Bamboo Blade
Girls, girls, girls! Short, tall, psychotic, and even… well, that pretty much sums up all of the characters in this show. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking Bamboo Blade is just another series filled with doe-eyed high school girls that fall into cliché character types. In the heart of this show is an effort to bring something new to the table. Well, to be more precise, there is an attempt at some originality.

 
 

Blassreiter
Blassreiter is a 24 episode co-production between animation studio, Gonzo and visual novel company, Nitro+. It's directed by Ichiro Itano, a man well known for his wicked action choreography (CIRCUS!) and wickedly terrible directorial abilities. Anime directed by Ichiro Itano tend to rely much more on violence (such as his work on Gantz) and absurd situations (Battle Royal High School) as opposed to coherent storytelling and logic. Blassreiter is no exception.

Fullmetal Alchemist Premium OVA Collection
Spending the whole night partying is fun. Hanging out with friends and making new acquaintances with music, laughs, and stories is anyone’s definition of a good time. But in the midst of that there’s always that one drunk who no one knows. He starts spewing stories about his friends, none of which anyone knows, and then tries to get buddy-buddy with ladies well out of his league. In a way, Fullmetal Alchemist Premium OVA Collection is kind of like that guy. Of course there are several differences; the first being that the DVD won’t vomit its night of debauchery on your carpet, nor will it hit on any ladies.

Tokyo Majin The Complete Series
When watching an anime, people only want to watch the best or the worst. There are so many shows, old and new, that no one truly has the time to stop and watch them all. Because of this, fans skip over the mediocre for something that is actually worth their time. With that in mind, Tokyo Majin is one of those shows you should’ve skipped over, as the show is dreadfully middle-of-the-road. In the words of Mr. Miyagi:

Jinki: Extend
Jinki: Extend is like a model sitting on an otaku’s shelf with junk parts as superfluous details to its exterior. The junk parts aren’t needed, but they were added in hopes of creating something fresh and gloss over its failures. However, it’s not just the junk parts that bog it down. It just so happens that the frame of the anime is also made out of low-grade plastic.

The story itself follows Aoba Tsuzaki, a female model builder whose life changes when her grandmother passes away. When she is subsequently taken in by her estranged mother, her dreams come alive as she sees Morbito-2, a man-made Jinki (read: mecha). Aoba is immediately attracted to the giant robot, but her excitement to pilot it is quickly subsided She wasn’t brought to the base to be re-united with her mother. Aoba has a power within her that utilizes Morbito-2’s latent abilities, which everyone wants to exploit for their own purposes.

Sands of Destruction Review
Not too long ago, I had reviewed Sands of Destruction on the Nintendo DS. Though a fun RPG, the ho-hum gameplay kept it from being great. The anime adaptation of Sands of Destruction keeps many of the good things of the game, but it also brings a few problems of its own.

The story roughly follows the same premise featured in the video game. Kyrie Illunis, Morte Asherah and Taupy are involved with the World Destruction Committee; a group, aptly enough, bent on destroying the world. There are a few key changes here, the biggest being the use of an item called The Destruct Code. This round black ball that Morte comes across is described as being the key to bringing Armageddon and Kyrie is somehow able to activate it.

Linebarrels of Iron Review
Ah, the story of the bond between a boy and his giant robot. A story that has been told countless times in many different ways since the very beginning of recorded history.  Looks like Gonzo’s Linebarrels of Iron is going to step up to the plate and take a swing at telling one such story.  Will they knock one into the rafters with a grand mecha story of epic proportions, or will they strike out?  Continue reading to find out!

The story begins with our young hero, Kouichi Hayase being relentlessly bullied by his classmates to run to town and buy them bread. Being the spineless whiny crybaby that he is, he quickly gives into their demands.  On the way back from the store he decides to take a short cut through a path in the woods.  It seemed like an ingenious idea, that is until a giant robot, being piloted by a woman whose mysteriousness is matched only by her nakedness, free-falls from the sky. Having landing right on top of him and squishing him like a bug, the mysterious naked woman feels very bad about the little misstep she and uses the power of her giant robot, the titular Linebarrel, to bring the poor guy back to life.  In doing so, a bond is created between Kouichi and the Linebarrel that not only gives him super-human abilities, but also allows him to pilot it.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Review
 “Alchemy: the science of constructing and deconstructing matter. However it is not an all-powerful art. If one wishes to obtain something, something of equal value must be given. This is the Law of Equivalent Exchange, the basis for all alchemy.”

It’s fitting that the task of reviewing Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood has fallen in my lap. The original series got me back into anime after an extended burnout in the mid-00s. I liked how it wasn’t afraid to go against audience expectations, kill beloved characters, and weave a tale that led to a stunning, gut-wrenching conclusion with a wide range of consequences I never expected. The characters were mostly great (even relative bit players like Armstrong, Kimbly, and Greed were deep and memorable characters) and the writing remained strong throughout., if divergent from the manga at points (perhaps the greatest criticism levied against the original series).