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The sad thing about Hentai anime is some of them have real great story lines and they absolutely ruin the movie with hentai filler that never needed to be there.
One such anime is Demon Hunter Koji.
It broke my heart at the end of that movie to see that little boy’s heart broken due to his mom sleeping around like she did, and even sadder yet was the fact that the little boy’s father purposefully pushed her, the mom, into that world.
So he was basically growing up all alone with out the love of his father or his mother and in the end she told her little son about 7 years old that she despised him and wished he was never born right to his face.
That was a powerful script all on its own and the hentai filler wasn’t needed, but then it’s like janggut said…(see jangguts post above about anime porn).


Fafnir

I just bought Neo-Tokyo this weekend and all I can say is WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This anime was way ahead of it’s time visually speaking!!!

I always wanted to get the English version of Neo-Tokyo since 1992 when it was offered via Streamline Pictures in a Neo-Tokyo/Silent Mobius dual movie VHS, but never had the money to buy it.
Then Streamline Pictures went belly up and I was never able to find it except via EBay, but I’m sorry I’ll never pay those prices for it on EBay.

So, back in 1999, I talked with Urban Vision and ADV to hopefully sway some interest in getting the American rights open up again so it would be sold here in the USA.

All I can say is I got super lucky by getting in touch with Frank at ADV, Customer Service MGR. He is one of the coolest people I have ever talked to.
He listened to me and now ADV has acquired the Rights to sell “Crying Freeman” and “Neo-Tokyo”!

Neo-Tokyo is fantastic and is 3 anime shorts.
1-Labyrinth (aka) Manie Manie
2-Running Man
3-The Order to Stop Construction

Most everyone knows about Running Man since it has been shown on MTV quite a few times, but to me the best one is Labyrinth (aka) Manie Manie.
I just can’t get over how well the cell artists used and placed the color Red.
The striking visual effect a simple single color can produce amazed and blew me away.

If you love anime for artistic talent then buy Neo-Tokyo.
It is well worth the money!


Fafnir <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Man you're so fan as i'm an - i have some names for you.
Chevalier de zodiak(Cavaleiros do Zodiaco - for me) nice a lot, they published the last movie Tenkai Hen Josho Overture(the final of everything) - very good movie. Porko Rosso, Mononoke and Totoro are very good movies too.
Try these titles: I my me! Strawberry Eggs!, Golden Boy(Very Good), Video Girl Ai, Spriggun, Vampire Hunter, X, Agent Aika, Iketery Futari, Saikano, Onegai Teacher, Happy Lesson, .Hack Twilight Bracelet Legend, Street Fighter Alpha movie, Mahoutsukaitai(nice a lot), Hellsing, Love Hina, Magic Kinights of Reyarth, Sakura card Captors, Naruto. I have more but i don't remember all names now.
Fansubs are nice a lot - well i like. High quality animes videos.

i have been keeping this one back for whatever reason i don't know. anyway, here it is;

Review of Cowboy Bebop series

Go ahead & accuse me of being such an avid fanboy, or anime freak, or just plain emotional. Cowboy Bebop is one of the few series that has a look of casualness which is deeply set with emotions, especially melancholic ones.

Characters: Spike, Jet, Faye, Ed & Ein. These 5 are the bounty hunters aboard a refurbished trawler named Bebop.

Premise: Mars, Earth, as well as immediate vicinities. Hey, it's the future!

Story: Adventures of the five; funny, introspective, happy, thought provoking, melancholic, explosive, noir, fun, love, betrayal, cute, endearing etc. Storytelling is one of the most powerful element of the series as it develops & deepens the characters` personalities as the series progresses.

Visual: for a 1998 production, it is still impressive with hand-drawn graphics though there are some scenes (hyperspace gates) which are obviously CG. For series which obviously made for TV, it doesn't come with cinematic quality.

Sound: Maybe it's because i bought VCD version & not DVD as how i would prefer it (the price will warrant IMF help package) as the sound is a bit diminished. This is very very sad as the music of the series is one of the best soundtracks ever.

Music: Usually i would lump this with sound but the fact that the music is simply sublime, thanks mainly to composer/musician Yoko Kanno (Escaflowne, Ghost In The Shell series, Wolf's Rain, Please Save My Earth, Memories etc), who i feel single-handedly lifted the series from 'very nice' to beautiful with her incredible music. There's jazz(acid, lounge), bebop, mid-east, ballads, classical pieces - all wrapped up into something uniquely & eclectically wonderful. In fact, if the series is not your cup of tea (or coffee), the music somehow will captivate.

Overall, the series is a wonderful experience. I laughed, cried, cheered & feared for the crews of Bebop & i wished their adventures would continue forever. Alas 26 episodes are all that is Cowboy Bebop, with the movie which supposedly takes place between episodes 22 & 23.

The visual's great. The story's wonderful. The characters are believable & lovable. The music sublime. I love them all!

note: there is a new DVD version of Cowboy Bebop series which has 5.1 audio channel.

Note: somehow i feel that this thread can & should be expanded from purely anime films/movies & series to soundtracks & maybe even product reviews (e.g. Box Set versus Single Disc version versus Special Edition etc) in the future. this is one little way, i hope, in helping some forum members in deciding what anime stuff is suitable for themselves or others should it be gift ideas.

For those who are interested in writing reviews, please take note that the reviews must be objective. that means you cannot just say "hey this OST rocks! ch..ch..check it out!" <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

later on i'll write a simple guideline on review writing. please remember that i'm no professional writer so that's why i call it guideline, not LAW. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

anyway ...... on to the review ....


Soundtrack Review: Wolf's Rain OST 1

Background info: Wolf's Rain is an anime series set in the bleak future where human civilisation is on the decline & nobilities rule over ordinary people. Wolves are known to have extinct for 200 years though a few suspect & even fewer knew about the wolves' existence, much less the legend that the wolves are somehow related to Rakuen, paradise. It is a story of four wolves' searching for it.

The series is produced by Bones Studio, the same that made Cowboy Bebop the movie & all music are composed & arranged by the ever genius Yoko Kanno, whose works are in Cowboy Bebop series & movie, Escaflowne series & movie, Macross Plus, Arjuna series, Ghost In The Shell series, etc.

The songlist

1. Stray (sung by steve conte)
2. Rakuen
3. Coracao Selvagem (sung by joyce)
4. Renga
5. Pilgrim Snow
6. Leaving on red hill
7. Shiro
8. Dogs & Angels
9. Strangers (sung by raj ramayya)
10. Sleeping Wolves
11. Tiptoe waltz
12. My little flower
13. Could You bite the hand (sung by steve conte)
14. Valse de la lune (sung by ilaria graziano)
15. Hotdog wolf
16. Silver river
17. Sold your soul
18. Visions of a flame
19. Run, wolf warrior, run (sung by joyce)
20. Gravity (sung by mayaa sakamoto)
21. Paradiso

Even without watching the series or be an anime film, the music in this album is pure delight & at the same time heart-wrenchingly beautiful. The music is mostly soft with quite a number of them having latin styled guitar & horn plays. Being typically herself, Yoko Kanno makes music without thought of genre & the music, most of them that actually, can't be pinned down as pop or folk or anything.

For the sake of the review, i shall try to pin down the genre, or at least what seemingly to be it.

Pop-ish or Folk-ish?
Tracks 1, 9, 13, 20

The first track is purely pop but nice & sung in english, just like almost all songs with vocals in this album. It is featured as the intro track for the series. The 9th has a very beautiful intro with trumpet playing latin style & i feel this is my favourite vocal track in the album. eveything works beautifully; trumpet solo, soft vocals of raj ramayya, orchestral backing. the beat reminds me of PetShopBoys's Domino Dancing. the 13th track is very stark in the sense that it's only vocal & acoustic guitar but richly layered with mix of strums & plucks. the vocal in the chorus though wonderful may have some people sneer as it's very john meyer though steve conte has been in the music scene longer. Track 20 is straight pop ballad but it's too gorgeous to be called that. Piano, orchestral backing with Mayaa Sakamoto singing, this piece is very moving (or is it just me?) & used in the ending credits.

Folk or Remotely Similar
Tracks 3, 4, 15, 16, 18, 19

Track 3 is very latin-styled with lyrics in language that i cannot identify (i dare not assume) & it's just very light, lively but not loud & very catchy. The guitar works are beautiful. Track 4 is also very catchy, lively but soft with amazing guitar work. 15th track is very folkish with cello & guitar accompanying each other beautifully. very lively yet soft & very uplifting. 16th track has that urgency feel to it though it's still light with percussions coming in later on with sparseness that makes the whole track a delight. very latin-feel. track 18 is all percussion & it's very tribal. think red indian. 19th track sounds a lot like a folk song with vocals & choral backing with guitar, flute & light percussion accompanying. listening to the lyrics paints very vivid picture of the wolves' dreams. very calming & nice.

Orchestral & Whatever in Between (These Are Few Of My Favourite Things - Julie Andrews)

Tracks 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 21

Track 2 starts quietly with melancholic piano then orchestra flowed in beautifully. sad yet hopeful. 5th track has oboe, clarinet playing wonderfully together with flutes with orchestra adorning the background. the guitar, accompanied by the orchestra is simply beautiful. very classical. the wind instruments come in later on & make the track richer. urgency feel comes in later with light percussion & lifts up the feeling of anticipation. incredible. the 7th is quite sad with violins, violas & cellos weeping with wind instruments hovering lightly above. Shiro means white in japanese. 8th track has light vocals that actually accompanies the piano rather than vice versa. orchestra comes in later, lifting up the track. it stops for a while then the vocal continues with guitar then the orchestra follows softly. track 10 has ethnic flute solo which is very haunting but oh-so beautiful. the kind of music u should listen to on misty morning or late evening as the sun sets when all alone. 11th track has that chinese orchestra feel to it; light & playful. violins & flute play with one another almost like butterflies among flowers. the 12th track is soft, calming which later on lifts up to a beautiful melody. too wonderful for words. track 14 is weird in the sense that i have no idea what genre it should sit in other than the fact that it's very wonderful in its own way. sung in french & though i am tempted to just dump it in pop dept, its beautiful orchestral backing with incredible 1st violin are too classy for that. track 17 has the orchestra lumbers gloomily then the guitar weeps. those who love beautiful melancholic music will definitely adore this. 21st track has saxophone solo that plays about the same melody as track 2 but it's beautiful in its quiet little way. it feels like holding a secret sadness within that nobody can appreciate. the sax feels like the lilting heart while the piano feels like sad feet stumbling.

Side Dish

The soundtrack is recorded in various parts of the world; japan (my best guess will be the group of people Yoko Kanno worked with for Cowboy Bebop soundtracks), usa (english songs), italy(french song sung by italian, backed by orchestra di roma), brazil (extremely talented folk musicians), poland (warsaw philharmonic orchestra). Yoko Kanno is certainly the most adventurous of all japanese composers & it shows how she travels around to get the kind of sound she wants for her music. & it's no wonder i love every piece of music she made.

Summary

This album is recommended to music lovers who appreciate incredible music, sound & effort. Every song is momentous, lovingly & masterfully crafted & it's a shame for them to be unheard, therefore unappreciated.

Enjoy!

note about the reviewer: once a headbanger (though some call it grunge) who had pop/electronica music as first love then moved to specific classical music (tchaikovsky) that led him to soundtracks. also was a fan of John Williams (Star Wars) & Howard Shore (LOTR) till he heard the music of Joe Hisaishi (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away). now Yoko Kanno is number 1.

I am half through the 2004's "Appleseed" (Appurushîdo).
My father watched it and said that the story feels like deja-vu. I don't entirely agree with him but we both agree in that the animations are spectacular. The movie is done entirely in 3d, but unlike Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the characters are rendered in the "Ink & Paint" style. They look just like in a hand-drawn anime yet they move with incredible fluidity and are equipped with lip-synch. I will write a review after I have finished watching it.

Alright, I have just finished watched Appleseed, picked up my jaw from the floor, read the negative reviews on IMDB, cursed the clueless, extremist manga fanboys under my breath and ready to write a review.

Although the story of this movie is indeed full of cliches, visually the movie looks simply amazing. The backgrounds look almost photo-realistic but the models are cell-shaded. Personally I think they look no different than the usual anime style. Unlike other anime movies, however, the creators of Appleseed push CGI technology to it's limit. They use motion-capture, lip-synch bloom, blur... When I saw Olympus 5 for the first time, I could not believe they would model an entire city in 3d! There are often cases of misusing of mo-cap but in Appleseed every character's movement speaks of the character itself. The poses and facial expressions are varied: the mouth isn't limited to open/closed animations thanks to lip-synch. I eventually found the story above average. Not fantastic, but it's better than most Hollywood movies, for example. I'd reccomend Appleseed to everyone, even people who do not like manga or anime. This the third anime I liked in my whole life (Puss in Boots does not count: it's a classic <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />) and that, coming from someone who usually has a high dislike of manga/anime is a praise <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />.

great one & thanks, death ol' boy! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" /> but what about the sound? or music? i have listened to the OST but it's not as nice as i hoped. too 'hollywood'.

since Steamboy is coming out in theatres in north america soon, i hope u'll catch it. it's from ...... The Director Of Akira .... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

took Katsuhiro Otomo 10 years(!) to finish but i read from the japanese review it's worth the effort & will be a classic (just like Metropolis?).

another big anticipation is from Studio Ghibli; Howl's Moving Castle.

I just watched Appleseed and all I can say is... wow! The animation is awesome, this cel-shaded 3D is perfect. The story is pretty good, and not as cliché as I thought it would be.

There are some things that aren't developed enough though, like the first "bad guys" we see, they're only at the beginning and have no particular reason to exist (well maybe they do but I don't think it's mentioned in the movie).

Very good movie, and I recommend it to everyone <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Sorry, Jaggut: I neither care about movies' OST nor I like Akira.

don't be sorry, dude o' death. u have all the right to like or dislike what u prefer.

i'm no big fan of Akira as well, just that Katsuhiro Otomo is one of those responsible in making Metropolis (which is one of my fav) & Kenji Kawai makes very haunting yet cool music.

have u watch Spriggan? compared to Appleseed (not visually of course), just how good is it, if u have watch it? the reason i ask is because of some reviews that say Spriggan is almost all action with almost no plot. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" /> & i almost bought the dvd.

I haven't watched a lot of anime movies, Jaggut. I have no wish to offend anyone here, but I do not like anime for A) often it's exaggeration (giant mounths/breasts/swords/eyes, for example, or the 'speed-lines' shown when someone runs at high speed) and very crude animation and repeating frames. I sure do not watch something only because it looks good, but often I prefer a graphic novel to an anime.

Tell me, Shyon, does the original Japanese version of Metropolis ended with "I can't stop loving you"?
The anime I liked so far were:
- Puss in Boots (a movie from the 60's)
- Metropolis
- Princess Mononoke
- Spirited Away
- Appleseed

hey death, japanese version of Metropolis does have Ray Charles's song in it; part & parcel of the film. i have the japanese version (with english sub).

& as for your reasons of dislike;

[color:"pink"] often it's exaggeration (giant mounths/breasts/swords/eyes, for example, or the 'speed-lines' shown when someone runs at high speed) [/color]

it's mostly style carried from the legendary Osamu Tezuka (japanese equivalent of Disney) & the 'speedlines' are translated right from manga.

[color:"pink"] very crude animation and repeating frames. [/color]

this i find common for anime series, especially budget-constrained ones. frame repetition is an animation technique or rather trick cleverly employed by japanese back in the early days as they couldn't afford to draw multiple frames which are closely similar as how Disney did (which Disney had to finance out of his own pocket most of the time). another biggest trick done by japanese animators is camera panning; they painted only one cel & then using camera to pan and/or zoom for animation effect. that way they saved both time & effort to paint as well as money.

My father loved the integration of the Ray Charles song. I agree, it was most well fitting! I loved Metropolis.

There's one anime where I think the exaggeration isn't a problem: Ranma 1/2. I haven't seen enough episodes to pass judgement, but I liked the two episodes I saw.
Now I thought of it, another thing I do not like in anime (but also in Disney) is the sterotypes. Hitomi in Appleseed, for example is a stereotype present in too many movies. The "innocent little cheerful sister" has been overused. Also, the heroes tend to be wooden and lifeless. It's the reason I love Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Metropolis so much: in those movies the heroes are always changing. The stereotyping is even worse for Disney, though.

After eventually saying what I dislike in anime, I feel I should say what I like:
I like the philosophy. In many of the movies I've seen, the fronteer between good and evil is blurred. In Princess Mononoke, for example, there is no evil as such. In Appleseed, the evil is not divided into sides but rather into characters (The military isn't ALL bad as well as the Seven Elders aren't that good). This philosophy is very scarcely used in the western movies.

I like the variety of styles and plots in anime. Discarding 'Mech series, there still are many unique storylines without the sickingly familiar "boy-meet-girl". Even the familiar stories may get an unexpected twist, such is the case of Puss in Boots. The movie is hilarious. Everyone knows the story from their birth, but the anime is given a new dimention with all the humour, setting it miles above Disney.

Have you seen Blood: The Last Vampire, Jaggut?

sadly not yet, dear ol' death. i've watched Vampire Hunter D though. sadly again not Bloodlust, meaning i watched the older film which is er... obviously old visually (kind of Battle Of The Planets old).

yes, the philosophy in japanese animation is different than that of american. one of the biggest difference is that japanese animation (which actually inherited from manga) is character-centric as opposed to western plot-centric.

another difference is the target audience. japanese anime range from family-friendly (Spirited Away) to teenage/young adult (Naruto series) to adult (Jin-Roh). american animation are mainly family-oriented.

subject matter is another world of difference; almost all american animation are about good triumph over evil with generous helpings of entertainment values. japanese animation are more than just that; u have the typical good vs evil (Castle In The Sky), love & understanding in relationships (Metropolis), political thriller (Jin-Roh), redemption & forgiveness of self (Tokyo Godfathers), action (Ninja Scroll), irony (Rurouni Kenshin OVA), tragic consequences (Grave of the Fireflies) etc.

with such differences, it's no wonder why i am no longer inclined to watch western films, unless they're incredibly unique & creative. sadly i cannot think of any right now. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> but that is another topic, i guess.

Review: Wolf's Rain Original Soundtrack 2

Background

This is the second soundtrack album of the anime series Wolf's Rain, made by animation house Bones (Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne) & Keiko Nobumoto (story & screenplay).

The range of songs are almost as diverse as the first soundtrack in terms of genre, or to be more exact; genre doesn't seem to matter at all. Yoko Kanno once again amazes me with incredibly beautiful music.

Songlist

1. Heaven's Not Enough (sung by Steve Conte)
2. Shiro, Long Tail's
3. Cycle (cung by Gabriela Robin)
4. Beyond Me
5. Mouth On Fire
6. Hounds
7. Rain Of Blossoms
8. Separated
9. Escape
10. Face On
11. Tsume's Sand
12. Flying To You (sung by Ilaria Graziano)
13. Night Owl
14. Forest Of Death
15. Indiana
16. Amore Amaro (sung by Franco Sansalone)
17. Friends
18. Tell Me What The Rain Knows (sung by Maaya Sakamoto)
19. Float
20. Trace
21. Sad Moon
22. Cloud 9 (sung by Maaya Sakamoto)
23. To Paradise (hidden track)

As usual, all songs are composed & arranged by Yoko Kanno while lyrics are written by Tim Jensen(1), Gabriela Robin(3), Ilaria Graziano(12), Franco Sansalone(16), Chris Mosdell(18) & Yuuho Iwasato(22).

Once again, to make it easier to digest the review (for readers) as well as writing it (for myself), i shall endeavour to categorise the tracks according to genre/style.

Pop/Ballad/Vocals

- Tracks 1, 3, 12, 16, 18, 22
- The first track is a straight-up pop track though not cheesy as most anime J-pop tracks. There is a variation of it in the anime however, with female vocals. 3rd track is has soft vocal which sings in non-existent language (typical of Yoko Kanno/Gabriela Robin) with music that is may be categorised as pop though it's too weird & wonderful for such shallow categorisation. Track 12 is also another genre defying song which sung in french & has that classical feel to it. 16th track is sung (if i'm not mistaken) in italian by Franco Sansalone, whose low & husky voice lends that romantic feel to the song. A sad but wonderful love song. 18th track is a ballad; soft, floating, sweet, beautiful. Track 22 is a feel-good pop track that's wonderful to listen to.

Synth & Electric Guitar & Orchestral

- Tracks 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23
- Although there are tracks with synthesizer & electric guitar as accompaniment, they are still mainly orchestral with the majority classical/folkish.
- Track 2 is very moving with violins playing a sad melody in unison which towards the middle of the track turns more dramatic & urgent. Track 4 starts with acoustic guitar playing gently, setting the tone for the whole track which is beautiful. Track 5 is one of my personal favourite. The percussion in the intro is masterfully creative & lively which brought the track to ethnic style music (brazillian?). 6th track is laidback with guitar, light percussion & flute. the kind of song to listen to wind down after a hard day's work. One of the livelier & happier track is the 7th, with orchestra then quiets down to a beautiful end.

8th track is a slow, gentle & slightly melancholic song with guitar plucking in the foreground, backed by orchestra. Track 9 has an urgent feel with fast-paced light percussion & quick guitar pickings as well as orchestral backing. quite a delight. Track 10 starts with synth ambient sounds then electric guitar & drums. once the violins come in with the rest of the orchestra, you know you will be in for a musical treat. Quiet somewhere in the middle of the track just to come back with a beautiful melody, this track is a mix of melancholy & daring to hope. Track 11 starts with electric guitar setting a layer of background rhythm which later on percussion, synth makes it full fleshed. Though it seems like a filler track, it is still quite nice. The 13th track is a quiet, haunting, creepy song that seems to come from a horror film. The wonderful part comes at the later half, bringing dark & moody melody. 14th track is a full-blown 'here comes the enemy' number though it also feels like 'let us get out of here'. For the frantic moments, this is it. Track 15 is a quiet, fleeting song, the kind of song to listen on quiet misty mornings or late evenings, with flute playing solo & accompaniement comes only towards the end.

Track 17 has a piano playing sadly but beautifully. the orchestra comes in later with flute responding to the piano. a heart-melting song. 19th track is orchestral with flute floating above teasingly. another beautiful one. 20th track is dark & sad yet wonderful, played by the orchestra. 21st starts with crescendo to a majestic & wonderful melody then quiets down for wind instrument then violins for closure. 23rd, a hidden track, is almost the same as the second track in the first album, but longer & with ambient sounds. The crescendo towards the end is majestic, triumphant, which quiets down for closure. Beautiful end to the album.

Overall

Most tracks may not stand out as much as the first soundtrack but they are still very very wonderful & among one of the best soundtracks i have listened to. The emotions conveyed in the songs show that Yoko Kanno is just one of the best composers around. If you are a fan of good music, this album is worth its price & more. & you don't have to watch the anime nor learn of the story to appreciate this masterfully crafted album. ENJOY!!

I finally got to watch Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. I thought it wasn't particularly good. The scenes were amazing, the sound and music beautiful, and it had a very interesting philisophical point, but it was lacking for story line and character development.

***** SPOILERS FOLLOW *****

There was little in the way of tracking down the culprit. It was like they knew exactly where to look. Some of the settings just seemed to appear out of nowhere, like the forgotten city and the castle. There was also next to no action in the movie. While this isn't a prerequisite, it helped Ghost in the Shell and GitS: Stand Alone Complex by giving us emotional bonds with the characters. There was so little emotion in the movie that I just didn't care by the end of it. I understand that it was part of the story, but versus an audience, it doesn't really work.

***** NO MORE SPOILERS *****

Unfortunately, I felt this was more of a lecture (albiet a very interesting and beautiful one), than a movie.

Title: Haibanei Renmei
Created by: Yoshitoshi Abe
Genre: Drama Series
Episode: 13 (complete)



Imagine being born from a coccoon that fell from the sky. Imagine that soon after, one grows wings. Imagine having a halo on one's head. imagine that one is not alone, & that there are others. Others that also have wings & halo. The Haibanei.

Haibane, literally translated, means ash wing. Renmei literally means federation or league. Therefore the official english translation for Haibane Renmei is Charcoal Feathers Federation.


note: this picture is not a screenshot of the anime as it originates from one of the artbooks by Yoshitoshi Abe.

This story is created by Yoshitoshi Abe, one who drew the character art for Serial Experiment Lain. & unlike Lain, this story is entirely written by Abe.

After watching the whole 13 episodes in the span of 4 days, which is something i always avoid doing (watching a series in such short timespan, that is), this series is definitely one of the best i've watched. It is gorgeous, it is moving, the music is wonderful - nothing short which makes Haibanei Renmei one of the most memorable anime for me.



It may also be slow moving, but this series is filled with a lot of dialogues & interactions between characters which help a lot in identifying with them & fleshing them out. From the start till finish, the story doesn't bog down & although the end of episode 13 makes me thirst for more stories about the Haibanei, it is a good ending that has a sense of closure.

More than the mysteries of the premise itself, the series emphasises on the characters as well as the subject of redemption & salvation. I can't help but feel warm all over when i watch this series.



Visual
Since it is made for TV, like most anime series, the art is not too detailed yet not too sparse at the same time. It is bright most of the time with few dark scenes, which the contrasts are quite well balanced. Unlike most anime which incorporate very striking colours, Abe used more soft colours. According to Abe in an interview, he felt that the right choice of colours, & that doesn't mean striking colours, are more effective in achieving the right impact. The characters are very well drawn & the art is also very interesting, especially when it comes to certain cultures regarding the Haibanei. An example would be the bells tied to the wings whenever they visit the Haibane Renmei, a federation of some kind that takes care of the Haibane in this totally walled up town.



Audio
The dialogues are well done with the voices done convincingly (as far as i can tell though i don't know japanese). The character voices, though some are cutesy, are not too cutesy to the point of annoyance. It works wonderfully well here. there are english audio too for this series but the set that i have only comes with japanese audio.

The music though quiet & seemingly sparse, is beautiful especially the intro music, which is going to be one of my personal favourite. The ending credit music is not the typical J-pop & it has this new age feel to it, so it is refreshing indeed. I feel that the soundtrack of this series is definitely worth checking out.

Animation
Though there are few noticable quirky animation (again, walking animation is one of the trickiest especially with traditional animation as evidenced in this series), overall all are done well & smooth. Other things about the characters however are very well animated. Often the little things such as the young Haibane (also called Young Feathers) practise fluttering their wings, a new Haibane trying to put on a dress with slits at the back meant for the wings, can be very realistic & insightful on how the Haibane live their daily lives.



This series is safe to watch with the kids though they may not understand what is going on as some parts of the stories (typical of animes, really) were left unexplained thus giving the audience freedom to interpret. This is not a bad thing as the author (according to an interview) wanted the audience to think for themselves on what is going on & why.

This is a quiet little series with a lot to offer - a big heart & most of all, the feel good factor. enjoy! :-/



check out the official site for more details including prices. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Four pages and someone only mentioned Gundam once in passing! Give respect to the second greatest space opera.

Watch the movie version of the first series, then the the OVAs: War in the Pocket, and The 08th MS Team, if you're still on board, Zeta Gundam is next, but you'll want to pace yourself through that one.

If you liked the original series or any of the OVAs you can check-out the new ones they did, Unicorn, Hathaway and Origin, which is a prequel.

This is all Universal Century, to help you look it up.
There are a lot of Gundam shows that operate in different 'universes' but they all share themes, tropes, and giant robots. So depending on your tastes there's probably one might like.

Here is my short list that I can recommend:

Series:
Captain Tsubasa (1983) --> better than Ganbare! Kickers, but Ganbare! Kickers had the better Opening Soundtrack (just in German, the jap. Original was lame in comparison)
The Guardian Of The Spirit (2007)
Violet Evergarden (2017) --> there are also one or two movies...

Movies:
Sword Of A Stranger (2007)
The Garden Of Words (2013)
Your Name (2016)
I want to eat your pancreas (2018) --> I bought it but haven't found time to check it out yet... Shame on me ^_^