Denkyu: Anime Webzine

by tonyadpx

Eve is a very abnormal boy. First off, his name is Eve. As for the other reasons, he spends his days dressed as a girl, has an appearance well beyond effeminate, loves hamburgers, and he’s possessed by the Bible’s most hated traitor, Judas. But Judas isn’t such a bad guy. Sure, he picks on Eve and wants to kill 666 people. But if you were cursed to live in ethereal form until such a task is completed wouldn’t you want to do such a thing as well?

Talk about contrived. Judas struggles to be believable. Yes, it’s a fantasy but even fantasy writers have to try and make their magic somehow real to the readers. If Judas should be called anything it would have to be surreal. It kind of makes things up on the run and forces us to believe them whether we want to or not. Example, the story is based in Japan, the most densely populated country in the world. One walk through Shibuya Crossing would solve the 666 problem. The plot tries to make up for this, I think, by making it so that if Eve should suffer a fatal wound, only then can Judas appear to kill…

So step in front of a damn car…

Alright, so the manga does look at this option in the ending chapter, and it’s actually pretty funny in the end, but that leads to yet another problem that Judas has. On top of the apparent plot problems, Judas suffers from being mislabeled as well. Classified as a horror, this manga spends a good deal of time with drama and comedy rather than with scares. The name-sake of the manga, Judas, is perhaps the most light-hearted of the bunch, despite being a reincarnation of Death. He enjoys nudy-mags, picking on Eve, and hitting on Mizuki (the female lead).

If you can get past the fact that this story struggles with its believability then you may actually find some enjoyment here. The art is, above all the things contained in the manga, exceptional. As a person who mostly buys manga for the artwork within, I found this enough to carry me through and I was able to find a few moments that stood out. The action scenes, while always brief, are pretty detailed and violent, and I will say that the Biblical basis of the story is interesting, especially since it borders on sacrilege, adding the lone element of darkness that could possibly dignify the horror label placed on Judas.

The best way to recommend this would be to say that you shouldn’t expect as mature a story as the back cover presents. Look at it as something a little darker than your average shounen manga (which also have contrived plot-lines) with a little fan-service and Biblical connotation to spice it up. Then you see Judas as something worth reading all the way through. Personally, I plan on continuing reading this manga so that I can see if it does get any better. As of right now it’s getting a C but I’m hoping Judas does some studying to make that grade a little better.

Licensor: Tokyopop
Retail: $9.99
Creator: Suu Minazuki

by tonyadpx

Once again, FUNimation proves its marketing brilliance with a great package design that promises quite a bit for a series that has, by appearance at least, been done twice before in the form of Hellsing and Vampire Hunter D. Or so it seems…

Father Abel Nightroad is a pure spirit that is locked between two warring races, the humans and the vampires. Yet he is the greatest of all monsters, feeding off the new leaders of the food chain, the vampires themselves. This, however, is something he does rarely and in only in the most extreme of cases. More of a protector, he wanders the land serving the Vatican, his ultimate goal to achieve a peaceful co-existence between humans and vampires. Yet working to make the feuding even worse between the two warring factions is a mysterious group that prefers chaos and fear. And Abel Nightroad seems to have a connection to them as well…

Trinity Blood is, yes, another story of vampires fighting vampires for reasons that may not always be right. But Trinity Blood adds its own little touches to this sub-genre of anime dominated by classics. One, the main character is as unlike D or Alucard (or is it Arucard?) as they come. He’s a gentle, fun-loving priest of the Vatican who just so happens to feed off of the blood of vampires. He adores children, has respect for anyone and everything, and is broke and struggling, like most of us. Two, the science fiction spin makes vampires more cyborg than undead monster. In Trinity Blood, vampires are actually humans infected with nano-machines that has yet, at least to the point in which this DVD ends, to reveal their true secrets. Three, the production value is apparent. Trinity Blood goes above and beyond anything that Gonzo has done to date. The Gothic settings and the mature character designs, not to mention the fluid action, adds a lot of atmosphere to the dark story of this anime.

Trinity Blood has, however, remained quiet about what direction it will be heading in terms of plot. Little is revealed early beyond setting and character introductions. In fact, too many characters are introduced, making it difficult to remember them all so early. Hell, I had to look at the back of the DVD case to remember the name of Abel Nightroad, the lead character of the entire series. Besides that, the actual conflict isn’t quite revealed. We know that Abel is a priest and a warrior in an elite group of fighting priests; we also know that he feeds off of vampires yet will step into the line of friendly fire if the need should arise. But at the same time the apparent enemy isn’t as enemy-like as one might think. The vampires are given motives and morals that make their cause understandable. That leaves the third faction in the battle as the only possible choice, but this group is explored so little that it’s impossible to tell.

What can be said is that by episode four it’s obvious that Trinity Blood will get deep into the real story soon. While the first volume feels like an unneeded prologue, the beautiful animation, the great action, and the fact that, should you buy the limited edition version, Trinity Blood comes in what is perhaps the best collector’s box ever helps to make it relevant.

As a side note, this is the final series in FUNimation’s “Babes, Blades, Blood, Beauty” line of Gonzo releases. This collection includes Desert Punk, Basilisk, Speed Grapher, and Trinity Blood, truly a dream for anyone interested in Gonzo anime.

Licensor: FUNimation
Production: Gonzo
Length: 100mins
Retail: Limited Edition $39.99/ Regular version $29.99
Availability: Volume one out; Volume two releases 11/7/06

by tonyadpx

If I could say one word that could describe this soft-core hentai anime it would be “unfinished.” That word—along with the fact that ending it here would leave a rather uninteresting article—in and of itself leads to so many other words that I feel I should explain my reasoning behind using that word.

The obvious explanation in using “unfinished” to describe Spaceship Agga Ruter is that the series never finishes. At four episodes, it’s already longer than most hentai on the market but still stops well-before it should, right in the middle of a cliff-hanger. As one unfamiliar with hentai I can’t quite say if this is the norm or not, but I can say that it was jarring and more than a little disappointing.

So, admittedly, I was interested in this quirky little hentai. That’s another reason why I use “unfinished” to describe Agga Ruter. It’s just fun; a little over-the-top at times, but for anyone who’s seen Tenchi Muyo (Agga Ruter was made by the same folks, surprisingly) this shouldn’t feel strange. Agga Ruter steals its comedy with common anime traditions and throws in a few soft sex scenes to highlight the fact that this hentai isn’t nearly as serious as what can be found. With the exception of a funny rape (she wanted it anyways) scene and some anime bestiality all of the sex in this hentai is meant more to add to the fun rather than to make it a gratuitous, exploitative attempt to arouse.

That’s not saying that Agga Ruter isn’t worth watching if that’s all you want is the sex. While not packed, and not as explicit as some hentai, the story is still centered around sex. Plus, with the detailed character designs, which can be compared to some of the more mainstream anime in quality, there’s a certain kind of appeal to the nudity and sex within Agga Ruter. It just looks good.

The drawbacks, however, are many. For one, the English dub is terrible. This is acceptable, I would guess, for other hentai, where most of the acting is done in moans and groans, but there is a lot more to Agga Ruter.

Another negative to Agga Ruter would have to be the rather cheap storyline. The main characters travel from episode to episode basically looking for ways to have sex. Taiyo, as the only male, is always at the center and it’s his goal to make as many “friends” as possible. To him, though, making friends means igniting the passions of some of the galaxy’s hottest hotties. The main storyline, which involves uncovering the secrets of the spaceship Agga Ruter, is never completed so it takes a place on the back-burner with no pilot light.

The final and most harmful drawback is the “unfinished” story of Agga Ruter already mentioned. If they had spent the time to finish the story, I’d consider this a pretty decent over-all anime, one that would deserve a place on anyone’s shelf. But they didn’t complete it, leaving only the comedy and the sex to entertain.

That leaves this hentai difficult to recommend. Since I used Agga Ruter as a way to truly introduce myself to the world of hentai (I’d seen Mezzo Forte and Kite but found those particularly disturbing forays into hentai), I would recommend Spaceship Agga Ruter to anyone who is also looking for a gradual introduction to hentai. Despite its drawbacks, it is worth a watch in its “unfinished” form. It’s funny enough to chuckle out loud at, and carries with it enough sex to entertain those who want it for such.

Licensor: Central Park Media
Distributor: Anime 18
Production: AIC/BEAM
Length: 120mins
Retail: Original complete collection $29.99; Hotshots $9.99 each
Availability: Collecting dust

by tonyadpx

Revenge Plot: Basics Made Horribly Visceral

In commemoration of the release of the thirteenth volume of the Berserk manga, I’ve decided that we should explore the past of this masterful fantasy manga and anime series to better understand just what in the Void is happening in this bloody story.

Berserk uses some of the most basic plot elements ever concocted. It’s a revenge story following one extremely troubled individual as he hunts down the creatures that had destroyed a world he wasn’t sure he had wanted in the first place. Yet Berserk stands out because of its sheer visceral force. It’s as disturbing as it is interesting. Things happen in Berserk that could scare any normal person away from the entire story yet Berserk has enough to keep us reading despite the disturbed feeling that comes with it.

As an example, the fourth volume of the manga opens with the molestation of the young hero Guts. Honestly, this scene was never needed. The implication was clear as to what was happening to Guts at the end of the third volume. But in staying true to its grittiness the artist Kentaro Miura illustrates almost the entirety of this dark moment. I had been a fan of Berserk before knowing about this scene, and it nearly ruined everything for me. But while reading this I found myself oddly intrigued. Not because I was enjoying this terrible scene, but because this scene explained a great deal about the character of Guts. It was, in the end, smart storytelling. And as a fan of Berserk I knew that Guts would eventually find his revenge for this dark thing done to him. Of course, I was right in thinking this…

In its simplicity, Berserk gets its point across. There is no sunshine, no birds a-singing. Using graphic imagery Berserk portrays a powerful story that’s as literary as is it entertaining. And this is no fan-boy babbling. Anyone capable of making it past the early scenes of either the anime or manga will find themselves agreeing with this simple writer’s assessment: Berserk is intelligent in its brutishness.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! Read only if you’re familiar with the story or need a little prodding to help find an interest in Berserk.)

The Bloodstained Hands

The story of Berserk is filled with dozens of characters, all of which play some sort of role within the entirety of the story. But the following individuals are the most important to the overall plot of Berserk, and therefore deserve mentioning.

Guts: the hero with the tortured childhood that wants to make his own way yet finds roadblocks in the form of a burning scar that attracts demons and spirits. He carries with him a massive sword capable of killing six or seven men at a time.

Griffith: the man who helped Guts to find some sort of happiness as a mercenary, and who would later be responsible for Guts current state of affairs as a hunted sacrifice for the Godhand.

Casca: the one person to ever touch Guts since his horrid molestation as a child. Now, Guts is content in his realization that he loves this warrior woman.

The Godhand: a group of demonic god-figures that have chosen Griffith as their compatriot, and who later drive Guts’ want for revenge.

Puck: a character found only in the manga, Puck is the character responsible for lightening the mood of Berserk’s dark story. Puck is an elf with a kind heart yet with a trickster mentality, especially where it comes to Guts.

The Skull Knight: another character found only in the manga, his past is a mystery but his place in the world as an enemy of the Godhand is apparent. What this means to Guts is as yet unknown…

Nosferatu Zodd: Like the Skull Knight, Zodd seems to be a mysterious lone wolf. Though he’s a powerful demon he seems to follow his own path. At one moment he’s an enemy to Guts, and at the next he’s helping him. His appearance in the thirteenth volume makes him even more of an enigma….

Blood in Color

The Berserk anime isn’t nearly as dark as the manga. In many ways, this is the best way to get into the world of Berserk. Yes, it’s violent, but the anime maintains a PG-13 feel throughout. There is no nudity until late in the series, and the sex scenes are non-existent. But what the anime does carry with it that the manga does as well is the bloodiness.

From the opening episode, in which Guts battles the giant snake demon, this is apparent. It ends with the hero torturing the dying creature and shifts to the past in which Guts splits the skull of a massive, heavily armored mercenary. From there it goes into battle after battle where Guts’ giant sword swings constantly cleaving heads, torsos, limbs, and plenty of other things as well.

In many ways, though, the anime misses what the manga was trying to achieve. By shifting in the past immediately, the story turns more into a recollection of the happiness of Guts rather than a build up to the tragic present. In this version of the story, while the days aren’t so sunny, the birds still sing when all seems quiet. Besides that, the opening of the series leaves you hungry for more of the story beyond Guts’ past that is never properly delivered because of where the anime ends, in the middle of what is easily the most disturbing moments in all of the story, both manga and anime. Sequels have been rumored at but always these rumors have been quelled.

Black and White Madness

And so we get to the manga. Where the anime opens introducing us to a disturbed Guts, the manga opens with him having sex with a demon that he promptly kills in a vicious way. From there it follows the same basic beginning that the anime did, but goes a little beyond, into his fight with the Count, a creature that makes a short appearance very late in the anime, playing a minor role. It’s only after that fight is concluded late in the third volume that Guts begins to remember his past.

The manga and the anime run parallel to each other for quite some time in terms of story while following Guts’ past. The manga occasionally details moments that were secondary in the anime but otherwise everything felt familiar while reading (as a side note, the manga was created first but I had seen the anime well before I started reading the manga). Then, deep in the tenth volume, the manga truly becomes its own entity, exploring what the anime wasn’t able to. A character that has a great deal of significance in the story, the Skull Knight, makes his appearance, and Guts finds himself fighting demons a little earlier than what was in the anime.

Finally, by the end of volume twelve, the disturbing ending of Guts’ somewhat happy past comes to a tragic end when the Godhand appears and makes Griffith, Guts’ one-time friend, confidant, and later the reason behind his hatred and need for vengeance, a god-demon. Thus comes volume thirteen, which goes beyond anything the anime ever explored…

Berserk: Volume 13

Guts has witnessed quite a lot of oddities in his short life. He was responsible for killing a hundred men single handedly, assassinated royalty, and even battled a massive, demonic creature named Nosferatu Zodd. But the nightmare he finds himself in now compares nothing to anything he has ever experienced.

Yet Guts is resilient. His life as a warrior, and his tortured childhood, made him so. Now, he battles in an attempt to save his friends, his love, and the man who brought them to the nightmare, Griffith. In his efforts he must battle hordes of demons and must witness the deaths of those Guts learned to trust…

Here it is, finally, the story after the Void. Anyone who saw the anime no doubt felt that feeling of being cheated. Well, now you can get over it. With this volume we can sooth our hurt feelings of being left out.

Licensor: Darkhorse & DMP
Retail: $13.95 per volume
Creator: Kentaro Miura

In Closing

Berserk is still going strong in Japan—there are currently thirty-one volumes—so expect this continuing exploration of Guts horrid future. As a fan of this series, I’m excited every time a new volume is announced, and now I can’t wait to see where the story will turn next. I just wish that one day the anime will be redone to make room for more, as many things were left out that were key to the story. I’m content, however, with the manga, and I hope that, if you haven’t started reading this great manga then you will soon. Berserk is worth going back thirteen volumes to read, and since it’s released on a quarterly basis you’ve got plenty of time between releases to catch up.

by tonyadpx

Welcome to Anime Look-Back, an article exploring some of anime’s past greats and not-so-greats. The criteria for meeting “great” status varies; some have excellent soundtracks paired with vibrant animation; others have dramatic, memorable stories. Those that fail to meet the great status, however, will still contain something magical that I believe deserves remembrance.

This month, I’m looking back on the original Bubblegum Crisis OVA…

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Bubblegum Crisis is one of the original cyberpunk anime, and has since inspired many spin-offs and even an entirely new series in a different time period. That’s not to mention a spicy little music fest called Hurricane Live. Bubblegum Crisis has established its own world within the world of anime, with some of the most classic characters ever created and a dense, atmospheric story highlighted by brief but shocking moments of ultra violence.

But this anime isn’t always highs. In fact, it starts as something less than good…. It grows from a weed into a nice potted plant that anyone would place in the corner next to their front door. Bubblegum Crisis is a patience thing. If you can get past the first episode, things will get better.

Let me explain:

Early in the series, the animation is a bit blah. I remember one scene in particular when a machine gun is firing yet nothing is coming out of it, not even a spark of light, to signify that bullets are flying from the barrel. Beyond the animation, the soundtrack doesn’t even attempt to match the theme or the setting of the anime, but instead matches the time in which it was made. For a cyberpunk anime this, to me, was a bad move. The music sounds like something Pat Benatar would have produced in the 80s rather than what some new-age rock group would make in the years of 2032-2033.

Yet by episode two, if the music hasn’t grown on you by then you aren’t meant to watch Bubblegum Crisis. And the animation irons itself out early and actually continues to get better from episode to episode.

One of the things that Bubblegum Crisis never loses touch of however is the story and the characters within. The dark mood of the settings combines nicely with the separate story-lines of each character to make them different entities from each other. Within the Knight Sabers—the group of vigilante fighters who are protecting the city from the evil Genom corporation and their Boomer robots—Priss is a rocker who has lived a tough life and takes it out on the robots that rise to terrorize the city; Nene is the sweet, innocent AD Police officer who struggles to keep up with her friends, and sometimes even wonders if she’s even cut out to be a part of the group; Linna is the metropolitan, a hard-working city girl who is just as capable in the battle-suit as she is in a dress; and Sylvia is the backer of the group, holding the money and the influence needed to keep the Knight Sabers up and running.

The women of the Knight Sabers battle their way across eight full episodes, all of which are near an hour in length and cover multiple plot-lines. Early on the ladies are battling Brian Mason, the chairman of the Genom corporation, and then move on to battle Largo, who is out to destroy both the Knight Sabers as well as the Genom corporation. After that, the series winds down into separate stories ending with a special that follows Nene as she struggles to prove herself to her friends, which is by far the best episode in terms of music, animation, and story. Yet watching every episode is great; its fun seeing the ladies fill out their separate characters and roles within the story of Bubblegum Crisis.

So, I guess in the end I’d say it’s the story that makes Bubblegum Crisis worth the look-back, though after thinking it over, I can truly say that Bubblegum Crisis excels at nothing. Rather, it spreads out the great and makes a whole lot of good. After it works out the kinks, Bubblegum Crisis’s animation matches the best of that time, the music, while not exactly the best for that type of series, grows on you, the characters are lovable, and the story is tense and action-packed. Plus, its place as one of the firsts in a genre that would later spawn titles like Akira or Ghost in the Shell makes it one of those instant classics that everyone should see. And if you’ve already seen it then give it a look back, as I’m sure you weren’t disappointed the first time. Then, you can move on to the many inceptions that arose later….

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Bonus Section: The Bubblegum Series (In no particular order)

Bubblegum Crisis 2032-33: the original series which spawned the franchise.

Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040: the new, darker incarnation of the Bubblegum Crisis story.

Bubblegum Crash: the spin-off series following Bubblegum Crisis 2032-33 based in 2034.

AD Police Files: follows the other fighters of the Boomer threats, the AD Police; another sequel to the original series.

AD Police (ADV): once again, a change to the classic, adding a newer, more modern feel.

Parasite Dolls: a collection of stories following certain detectives who are trying to solve robot crimes (no, this is not Ghost in the Shell).