Elfen Lied

Name: Elfen Lied
Type: Television Show
Episodes: 13, 1 OVA
Rating: Mature
Runtime Per Episode: 25 min
Director: Kanabe Mamoru
Produced By GENCO VAP
Year Produced: 2004

A Serious Warning:
This is a very graphic anime, no matter what anyone might say, me included.  I may make jokes about situations, but this is not something that should be taken on lightly (unless you're a gore junkey).
There are more than a few things in this anime that are beyond the pail for an average, unprepared viewer, and I implore anyone not 100% sure about it to not take the chance (unless, as I said before, you have a high tolerance for gore, nudity, and other inhumane scenes/implications/situations).

That being said, I'd also like to downright state that this story is something that should be experienced, so if you don't think you handle watching it, then I'd recommend reading it (I'll provide a link or two at the end).  I'm afraid that it's not a story that you can appreciate by looking at a summery on Wikipedia... or here (duh), and because of the overall message that it sends, you'd do well to understand it.  I think I'll read it again too, actually.

Despite what some might call excess blood, gore, and nudity, Elfen Lied is what I call a must-see, and not just that, it's also an absolutely a must-read.  The manga by Okamoto Lynn is extensive and utilizes an art style that is unique and strange for these genres of anime (those being horror and alike).

Now the anime covers about half of the manga, taking bits a pieces out of the later halves, and then resolving with a different ending.

For obvious reasons, the anime was not aired in the U.S. as far as I can tell, despite the fact that there was a strong desire to by the Programming Director (look at Wikipedia or whatever if you want to know more), though it was later released.


In a quiet, island research facility, something terrible has happened.  For some reason, a test subject has gotten free of her restraints... and doesn't seem too happy about being restrained in the first place.

Using some strange kind of power, this test subject, named Lucy, is now roaming through the installation, trying to find her way out.

She's the quiet type, but that doesn't stop her actions from being loud... and... red.

Now I'm no doctor, but that's too much blood to be coming out of three people (trust me, it's three people).

Emotionless and very deadly, the facility's staff use everything they've got to try and stop Lucy, but can't even scratch her as she cuts through them.

When she finally gets to the front door, they box her in, but someone in the control room (also filled with dead bodies for unknown reasons) unlocks some kind of emergency, way too convenient side-doors, and Lucy goes out into the open air.

...What the hell?

... where she is hunted from afar.

Vectors?

The sniping attempt fails to kill Lucy, just blasting the helmet off her head, and her unconscious body falls into the ocean below.

Back on the mainland, a college student named Kouta has just arrived in town.

While walking up some stairs to his favorite place to watch the ocean, he is called to by his cousin Yuka, who's been looking for him at the train station.

As you might have been able to tell, Kouta has been here before, when he was a child, but that hardly matters right now.  What's more important is that Yuka, who's had a crush on him since childhood, drags Kouta down to the beach for a trip down memory lane.
But what they find is a little more interesting than some rather depressing memories of Kouta bulling his younger sister.

... um, hello?

Are those... horns?

Why yes they are!  Not in the conventional devil sense, but rather in the kind of cute, kitten way.  Nyan!

With an obvious head wound, and probably severe trauma, this naked girl was the beginning of a very interesting road for Kouta and Yuka.

Different from what I was expecting it to be, this anime was more than I bargained for, then again, it was my fault for watching it at night.  I just got sucked in and ended up having a monstrous headache from the sound piping into my skull.

The character development took a more hasty approach than I probably would have normally liked, but I knew that they needed to cram a lot of information into a short period of time, so I'll let it slide.

The character development was not so great to one of my favorite characters out of the manga.  In the anime, they only took him a little further than his starting place (I'll tell you who it is during the spoiler part).

That being said, if you go into an anime expecting the in-depth detail you'll get out of the manga, then you'll be disappointed at the least.

The art was a lot different than the manga.  Elfen Lied was Okamoto Lynn's first manga, and it's easy to see his progress as an artist through the story.  The anime had a different approach, it kept the moe-ness that Lynn started off with (one of the things that made this manga unique was it's lighter art style combined with the heavy storyline and scenes).

As far as I'll say, there were at least two animation styles combined into this anime (or at least into scenes of it).  I don't know if it's right to say this, but there you go, I already have.

There was the normal animation style for pretty much everything, but during the fight sequences, there was a special style that was preformed to create the vectors.

You should stay with the Japanese version on this.  Although it managed to get an English cast, it wasn't anything exceptional.
Actually, you should make a point to watch the Japanese version, at least of episode 12.  The creator Okamoto Lynn makes an "appearance" as "Special Guest", whatever the fuck that means.  If you can figure it out please tell me.  The best I can figure is he's the SAT member who actually says something.

I'm betting it's the guy who says this, since he the only irregular in the list of people who spoke during the episode.

The beginning theme was something opera, and therefore, not to my liking.  It was also repeated endlessly through the course of the anime.  It's not a bad song I suppose, the melody's melancholy, but kind of interesting.  I just wasn't thrilled with it, that's all.
Another thing about the opening was that those images are adapted from a painter named Gustav Klimt.  I don't understand the significance of that, so don't ask me.
That being said, I did kind of like the ending theme.  It was a cool riff and stuff like that is usually more important to me than the words.

If you still want to watch this, please do, but refer to the opening section of this post again, just to make sure.

Elfen Lied Minitheatre

Coming up next!


Kai Doh Maru!

Mugen no Juunin

Name: Mugen no Juunin
Type: Television Show
Episodes:  13
Rating: TV-14
Runtime Per Episode: 30 min
Director: Mashimo Koichi
Produced By Production I.G. and others
Year Produced: 2009

Otherwise known as Blade of the Immortal, Mugen no Juunin was originally a manga by the mangaka Samura Hiroaki, who is renown for his art style (kind of sketchy pencil looking drawings, very cool).

The anime follows the quest for revenge by Rin, the only surviving daughter of the Mutenichi-Ryuu dojo, and the last member of her family free.

Her father was murdered by a band of dojo-smashers (a term that I just made up, and since I don't have the patience to figure out the correct term, I'll just explain this one.  Dojo Smashers are people who go around and slaughter members of a dojo or sword style and eventually destroy the dojo or style.  The end.).  Her mother also fell into the hands of these men and was taken away from Rin.

Two years later, Rin is on looking for her mother and for revenge on her father's murderer... only one problem.  She can't beat her opponents by herself.

So she seeks the aid of Manji, a mysterious warrior with... a swastika kimono.
Okay, yeah, I know.  It's not a swastika.
... Well, it is, but it started off as a symbol for any number of things in any number of more Eastern religions before it was adopted by the Nazi party.

Either way, Rin convinces Manji to go on this epic quest with her to hunt down all those who have done her wrong... a time-consuming and dangerous quest to say the least.

That's... a foot, right?

The plot line and the characters were quickly defined within their first appearances, especially since many of the character's weren't alive by the next episode.  The main thing that I noticed about this anime was that there was a lot of indecision.  You'll see what I mean, right around episode 12, things get really confusing because they start to repeat things, but then argue with themselves, then... you get the idea.

I liked the animation style.  I was a fan of Samura Hiroaki after I read Mugen no Juunin, and I remember reading online forums discussing worries about the anime because people were afraid that the art wouldn't be true to Samura Hiroaki's style, but it didn't seem that weird.

Oh, and the reason that I like the animation was mostly for the battle scenes.  They were a lot more... physically possible and accurate than normal samurai-sword slashers.  It was cool to see the hero stumble around a little, and what's more was that the weight seemed to be in the right place.
You may or may not know what I'm talking about, but in a lot of fighting shows, the character's are like... anti-grav, it's kind of epic.

I've done a little bit of martial arts and... you could call it fencing, but you'd probably be wrong.  Even though I'm pretty comfortable with my weight and balance and stuff, I can't do half of the normal shit that fighters pull out in those animes, it's just not humanly possible.  If it is. then please make a video of yourself, post it, and send me the address... and tell me how to do it.

I strongly encourage you to watch the Japanese version only, but if you don't feel like dealing with subtitles, then I suppose the English version wasn't too bad, but in Japanese, it makes a lot more sense.  I mean, you'd laugh your ass off at a white samurai, I know I would.

In my opinion... the music was bad.  I don't care much for wailing, and the songs that were sung in the intro, outro, as well as those songs that geishas play with the shamisen were all like that, so I wasn't having a great time.  I know this isn't technically music, but I also don't get haikus at all.

Even though the anime was decent, I'd still say you should just read the manga.  It's an experience, not to mention freaking long.  The anime doesn't even cover to the end of the first couple of books (roughly, I download mostly, since I'm too cheap to afford the bound books) as it is, but I understand that they will producing a second season, so that's good.  Even though it wasn't the best, I'll be watch it.

Mugen no Juunin Minitheatre

Coming up next!

Ookami to Koushinryou

Ghost in the Shell (Movie)

Name: Ghost in the Shell
Type: Movie
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 83 min
Directed By Oshii Mamoru
Produced By Bandai Visual and Production I.G.
Year Produced: 1995

In the not-so-distant future (now, at least, the story is set in 2029), computers have taken over, but in a much nicer way than the Terminator.  These computers ask you if you want fries with your Happy Meal.
Yep, cyborgs.  Actually, there is a whole spectrum of body and being types, with just one of the many exciting options being cyborg.  There's also "Prosthetic", "Android", and "Human" (but only if you don't have any money).

With the turn of this new technological age, there comes a whole new set of problems.  Malfunctioning robots, cooperate and cyber terrorism up the wazoo, and also... robots becoming self-aware.

Major Motoko Kusanagi, the Ocular-Implanted Batou, and the rookie human Togusa now roam the mean-streets of Hong Kong, looking for the scum of the net.  But something much more... weird is going on.

A super-hacker by the name of "Puppet Master" is hacking into people's cyber-brains and controlling them (mind control is just around the corner, people, get ready!).
So now it's up to our plucky band of new-age, near-indestructible heroes to find and stop him, even if Motoko has to get naked and wheel-kick some sleazy criminal, that's a sacrifice that I am willing to make for anime.

All in all, this was a very smooth anime, as expected of a classic.  It got all around good marks from both me and the public.

The character development was well rounded and presented in a good time frame.  I'm not sure what else to say other than that it was interesting enough to me to keep me watching, and not in that way where you just go "God, I wonder what kind of idiotic mistake he's going to make next".

Even though I find the whole "Who am I" question very "Ugh, headache", I was still mesmerized by the idea of self-awareness, especially when it's not done in the classic Terminator way (i.e. become self-aware, then launch nukes at humans).
I'm not sure why anyone or anything would want to be more human because we're the dumbest creatures on earth.  Self-awareness has given us wars, racism, and fruitcake!  I'll stop right there to avoid having to have an argument with myself about all of the benefits of self-awareness, so just forget about all of the good things in your life like medicine, television, and chocolate.

Other than that, the plot kept a good pace, and it had action and nudity, that's all I need in a movie.

The artwork was good very good all the way through.  Actually, where I determine the quality of the artwork and general animation is during action sequences, or at least the sequences where there is the most movement, and since this movie had plenty of those, it gave me good time to check it out.
It wasn't all jerky and glitchy, and it kept a good pace/frame rate.

The cool thing about the movie that I noticed was that almost the entire thing took place at night.  It lent a kind of heavy tone to the whole thing, all dark and stuff.  I also noticed that, since it was at night, most of what you could see was lights out of windows and such.  Gave it another tone of isolation and technological dependence or independence depending on how you look at it, a kind of reliance on the net.  I'd say it was sad, but then I'd have to go outside and... (shudder) enjoy nature.

Again, the voice acting was very good on both sides (Japanese and English).  When I watched the movie, I remember finding Motoko's voice (Mimi Woods) really awesome, but for some reason, after watching the anime, she kind of sounds weird now, but still good.
I thought that you were supposed to stick with your first impression.  Maybe quantity wins out over first impressions in this case.

The music wasn't to my taste, and unless you're into the soundtrack to The Omen or any other score involving choirs of children wailing in an extremely depressing and... screechy way, you probably won't be much into it either.  But it was interesting.

All in all, this really is a classic.  5 out of 5, A+, whatever.  I'm not sure what else to say, watch it.

Seeing as this is an anime that is know to pretty much the entire world (there's a freaking Italian dub of it, damn), you should watch it even if you're not into anime or robots or whatever.  You'll learn something, I guarantee it.

When it comes to adaptations, they usually suck, but even so, you should probably consider watching at least the first season of the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex anime, and you should defiantly read as much of the manga as your mind can stand.
I'm not aware or any other anime that contains both the same content and style, so you're out of luck, so just keep yourself occupied with the 2 other movies, the 2 anime series, and the 3 manga books until I get around to discovering something like it.

I haven't watched Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, but I keep hearing bad things about it, so you should either steer clear of it, or if you're going to watch it, keep your mind open and it might not be that bad.  I'll watch it as soon as I have the time... right after Naruto.

The Ghost in the Shell movie covers the main story in the Ghost in the Shell manga by the talented Masamune Shirow.
Personally, I liked the manga better for the art style, the presence of actual humor, and the more vibrant color, but I have to admit that the movie delivered the existential message in a more easily understandable way.

Download links... download links... don't have any.  Actually, I'm watching a copy that I (no WAY!) bought online.  The best that I can do is tell you is to check at MiniTheatre.
If you want to get the English dub as well, then check under the Dual Audio tab.

Coming up next!

Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex 1st Gig!