Animetastic #1: Sasami Magical Girls club

Here with have yet another of my blog (so many, yet half are only 1 or 2 posts so far :(, I need to step up my game!) where I'll take a look at an anime series I've just finished watching and give my undoubtebly expert (haha!) opinion on it. So for this time we have the 2006 official Tenchi Muyo! spin off Sasami: Magical Girls Club.
Let me begin by saying that this is not the kind of series I'd watch normally, but due to its nature as a Tenchi spin off and the inclusion of some of its characters it had to be done, and the other Sasami series Pretty Sammy and Magical Project S were marvellous. This however....wasn't.

Well, to say it was a bad show would be a bit too much. I'll go into that a bit later on. Anyway basically the show is based around the titular character Sasami Iwakura, gifted with magical powers since birth and forbidden by her parents to use them. But with the arrival new transfer teacher Washu (also from Tenchi Muyo!) Sasami's life changes as she makes new friends and is taught how to use her powers as a magical girl. Other Tenchi characters present in the show include Mihoshi as Sasami's homeroom teacher and the cabbit Ryo-Ohki as Washu's pet. Those familiar with the Pretty Sammy series will also notice Misao present, albeit with a different surname (and no Pixy Misa! Boooo!). New magical girls include Makoto, An-An and Tsukasa. The 26 episode show is split into 2 distinct seasons, with the first 13 episodes introducing us to the characters and the latter half of the show taking the plot forward and some character development, particuarly Misao. However I feel this format leaves much to be dersired as the final story arc is extremely rushed and the overall ending falls flat and left me very disappointed.

In many ways the 3 new magical girls are more likeable than those already part of the Tenchi mythos. The fact that this is recognised as a Tenchi spin off is really only to draw attraction to the series from long time fans such as myself. The show makes no use of other characters such as Ryoko, Ayeka or even Tenchi himself, instead creating new characters for the land of the witches. For this reason I think that perhaps the show would have worked better without ANY Tenchi characters, as I wouldn't feel the need to compare it to its predecessors and what is resultedly a distinctly average show could have been so much more. Despite its flaws if you're into the magical girl genre this show is definitely for you, the animation is crisp and beautiful and is full of likeable characters. However if you are like me and are watching this purely because it is a Tenchi spin off, I'm afraid you may end up severly disappointed...

Blog #14: Another year, another anime allnighter and expo!

Only this year had a difference....they both happened on the same weekend! So what is usually 2 great events were rolled into one amazing but extremely tiring (its currently Tuesday and as I am writing this I am STILL groggy from the lack of sleep, an early night tonight for me I think) weekend. But enough about that, first here are my thoughts on the films that were shown at the Sci Fi London Ocktoberfest 2009 anime all nighter! And for this we welcome the return of the Mudkip ratings system!

The Skycrawlers
Although most of us seem to be living the lives of eternal adolescents it is a lifestyle choice of our own and not one forced upon us like the Kildren in this film.
Set in an alternate history where the world is at peace, but in order to ease the tension of those accustomed to war and aggression, private corporations contract fighter pilots to stage combat operations against each other for show.
The Kildren are genetically designed humanoids who have the blessing/curse of eternal youth but are also conscious that every day could be the last, because they have to take part in the staged battles. Rather than being typical maudlin teenagers, they embrace the reality of their situation and live their day-to-day lives to the full.
Directed by GHOST IN THE SHELL maestro, Mamoru Oshii, from the manga of the same name.

To be perfectly honest, this film was a very poor start to the evening. While full of interesting ideas and concepts, none of these were explained very well or even at all within the 2+ hour duration of the film. Why were the Kildren like they were? Was there any reason the pilots broke into a strange english/german hybrid when they took to the air? Given that Ghost in the Shell is still on of my favourite films, I expected more...much more.



Time of Eve
It's the near future and androids are in common usage. One day Rikuo, who has taken robots for granted all his life, discovers that Sammy, his home android, has been acting independently and coming and going on her own.
He finds a strange phrase recorded in her activity log, "Are you enjoying the Time of Eve?" He, along with his friend Masaki, traces Sammy's movements and finds an unusual cafe, "The Time of Eve". Nagi, the waitress, informs them that the cafe's main rule is to not discriminate between humans and androids.
Within the cafe androids do not display their status rings, and, when patrons depart, the door is automatically locked for two minutes to prevent anyone from following them to discover their true nature.

A 6 episode OVA series, this was something I could watch again and again. Each episode offered a different tale in this world where humans and androids live together, and the references to Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics kept things interesting. I highly recommend this to anyone, there will be atleast one episode, if not all, that you fall in love with.




King of Thorn
During the pandemic outbreak of the mysterious Medusa virus, Kasumi and her twin sister Shizuku become infected. They are separated when Kasumi is chosen to be one of a select group of 160 people to be placed in cryogenic suspension until a cure can be found.
After an indeterminate amount of time Kasumi awakens from her deep-freeze hibernation, only to discover that she and a handful of other survivors are in a desolate and treacherous world populated by vicious creatures.
Although Kasumi wants to learn the fate of her twin sister, she and the other survivors want to unravel much larger mystery of what happened while they were sleeping, and if, and how, they are going to survive in this post-apocalyptic world.

Apparently this film hasn't even premiered in Japan yet, so being one of what I imagine to be the very first people to see it in the world is pretty darn cool. And its a very good film, if a little.....strange. Honestly, the way it began I thought it was going to be like a generic American horror movie, but that illusion quickly evaporated into what can only be described as a complete mindfuck. I'd like to watch it again, if only to understand it properly.




Eureka Seven - Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers
Renton, son of scientists, and Eureka, a girl who can't live under the sun, are raised together when very young and become very attached to each other.
One day, Eureka is taken away. Powerless at the time, Renton vows to rescue her. He enters the military and is soon assigned to the Independent Youths Unit 303 of the First Mobile Forces thanks to his exceptional performance alongside his Nirvash, a bio-mechanical armor/control system.
Unknown to Renton, lies a plot to extinguish the alien invasion that is currently happening. It involves not only him, but Eureka too.

I've never seen the Eureka Seven television series, but after seeing this movie I think when I watch it I'll become completely hooked fairly soon. This film was incredible, and definitely the highlight of the night for me. Once again I'm shown that giant mecha animes are truly the best thing since sliced bread, and that a mecha anime can have far more depth than just robot vs robot. Beautifully animated, romantic and a great cast of characters, I can't recommend this enough.




Rebuild of Evangelion 1.0: You are (Not) Alone
Tokyo-3 is all that remains of Japan after the second impact. The city is being attacked by giant creatures called Angels that want to eradicate humankind.
Shinji Ikari, who has not seen his father for more than eight years, receives a phone call in which he is told to urgently go to the NERV Headquarters, an organization that deals with the destruction of the Angels using giant mechs called Evas. Shinji's objective is to pilot the Eva Unit 01, while teaming up with the Eva Unit 00 pilot, Ayanami Rei.

Given the time when this was put on and the fact I've seen it about 5 times already, I can't say I gave this viewing my full attention. However its a great film and a great starter to the Evangelion series if you dont feel like watching the series just yet. My only gripe is this movie covers events from the series before it really starts getting interesting. But the anime is beautiful and if the next movie follows suite it should be quite the show!




And now onto the second event of the weekend.....the London MCM expo! I even attempted (poorly) to cosplay this year, as Kittan from Gurren Lagann! Being as this was the 5th expo I've been to, and that its pretty much the same as my last blog entry on the event I won't go into any great detail. Pity they didn't have any of the things I'd made a list to get there but I still managed to spend bucketloads of money and could have spent far more if I hadn't budgeted. Here's a picture of this year's swag;


All in all a great time was had by all....bring on the events again in April/May 2010!

Revisiting the TARDIS #1: Remembrance of the Daleks

A new little section that I’m trying out, here I’m going to revisit a series that’s extremely close to my heart, and without a doubt had a huge part in me becoming who I am today. The one, the only – Doctor Who. I’ve been watching this show since I was old enough to watch TV, and in anticipation of the 2010 series staring new 11^th Doctor Matt Smith, I’ve been re-watching the older episodes to see how they still stand today. And for my first review I’m taking a look at the story that started it all for me – the 1986 4-part adventure “Remembrance of the Daleks” starring 7^th Doctor Sylvester McCoy. Yes, this was the very first Doctor Who story I ever watched (I think) and it’s still in my top 3 Doctor Who adventures to this date.

Set in 1963, the Doctor and his new companion Ace (as portrayed by Sophie Aldred) have returned to Earth, only to find (as is typical with all Doctor Who adventures) there is a sinister plot at hand. His mortal enemies the Daleks have returned in search of the Hand of Omega, a machine created by the Time Lords to manipulate stars. Not only that but there are two dalek factions at work – the grey/black renegade Daleks loyal to the Dalek Supreme, and the white/gold imperial Daleks, loyal to the Emperor Dalek.

This story also harks back to the very first Doctor Who adventure, “An Unearthly Child” which aired all the way back in 1963. The infamous Totter’s Lane junkyard where we were first introduced to the Doctor makes an appearance and we discover that the Doctor himself left the Hand of Omega on Earth all this time ago, and how he must now deal with these actions as the Daleks destroy everything in their path (including each other) to get their hands (plungers?) on it.

Despite the amount of throwbacks to earlier adventures, even as a child I had no trouble understanding this story as a standalone event. This is the only story since 1975’s “Genesis of the Daleks” that doesn’t suffer from what I’ve come to know as “Davros syndrome”. Maybe I should explain that a little better…since “Genesis”, the introduction of Davros has done very little for the reputation of the Daleks, basically either becoming his puppets or entirely reliant on him. My brother recently explained a fan theory to me that the Doctor’s meddling during the Daleks’ origin did affect their growth, resulting in the more desperate acts of the Daleks shown in “Destiny of the Daleks” (1979) and “Resurrection of the Daleks” (1984) to the dissolve of the once grand Dalek empire we see in “Revelation of the Daleks” (1985) and this story. After giving this idea much thought, it does work in the context of the narrative, but the truth is they were never the same after “Genesis” (which I want to add is by no means a bad story, in fact I rate it as not only one of the best Dalek stories but one of the best Doctor Who stories period).

“Remembrance” was the last appearance of the Daleks until the series was rebooted in 2005, and they certainly went out with a bang. There was quite the array of memorable scenes – the most notable and important being the epic conclusion of episode one, featuring an Imperial Dalek climbing a flight of stairs in pursuit of the Doctor. The obvious weakness of Daleks being unable to climb stairs had been addressed before, but this time the notion was crushed for good. This scene is right up there with the Dalek emerging from the waters in 1964’s “Dalek Invasion of Earth” (the single greatest moment in Doctor Who for me). Other great moments include the episode two cliffhanger, Ace beating up a Dalek with a supercharged baseball bat, the battle between the Imperial and Renegade Dalek factions, the reveal of the renegade Dalek battle computer as a brainwashed little girl (complete with Emperor Palpatine style lightning powers) and last but by no means least the introduction of 2 brand new types of Dalek, the special weapons Dalek and the emperor himself (who in the final episode turns out to be Davros – yes he’s still around, but plays a perfect part in this story).

The cast of characters is equally enjoyable. The team of the 7^th Doctor and Ace works on so many different levels, appealing to both children and adults. We also have Group Captain Gilmore and the military, who confusingly go along with the Doctor since he’s the only one who actually knows anything about Daleks. “Villains” per se include fascist Ratcliffe, who allies himself with the renegade Daleks until he realises the true extent of what they are and what their plans are. The story touches on the still relevant today topic of racial hatred, with both factions of Daleks seeing themselves as very different things (and as you can see in the story, there are actually quite a few differences between them – both externally and internally!) and stopping at nothing to wipe each other out. This is an excellent reference to the Nazis that the Daleks were infact based on.

Despite the obvious lower budget the series had back in the day (the Dalek’s time controller is nothing but an ordinary plasma lamp) the show definitely had far more substance in terms of story back then. The single episode (okay okay, sometimes two) format of the story does very little for me since it lacks the trademark cliffhangers I always enjoyed seeing as a child. In conclusion if you’re new to Doctor Who I wouldn’t recommend you start here since prior knowledge of the series would add a lot to the experience of watching “Remembrance of the Daleks”, but if you have seen the series before or are just looking for a one-off story to watch I couldn’t recommend this more. A true classic.

Alex's Customs #4: Classics Cloudburst (Phoenix)

The final Autobot pretender! Cloudburst was made using an Energon Skyblast figure, painted using Citadel colours (blood red, regal blue and chaos black). Now that the Masterforce Autobot pretenders are complete, I can turn my attention towards their sworn enemies...the Decepticon pretenders!

So far on my classics masterforce completed list is;
Metalhawk
Lander
Diver
Phoenix
Blackzarak
Buster
Hydra

Not bad, not bad at all I think!

Blog #13: The long awaited sequel!

Wow, over a whole month and no updates? I guess I've got alot to answer for! Well not really, I haven't had the internet for the last 2 and a half weeks and let me tell you...it's been a nightmare. I personally want to thank Super Smash Bros Melee on the Gamecube for helping me through the dark times. Also these few weeks have made me discover that I actually do enjoy Friends. That's right, for years I've proclaimed that I hated the show but I've found myself glued to it now. God bless E4 for showing 2 episodes a day. Give it a few months and I can have a rematch of "Friends Scene It!" with my friends, and perhaps answer more than one question correctly...

Anyway, so what's new in the world of Alex? Well to start my final year (well, final year of the degree...not really sure about what's happening next!) of university! That's right, this time next year (hopefully) I'll have an degree in Journalism, Film and Media! Not only that, but I am now officially the Anime Co-ordinator (i.e. officer/screener) of the Cardiff Anime Society! This means I'm in charge of all the weekly screenings that take place. My debut screening of Ponyo is tomorrow and I have the Gurren Lagann movie planned for next week! After that I have a few things planned but nothing in concrete yet!

Finally, I have another blog! Shock horror! No no, this will always be my baby. This new blog I had to set up for university and I'll be discussing more *ahem* important issues on it. Think of it as me being married to this blog and cheating on it with a younger, hotter more intelligent model! If you're interested feel free to check it out here

That's all for now folks! Hopefully my next post won't be so far away!

Blog #12: Los Angeles and San Diego

Yeah...sorry about the long day in updating this. First I got lazy, then I went away for just under 2 weeks, then I came back and got lazy again. But here it is! And what better way to bring the blog back up to speed than with a day to day account.

DAY 1: After a hefty 10 hour flight (with plenty of films to entertain me on the way!) we arrived at LAX airport. One seemingly long minibus drive later we arrived at our hotel...the Sheraton Universal! A really nice hotel less than 5 minutes away from Universal Studios, theme park and city walk. Since we were all tired and hungry, we went in search of food first, then popped into Universal for a quick ride on "The Simpsons" ride. I'd been looking forward to going on this for a while, especially since its replaced my beloved Back to the Future ride. It certainly didn't disappoint. A excellent simulator ride including one of my favourite Simpsons characters...Sideshow Bob! The ride has kind of reignited my love for the Simpsons too!

DAY 2: After a hefty well needed sleep we spent the day at Universal Studios! This included a studio tour, where we were shown around alot of interesting sets (some of which are still being used for filming) - Psycho, Jaws, King Kong, Desperate Housewives, and many more! After that we proceeded to go on the rides, alot of which to be honest we had done before at Universal Studios Florida. Standout rides and attractions included the ever fantastic Jurassic Park ride, the Mummy coaster and the Universal House of Horrors (EXTREMELY jumpy...I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who visits the park).

DAY 3: Today we did a tour of Warner Bros studios, which was only a short taxi ride away. This 2 and a half hour tour included alot of things we didn't see on the Universal Tour, including where they manufacture props, soundstages, and a museum of costumes from WB films such as The Dark Knight, Watchmen, 300 and the Harry Potter series. Unfortunately WB studios has an extremely strict photo policy and so I didn't get to take many pics, but this was without a doubt the highlight of the holiday for me!

Day 4: A dream was fufilled! I finally visited Six Flags Magic Mountain! This theme park is home to some of the biggest and best roller coasters in the world, not to mention a slew of Warners Bros and DC comics characters entertaining the crowd. Rollercoaster highlights were Batman: The Ride, the Riddler's Revenge, Superman (the greatest ride I have EVER been on) and Tatsu.

Day 5: A somewhat less hectic day, we took the metro tube line into central Hollywood for a look around and perhaps a bit of shopping. I got my photo with a street entertainer with an impressive Bumblebee costume. Other than that not alot to report, because tomorrow we were heading to San Diego!

Day 6: We left LA and a short 20-30mins plane journey later we were in San Diego! Of course, most of the day had already passed by the time we arrived, so we couldn't really do much. However this didn't stop us from enjoying the most loaded pizzas I've ever seen at the hotel bar (which, for those interested, was the Sheraton Marina) and a wander around Seaport Village.

Day 7: Seaworld! Don't really know how much you can say about Dolphins, Whales, Penguins and other various sea creatures...but seeing them was alot of fun.

Day 8: An all around hop on/hop off tram tour of San Diego! We got to see alot of sights - Seaport Village, Horton Plaza, the San Diego Convention Centre (home of Comic-con), Corondo, Balboa Park, Little Italy, Old Town. Its a good way to see everything if you're pushed for time!

Day 9: This was a bit more of a chillout day, first we took a taxi ride down to Ocean beach for a look around. It's a really nice beach, one of those typical beaches you see in american films. Then in the afternoon we chilled out by the pool (well, I got sunburned...had to happen eventually)!

Day 10: Our final day on holiday was second only to the WB tour...a visit to the world famous San Diego beach! The highlight was DEFINITELY seeing the pandas, never seen one before and may never see one again. Certainly won't forget that experience anytime soon. Alot of other weird and wonderful animals were seen, and if you're an animal lover I highly recommend the San Diego Zoo!

If you're on facebook you can check out some of my holiday pics here and here!

Blog #11: Hellions on Parade

On Friday I took a trip down to London to watch CKY play at the Camden Electric Ballroom...and what a show they put on!

The venue was pretty damn good I must say, I'd heard alot about it but never actually been there. Looked like a cross between the University Great Hall (size-wise) and Metros (interior) in Cardiff. Stage was nice and high too so you could probably see the band from wherever you were in the venue. I'd definitely go to another gig there, I highly recommend it.

Support band (Hexes) weren't alot to shout home about, in fact I didn't like them at all. Atleast they didn't play for very long.

Next....CKY! And what a show they put on! Not QUITE the setlist I expected (or hoped for for that matter), comprising mostly of their second album Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild and debut album Volume One. Only 2 songs from the latest Carver City, which sucked because its definitely my favourite album by them. Ahwell, even so it was still a great show, the pits were insane and fun was had by all. Dunno what was with the showtimes though, I've never heard of a venue having a strict curfew of 9:45...

Heres the (mostly unordered) setlist

Inhuman Creation Station

Sink Into the Underground

Flesh Into Gear

Attached at the Hip

Frenetic Amnesic

Shock And Terror

Dressed in Decay

96 Quite Bitter Beings

Disengage the Simulator

Escape From Hellview

Knee Deep

The Human Drive-In HiFi

Imaginary Threats

Beat It

Hellions on Parade

Sporadic Movement

Shippensburg

Close Yet Far

But the fun didn't end there. Since we decided to hang around for the aftershow party and got to meet all of the band! Here's me with 3/4 of CKY (didn't get a picture with drummer Jess Margera)



I hope they come back to UK soon!