fortunately, after a rocky start the manga actually picks up and we get to see the good interaction of characters and interesting plot movements.

The best example of how this manga is crafted is in chapter 4. It starts off with a standard otaku group conversation. Any otaku reading this and remembering this chapter will understand what I'm talking about. It then almost randomly gets broken up by a disheartened and clueless Saki in order to discuss Kousaka's anime porn collection. The rest of the scene goes from explanation of 2d porn to Kousaka's past history with Saki to the eventual pairing of the couple. All in one chapter. Its a massive amount of comedic content packed in one small scene and really exemplifies how a conversation is transitioned from one thought to another by each of the characters in the scene.

The 4-Koma additions to each chapter are also very pleasant and are very well done in relation to the story.

Enjoyment - 10

At the end of this manga I felt content. It pushed through the graduation of some of the older members and finally ended at where I believe it should have. I thought the translation and editing that Del Rey did was some of the best I've seen yet and overall it felt like a fantastic book