Anime Reviews
Ghost Hunt
Directed By: Rei Mano
Animation Production: JC Staff
Distributed By: FUNimation
Review By: Bradley Meek
Ghost hunters should have standards. Unexplained noise or bizarre accidents don’t necessarily mean there's a ghost in your house after all. Sometimes things that are unexplainable are just that: unexplainable. So it's nice to see that the characters in Ghost Hunt approach their cases in a way that's more Hercules Poirot than Scooby Doo or Madame Cleo.
Case Closed: Captured in Her Eyes
Review by: Jason Fetters
Director: Kanetsugu Kodama
Production by: Toho Animation
Distributed by: Funimation
Have you ever wanted to go back to being a kid knowing what you know now? You would probably hesitate to do so after watching Captured in Her Eyes.
Jimmy Kudo is an intelligent high school student who is forced to take a poison that transforms him into a kid. Kudo takes the name Conan Edogawa and helps Detective Richard Moore by solving cases that Moore can’t on his own.
Review by: John-Paul Natysin
Director: Koichi Mashimo
Animation Production: Bee Train
Distributed by: Funimation
Long, long ago, a man named Koichi Mashimo founded the animation studio, Bee Train. Since 1997, they have brought us a myriad of anime titles, wildly diverging in quality. Among them are all of the .hack// titles and some arguably mediocre “girls with guns” shows like Noir and Madlax.
From I"s & I"s Pure Complete Set
Review by: Sean "Pants" Mitchell
Director: Yousei Morino (From I"s), Mamoru Kanbe (I"s Pure)
Animation Studio: Studio Pierrot
Distributed by: Viz Media
"Dirty thoughts are very bad!"
I"s is a story about love, but not the heartwarming love that would make sense. Rather, it's about that kind of awkward love that exists between a borderline stalker and his semi-willing prey. Don't try this at home kids, unless you desire prison or, at the very least, a restraining order.
The Law of Ueki: The Complete Series
Review by: Jd Banks
Directed by: Hiroshi Watanabe
Animation Studio: Studio Deen
Licenser: FUNimation Entertainment
Remember waking up on Saturday morning, flinging off your covers and racing for the TV hoping to catch the latest English-dubbed anime episodes? Though the (precious few) anime series on Saturday mornings don’t have the appeal they once did (no more pre-Freeza Dragon Ball Z dubs to watch multiple times), picking up a box set, in a way, can be a time machine to those weekend mornings. If you pick up the right one, that is.
[Review] Cased Closed The Phantom of Baker Street
Review by: Josh Dunham
Director: Kenji Kodama
Animation Production: TMS Entertainment
Distributed by: Funimation
[Review] Bardock: The Father of Goku
Review by: Josh Dunham
Director: Daisuke Nishio
Animation Production: Toei Animation
Distributed by: Funimation
Review by: Jd Banks
Created by: Wataru Mizukami
Publisher: Del Rey
Four-Eyed Prince doesn’t reach 20-20.
Really, Four-Eyed Prince’s only strong feature is its artwork. Unlike my vision, the art is crisp and clear. There isn’t a load of toning to busy the background and the scenes are very engaging.
However dynamic the art appears, the story’s outlook is relatively rose-colored glasses. When Sachiko Ohashi gets her heart stomped on by her crush, the distant Akihiko Masuda. Then, when her grandmother is shipped to a nursing home, Sachiko has to move in with her m other. To make matters worse, Sachiko learns that her stepbrother is none other than Akihiko. Sachiko quickly realizes that Akihiko doesn’t just wear glasses for his eyesight. He has a side job as a waiter, and being quite the ladies man, Akihiko hides his secret by wearing glasses. While Sachiko tries to figure out her new stepbrother, they inevitably fall in love, ultimately making the manga’s ending transparent as glass.
Review by: Jason Fetters
Director: Tetsuro Araki
Animation Production: Nippon Television Network
Distributed by: Viz Media
The series really gets going in the last few episodes as Light Yagami and Near prepare to battle it out.
In Death Note, Light judges people and allows them to die by writing their names in a magical notebook that causes death. His has many helpers in this evil task as Light takes on the role of God. Despite Light’s intelligence, he is flawed because all the people he murders make him no different from any other insane mass murderer. Eventually Light descends into insanity, which is sad and tragic to watch.
