20160114: Animation Review--Expelled from Paradise

Name: Expelled from Paradise (2014)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Adventure, Animé, SciFi    Country of Origin: Japan.

Cast: Wendee Lee as Angela Balzac, Steve Blum as Dingo Kajiwara, Johnny Yong Bosch as Frontier Setter.

Directed by: Seiji Mizushima.  Written by: Gen Urobuchi.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: This animated feature is set in the year 2400 AD.  In the past, great destructive actions destroyed much of surface-based human civilization.  Since then, humanity has rebuilt itself as digital entities that exist on server networks that are located in orbit around Earth.  This cyber universe is called DEVA.

There is an unexpected hack into the computers of DEVA.  The hack is instigated by a surfaced based person, 'Frontier Setter.'  Third Security Officer Angela Balzac is sent to the surface to deal with the problem.  She is sent in a material body supported by a powered exoskeleton with high speed computer links to DEVO in orbit.  Computers monitor her health and keep her in good shape.  Her ground contact is Dingo.

Dingo and Angela take an immediate dislike of one another. To compound this, huge sandworms attack early on, and the communications link Angela depends on for health and information retrieval is broken.  What to do?  Complete the mission.

Delineation of conflicts: The hacker has secrets that they wish to keep secret.  Angela and Dingo are tasked with ferreting this out, and correcting the situation.  This is trickier with Angela's links cut.  Once Dingo and Angela find the hacker, everything changes, and the pair have new challenges to deal with.

Resolution: Perhaps the next in human evolution was not a step forward.

One line summary: Battle for humanity's survival in 2400 AD.

Statistics:
  a. Art: 7/10 As low polygon art goes, this is pretty good.

  b. Sound: 6/10 Some of the voice work sounded hollow.  The music was variable: much of it was simplistic (not a compliment), electronic, and uninteresting.

  c. Voice Acting: 7/10 The three principal voice actors were fine, with Steve Blum the best.

  d. Screenplay: 5/10 The discussions of the 'next step' in human evolution were deeper than usual, which I liked.  Toward the end, though, the film degenerated into substandard music, lots of explosions, improbably outcomes, and hurried art. At that point, it looked way too much like Gundam action.

Final rating: 6/10

20140622: Animation Review--Vampire Bund

Dance in the Vampire Bund

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Japanese animated episodic television series, 2010, rated TV-MA, animation, action, drama. Twelve episodes, 24 minutes each.
2. IMDB: 7.0/10.0 from 271 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: no results, at all.
4. Netflix: 3.9/5.0 from 370,639 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Akiyuki Shinbo.
6. Starring: Monica Rial as Mina Tepesh, Alpha Lagrange as Akira Kobaragi.  For much more detail, see wikipedia.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Take the TV-MA rating seriously.


2. Mina Tepesh presents herself as the queen of contemporary vampires.  She appeals on television for a Vampire Bund, that is, real estate where vampires can be free to be vampires.  As a being who has had a long life, and who understands things like compound interest and capital appreciation, Mina's personal and family wealth is enormous.  She uses this to pressure legislators to go along with her plans.


3. There are humans who are in favour of the proposed Bund, and those who are opposed to it.  Similarly, there are vampires in favour, and vampires against the proposal.  This goes back and forth throughout the series.


4. Mina has a connection with Akira, a teenaged human.  Akira is also a werewolf, and sometime earlier in his life he vowed to protect Mina as best he could.  About the time Akira took his vow, he also lost a big chunk of his memory.


5. So, the series is about the conflicts mentioned above, about Akira protecting Mina, and about Akira regaining his memory.  Toward the end of the series, the elders of three ruling vampire clans descend upon Mina, and force her to own up to a promise she made to the clans in the past.


6. As the series draws to a close, everything is revisited, and everything cast into doubt.  The clan leaders set up a fight between Akira and their own chosen assassins.  If Akira wins, Mina can continue; if not, they force her into submission about rule of the vampires.


7. So how does this pan out?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Vampires seek a homeland and acceptance in animated Japan.
2. Seven of ten.


4. Scores
1. Art/Animation: 7/10 Quite a bit of the art was fabulous; some was a bit too abstract and weird.


2. Sound: 6/10 Typical action stuff, but neither great nor poor.


3. Voice Acting: 8/10 No particular problems.  Often good, sometimes a little screechy.


4. Story: 6/10 There are a number of issues, mostly about motivation.  Just what was the reason that Akira is so devoted to Mina?  The suggestion that Mina might not be the 'real' vampire queen was not resolved.  The reference to cloning was interesting, but I would have liked to have seen more detail about that.  The strong, repeated statements that there was another queen candidate in the wings was never quite brought to fruition.  The comedy vignettes about the maids shown after the credits were usually pretty funny.

20140309: Anime Review--Chrome Shelled Regios

Chrome Shelled Regios

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Japanese animated television series, 2009, TV-MA, 24 episodes, anime.  Spoken word is in English (or Japanese).
2. IMDB: 7.2/10.0 from 134 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No Reviews Yet...' and 'No Score Yet...'
4. Netflix: 4.2/5.0 from 268,238 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Chris Cason.
6. Starring: Todd Haberkorn as Layfon Wolfstein Alseif, Monica Rial as Felli Loss, Brina Palencia as Nina Antalk.


2. Setup and Plot
1. This anime series is set on a planet that is not Earth.  Most of the planet is desert with poisoned air.  There are nomadic cities (called Regios) that travel across the deserts searching for minerals and water.  Cities are all walled and fortified, but some have large, skilled military contingents; others do not.  The cities share the desert with Contaminoids (Funimation's translation of 'filth monsters' in the Japanese), which have three life stages, and seem to enjoy killing any normal organic life.


2. Layfon was a Keeper of the Heaven's Blades in the military city of Glendan.  That is, he was one of the most elite fighters in a city dominated by the military arts.  He leaves Glendan (in disgrace, we later find out) and moves to the academic city of Zuellni.  He hopes to found a life for himself in business, and never do any military activity again.


3. Unfortunately, Kalian Loss, the president of the student council, dragoons Layfon into the small military arts section of the university.  As much as he tries, Layfon cannot hide his facility at using all three types of the magical energy kei: external (projectile weapons), internal (for rapid healing), psychokinetic (for telepathy, clairvoyance, and telekinesis).


4. Layfon is inserted into the 17th platoon.  To help with expenses, he works at night cleaning and maintaining some machine works with Nina Antalk, who is also his platoon's leader.  Kalian's sister Felli is an adept at using psychokinetic kei, and Layfon has many interactions with her.


5. Over the course of the series 24 episodes, Layfon and Nina get to know one another; Felli and Layfon do as well.  The 17th platoon gains status as Layfon merges into the team and starts to show his talents.  The Contaminoids wreak all sorts of destruction, including killing every human in one of the Regios.  Extermination of a city releases the  'electronic spirit' associated with the city; the spirit is then called a Fallen One.  The Fallen Ones create all sorts of destruction.


6. In Glendan, the Queen charges Leerin (Layfon's childhood friend from a common orphanage) to take a Heaven's Blade to Layfon.  Leerin is monumentally bad at doing this.


7. So...do the romances (Layfon and Felli, Layfon and Nina, Layfon and Leerin) get anywhere during the series?  Will the Fallen Ones be helped to find rest?  Will the Contaminoids destroy any more cities?  Will Layfon stay in Zuellni, or return to Glendan?


3. Conclusions
1. Link to episode by episode descriptions: episodes
2. Link to overview of series:  overview
3. One line summary: Swords and sorcery meet high technology on an alien planet.
4. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Art: 8/10 The episodes consistently look good.


2. Sound: 3/10 Oh, ouch! One needs to crank the sound up to hear the dialog, then return it close to mute to survive the music during the opening and closing credits and the mid-episode inter-titles.


3. Voice acting: 7/10 The voice performances for Layfon, Nina, Kalian, the Queen of Glendan, and the Queen's agents were rather good.  However, many of the lesser female characters had annoyingly screeching voice registers, and were hard to understand.  I recommend using subtitles, even if one has an English version playing.


4. Story: 6/10 There are several themes in the series that I did not refer to above, and at least two dozen named characters.  Some of the themes basically went nowhere, either because they were abandoned or because they were underdeveloped.  It also seemed to me that there were entirely too many characters.

20130831: Anime Review--King of Thorn

Name: King of Thorn (2009)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Anime, SciFi     Country of Origin: Japan

Cast: Kana Hanazawa as Kasumi Kashiki, Kousei Hirota as Alexandro Pecchino, Misaki Kuno as Alice, Tsutomu Isobe as Ivan Coral Vega, Toshiyuki Morikawa as Marco Owen.

Written and directed by: Kazuyoshi Katayama.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableau:
The Medusa virus has turned many people to stone, and the government has no cure in sight.  A few people are placed in cryosleep against the day when a vaccine is found.  The female heroine is one of the sleepers.  When she awakes, the world is not all that pleasant. The action starts with the disease spreading in the USA.

Delineation of conflicts: 
The Venus Gate Corporation, sponsors of the cold sleep, are led by religious fanatics who think the world is about to end (true in some sense in this film) and that they are the ones chosen to survive. Sadly, Venus Gate can only support 160 sleepers. The NSA thinks Venus Gate is a terrorist organisation, and plans to exact some sort of strong arm intervention when the sleep centre is opened.

At the cryogenic chambers at a remote castle in Scotland, the sleepers find out that a big automation program (Alice) will be monitoring them, so they do not have to worry about the attendants dying from Medusa.  The sleep is scheduled for 100 years, like 'Sleeping Beauty.'  Of the 160, all wake up OK, but 153 are killed by flesh-eating birds, and a massive carnivore in the elevator well.  Alice is unresponsive, and the Venus Gate staff are mostly dead.

The seven survivors attempt valiantly to free themselves from this terrible, dark, underground place filled with monsters. The party finds some truths and many lies along the way.  One of the truths was that the Venus Gate personnel were looking for individuals with strong obsessions, such as the character Marco, whose sister Laura dies early in the film.  Venus Gate, via some sort of mind control, hopes to harness the supernatural powers of the obsessed, and gain these powers for themselves.

This film is billed as adventure-horror, but it is neither. This is a psychological drama with supernatural overtones. The only real conflict ever in the film was the conflict within Kasumi about whether or not to decide to live.

Resolution: 
The protagonist, Kasumi Ishiki, is an infected girl whose twin sister Shizuku was not chosen for the cryosleep. The twins' parents died from Medusa, and Kasumi had tried to kill herself before. As the viewer watches the multiple layers of convoluted re-tellings of the same story, one sees that the central actor in all this is Kasumi with her obsession with death. The re-tellings are forced on the viewer as Kasumi finally releases herself from her obsession. All the death and destruction are supernatural collateral damage for this return to normal mental health.

One line summary: Psychological drama with supernatural overtones.

Statistics: 
Art: 10/10 Between good and wonderful at all times.

Sound: 9/10 Sufficient.  Some of it was exceptional.

Voice Actors: N/A Since I'm reading the subtitles, the best I can say is that they are not irritating, and the voice actors' voices seem to suit the ages and stages of the characters.

Screenplay: 10/10 . Almost two hours of psychological drama is usually way too much for me, so the writing was absolutely brilliant, since I watched the whole thing.

Final Rating: 9/10

20130831: Anime Review--Vexille

Vexille: 2077 Isolation of Japan

1. Fundamentals and reception
1. Japanese anime feature length film, 2007, NR, 109 minutes, original title 'Bekushiru: 2077 Nihon sakoku'
2. IMDB: 6.8/10.0 from 5,382 users
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 60%, but 'no consensus yet'; 66% liked it from 4,386 audience ratings.  One sentence summary: '...following female agent Vexille as she ventures into Tokyo to find out if the Japanese are developing robotic technology, which the U.N. has explicitly banned' ~Jason Buchanan, Rovi.
4. Directed by Fumihiko Sori, written by Haruka Handa and Fumihiko Sori.
5. Spoken language is Japanese, dubbed in English.
6. The film is made from a three dimensional animation engine.  It looks quite good, though the movements seem a little stiff at times. Some of the human figures look rotoscoped, and hence not at well-drawn as the robots, androids, and some other humans.  This is the weakest part of the film, but perhaps it saved on costs.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Backdrop: mid-21st century, all nations except Japan agree to stop android development.  Japan shuts itself off from the rest of the world in 2067, and continues robotic research and export, coming to dominate the market.  It also digs in and does android development in secret.  The story starts in 2077.
2. SWORD (headquartered in Los Angeles) versus Daiwa Robotics (inside Japan).  Commandos are sent to check on a high-level meeting regarding android development.
3. Lots of explosions, chases, bullets flying, and people dying.  During the first raid and blowup fight, one of the Daiwa agents escapes by means of cutting off his right leg.  The SWORD agents take the leg back to labs in LA HQ, and find that it's android, and in violation of all sorts of treaties.
4. SWORD mounts a commando insertion into Japan in order to pierce the jamming network, and get new images and intel about what is going on in Japan.  The rest of the world has been cut off for ten years.
5. This does not go well, but is not a total disaster.
6. What Vexille finds in Japan is rather alarming, and the news needs to get back to Los Angeles.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Foreign agents investigate 2077 Japan.
2. Nine of ten.


4. Statistics
Art: 9/10  I like the 3-d look.

Sound: 8/10 Good incidental music and foley.

Voice Actors: 10/10 The dubbing script is well-written, and the voice actors execute well.

Screenplay: 9/10 Well-constructed.  The story moves right along.

20130830: Anime Review--Gunbuster vs Diebuster

Name: Gunbuster vs Diebuster: Aim for the Top! (2004)
TMDb: link to Aim for the Top!

Genres: Adventure, Animé, SciFi   Country of Origin: Japan

Cast: Yukari Fukui as Nono, Maaya Sakamoto as Lal'C Mellk Mal, Miyuki Sawashiro as Tycho Science, Mitsuo Iwata as Nicholas Vacheron.

Directed by: Kazuya Tsurumaki.    Written by: Yoji Enokido.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: Nono is a young country girl who dreams of being a space pilot as the film starts.  She has a chance meeting with a real pilot.  She travels to the city, and tries to weasel her way into joining the fraternity of elite pilots.

Delineation of conflicts:  Nono is an outsider who has to gain the trust of the elite pilots.  Earth is attacked by an old enemy.  Earth is losing, and needs additional help.

Resolution: Once Nono discovers her true identity, will she be able to adapt quickly enough to save the day?

Statistics: 

Art: 7/10 Despite the 2004 release year, the art looks rather dated, perhaps early 90s or late 80s, pre-Cowboy Bebop.

Sound: 6/10 Spoken word is Japanese; subtitles are in English. Voices were OK, but the background music was annoying.  I relied on the voice for clues to the emotional states of the characters, but used the sub-titles for language.

Voice acting: 8/10 The voice actors were into it.

Screenplay: 2/10 Plot?  What plot?  Also, the protagonist was at first the quintessence of loser, while neither funny nor sympathetic.  Later the idiot protagonist becomes amazingly powerful.  Supposedly she's a leftover from lost high-technology from times past.  Anime explosions are fun, and there are lots of those.  I viewed the rest of the film in passive mode, as one might during a Gundam property.

Final Score: 6/10

20130817: Anime Series--Occult Academy

Name: Occult Academy (2010)
IMDb: link to Occult Academy page

Genres: Animé, supernatural, action, mystery  Country of origin: Japan

Directed by: Tomohiko Ito.

The Three Acts: 

The initial tableaux:
For the backdrop and character sketches, see Occult Academy (Wikipedia).  For short descriptions of individual episodes, try List of Occult Academy episodes.

The series is set in the Japan of 1999.  An alien invasion is to occur on 21 July 1999 unless somehow prevented.  The results are almost complete devastation of human civilization. Survivors from the future (2012) make multiple attempts to thwart the invasion of Earth by sending agents back in time to find and use the 'Nostradamus Key,' whatever that is.  The first five agents die trying.  The male protagonist is the sixth to attempt finding the key.

The female protagonist, Maya, is the daughter of the founder of Waldstein's Academy, better known as the Occult Academy.  She returns to the Academy after her father's death, and takes over as the school's principal.  The male lead, known to most as Abe Minoru, takes the disguise of a history teacher at the Academy.  Maya and Abe get off to a rough start, but eventually learn to work together.

Delineation of conflicts:
Most of the storyline is consumed by tracking down leads on the Key, describing Maya's difficult childhood, and describing Abe's difficult childhood.  Also, everyone involved is discouraged by Abe's ineffectual nature.

The Academy is beset by occult attacks.  Maya and Abe do their best to stop the attacks and mitigate the damage.  Earth is to be invaded, if the signs are to be believed.  This is the bigger threat, and the leads are, at first, terrible at preparing for it.

Resolution:
Abe and Maya are working against a date for the invasion.  The occult attacks have taken their time and attention.  Will they be ready for the bigger threat?  That is, will they find the Key, figure out how to use it, and have enough time to act?

One one summary: Determined young woman and a nebbish work against a hard deadline to save Earth.  Shorter: Young couple fight to save Earth.

Statistics:

Art: 8/10 Most of the art is gorgeous.  Other parts are prosaic to ordinary to amateurish.  Mature women and young women in their late teens are depicted skillfully.  Children and adult men are not.  Buildings, forests, roads, cars, and other objects are drawn well.

Sound: 8/10 reasonably good.  The background music was not irritating.

Screenplay: 10/10 The series could have been wrapped up in 8 or 9 episodes. Four filler episodes were inserted for no particular value, or so it would seem.  The plot was not all that gripping, until the end, which justified the entire series approach. This was one of the five or so best 'coming of age' treatments I've ever seen.

Final Rating: 9/10

20130809: Anime Series Review--Blast of Tempest

Blast of Tempest: The civilization Blaster

1. Japanese anime serial, two seasons, 24 episodes each 25 minutes, 2012.  Action, fantasy, mystery. Original title Zetsuen no Tempest.
2. Wikipedia gives fine details for character and episode descriptions.  Episode 13 featured a recap of the first 12 episodes, and the beginning and ending clips were updated.
3. IMDB rated the series as 6.8/10.0 for one critic.  The one review is a good one.
4. The series is set in 'modern' times on a world clearly not our own.  The basis of the story is that two great Trees battled one another in the past, with one winner, but both Trees badly wounded.  In the era of their recovery, human civilizations arose.  Those attuned to the Trees can practice magic.  The Trees are now awakening, and civilization is getting pulverized in the process.  A small number of specially trained individuals attempt to shape this awakening for the good of civilization.
5. This series is ruled by dialectic processes.  The Tree of Genesis versus the Tree of Exodus.  The two central human characters: Yoshino (intelligent, calculating, reclusive, quiet and courageous) versus Mohiro (entitled, unyielding, impulsive yet determined).  Physics versus magic.  Human civilization versus the sheer power of the two Trees.  Each Tree has a single human who is most strongly attuned to it; in a sense, the entire story is about the dialectic between those two individuals.
6. I usually do not care for flashbacks.  This series is one that I will cite in future as a huge exception.  There are perhaps 200 flashbacks (yes, around 10 per episode) in the series.  By the fourth or fifth episode, I lost my usual irritation at the flashbacks.  Well before the end of the series, I saw the brilliance of the execution, and welcomed every flashback as a well-timed back-fill of characterization or plot.
7. If you can, avoid reading spoilers.  I did, and the power of the final episodes was impressive.
8. Five stars of five.  I would recommend this series to anyone who likes anime or a long, good story.

Art: 10/10 Always between competent and exceptionally good, usually closer to the latter.  This was the most beautiful series I've seen in years.

Sound: 10/10 No complaints at all.

Screenplay: 10/10 Complicated, gripping, and brought to a satisfying conclusion in the last episode.

Characterization: 9/10 A few actions seemed a bit off, but not many.  There were around ten main characters, and well before the end I felt I knew them fairly well.  The last three episodes were exquisite for the final deepening and fulfillment of the characters.  The handling of interrelationships over time was a joy.

20130804: Anime Series Review--Hakkenden

Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East

1. Japanese anime series, 24 minute format, premiered 20130105.  Hulu+ streamed this in 'High' quality.  The episodes are sub-titled; spoken language is Japanese.  Supernatural goings on are par for the course during the series, as are fighting and confrontations.  Church property and church personnel are prominent in the series; so are excessive wealth, entrenched poverty, and references to plague.  The historical era seems on the feudal side.  There is no wide use of electricity or modern medicine, but I did see a revolver and an old style automobile.  So there are some industrial era elements.  Horses are still ridden.
2. The first series ran 13 episodes.  A second arc is to premiere in the summer of 2013.
3. According to the IMDB stub initial report this is the beginning of a remake of 108 episodes of a series that started in 1993.  The writer of the stub was considerably unhappy about the remake.
4. The current review is about the first arc of the 2013 version.  I have not seen the 1993 epic.  Even so, I would say that the 2013 version has more than enough 'Beautiful Men waving their swords' for my taste.  If I can get access to it, I'll attempt the 108 episode version from 1993, since it sounds more interesting.  But 108 episodes?  Hope it's good.
5. The story concerns eight half brothers each of whom hold a special bead with a word written inside it, such as 'devotion,' 'duty,' and so on.  These are about the size of marbles, are clear, and have different colours.  The brothers have been scattered to the winds by events in the past.  In the first 13 episode arc, they start to come together again.   There seems to be some importance to reuniting the beads as well as the brothers.
6. Many of the principal characters have losses to deal with, such as memory loss, loss of the ability to age, loss of half of one's soul, the loss of one's parents and friends, and so on.
7. The first 13 episodes seem devoted to character introduction, drawing together the 8 brothers, and filling in back story.  Wikipedia does a reasonable job summarizing episodes.
8. Taking this context forward in the next 13 episodes is still reasonably interesting, and might resolve some of my objections to the writing so far.
9. I rate the series as three stars of five for the first arc of 13 episodes.

One line summary: First 13 episodes of the remake of the 1993 fantasy classic.

Art: 9/10 was often excellent, but was sometimes pedestrian.

Sound: 8/10 was a plus for the most part.

Subtitles: 7/10 may have been a little off, judging from actions versus words in English.

Characterization: 5/10 left me a bit cold.  What do the characters remember?  This changes from one moment to the next, and from one lie to the next.

Screenplay: 5/10 too many flashbacks, too many unexplained characters and situations.

20130730_b: five mini-reviews

A. Beautiful Girls

1. Released in 1996, 7.1/10.0 for 21,130 users on IMDB, 78% on Rotten Tomatoes.
2. American theatrical film, rated R, 110 minutes, live action, competent color cinematography.
3. Stars Timothy Hutton, Annabeth Gish, Matt Dillon, Uma Thurman, Noah Emmerich, Lauren Holly, Martha Plimpton, Natalie Portman, Mira Sorvino.
4. Yet another ten year reunion picture, with highlights on broken dreams, stunted careers, and failure to launch.  The men are snafu, and women seem not to be getting what they might get in a richer environment.
5. The sweet chemistry of the scenes between actors Timothy Hutton and Natalie Portman eclipse almost everything else in the film, which is wall-to-wall malaise.  Their age difference (28 for him, 13 for her) is just too great.  However, it did remind me of Parrish (1961), where she (Paige Raike) was 15, he (Parrish McLean) was 18.  He joined the Navy, she finished high school.  Then they got together.  In contrast, I could not figure out any way for the Natalie-Timothy thing to work out.
6. I liked the actors on the whole.  The script seemed a bit diffuse, and the direction weak.
7. Three stars of five.

B. Occult Academy.

1. Japanese anime, released in 2010, 7.0/10.0 on IMDB from 53 users, 24 minute episodes.
2. The first two episodes were enjoyable; I rated them four of five stars.
3. Episode three was two stars of five, next to useless, and I am now stalled on finishing the series.

C. Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East

1. Japanese anime, serial episodes, premiered January 5, 2013; first season ended March 30, 2013.  Subtitles; no dubbing.  No IMDB entry.  Wikipedia: hakkenden
2. Episode 1: Borders
3. Dysfunctional families.  Dark, magical forests.  Talking birds and toads.  Children who cannot age physically. 
4. Three stars of five.  I'll try the second episode.

D. Kimikiss: Pure Rouge

1. Japanese anime, serial episodes, premiered October 2007, ended March 2008.  Subtitles; no dubbing.  Wikipedia: Kimikiss
2. Pleasant.  Art is OK.  Mostly about high school relationships, not sci-fi, horror, or magic.  That's refreshing.
3. Might watch the second episode.
4. Four stars of five.

E. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

1. Japanese anime, feature length.   101 minutes, released 2005.  IMDB gave it 7.2/10.0 from 39,249 users.  Rotten Tomatoes gave it 33%.
2. It's ugly.  Very.  Enormous, incredibly stupidly designed motorcycles are involved.  This is always a bad sign.  The 3-d modelling was, well, 2005.  That is, about as realistic as a plastic doll.
3. Another huge bad sign was the extra long introduction where the narrator was a child.
4. The background music was ridiculously bad.
5. The base level of graphical detail varies (all too frequently) from photographic realism to third rate animation art that one might see in the seventies.  The ongoing jarring visual discontinuities were dismaying at best.
6. The primary battle with a giant monster was right out of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.  The monster's existence made no sense, its ability to function was laughable, and its defeat was even less believable than the other parts.  How could anyone ask for less?
7. In another similarity with MMPR, motorcycles just be stupid...the way they are portrayed here.  Compare that with expertise with real motorcycles, say Steve McQueen in The Great Escape.
8. The sword battles were beneath pitiful.
9. Some of the final music was so inappropriate that I'd have to say this is the worst anime I've ever seen.
10. One star of five.  It deserved much less.

20130713: 5 mini reviews

A. (netflix) Crawlspace, 2011, 86 minutes, live action theatrical film

1. Amber Clayton, Ditch Davey, Peta Sergeant
2. Mystery, Science Fiction, conspiracy, horror, suspense, psychological tomfoolery.
3. Set in Australia; dangerous experimentation done at a secret laboratory.  Elite military unit is sent in to sort things out.
4. IMDB rated it 4.5/10.0; Rotten Tomatoes rated it 23%.
5. Rated it three stars of five.  Some parts were rather nice, others too murky.

B.  (hulu+) Darker Than Black, anime episodic series, science fiction, crime procedural.

1. Season 1, 26 episodes; Season 2, 12 episodes available on hulu; 2007, 2008
2. Rated 7.9/10.0 on IMDB for 2,990 reviews (almost three thousand).
3. After an unexplained astronomical event, the sky is changed over Japan, and some areas become off-limits for their effects on humans.  That is, some are changed into supernatural creatures, called contractors.  For some group of unexplained reasons, the contractors are all used by criminals for nefarious purposes.  I have yet to see the explanation for this.  Why would the contractors not just exterminate the bosses for high sport?  On the surface, there are the cops and robbers elements (visual themes, habits, speech), then there is also the randomizing effects of the contractors.
4. I've seen half a dozen episodes.  It's good enough to continue, but I have not decided whether my overall rating would be three or four stars of five.

C. (hulu+)  Hiiro no Kakera, anime episodic series, supernatural, coming of age.

1. Rated 8.1/10.0 on IMDB for 29 (one less than thirty)
2. Season 1, 13 episodes; season 2, 13 episodes; all in 2012.
3. Protagonist is teenaged Tamaki Kusaga.  Her parents went to Africa for some sort of noble purpose, or so they say.  Tamaki is abandoned, well, dispatched to her grandmother's estate in the sticks.  As soon as she sets foot on the property, she's attacked by local spirits.  A stranger helps her fight off the attackers, and escorts her to her new home.  The stranger is a member of a family allied to hers.  She soon meets four additional protectors, and starts the process of getting to know her challenges and how to deal with them.
4. I've seen two episodes of 26 total, so far.  I'm not yet convinced that it is worth finishing, but it's good enough to try a few more.

D. (hulu+) Primeval: New World

1. Season 1, episode 5; live action, science fiction, time travel.
2. Two reptilian predators (wolf-sized and wolfish; lycaenops) come through anomalies.  There seems to be no way to send them back, and the team ends up killing them.  The 'butterfly effect' is discussed but not invoked, making me wonder when it will be.
3. As usual, four stars out of five. 

E. (hulu+) Dark Metropolis

1. 86 minutes, live action film released in 2010.
2. IMDB rated it 2.3/10.0 from 226 users.
3. Wow.  Terrible describes the script, the acting, the lighting, the direction, and any sense of taste.
4. I gave this one star of five, since I might want to excoriate this on hulu later.  One star was too many.

20130612: 4 mini Reviews

20130612, mercredi

A. House at the End of the Street

1. 2012, 100 minutes, horror, thriller, mystery
2. Jennifer Lawrence, Max Thieriot, Elisabeth Shue, Gil Bellows
3. I rated it three stars of five.
4. Jennifer Lawrence was the center, and did reasonably well.  Neither Elisabeth Shue nor Gil Bellows had many good lines.  Max Thieriot was OK but not great as the evil doer.

B. The Glades (TV series, CSI meets romantic comedy)

1. I finished the first three seasons this weekend.
2. Had a good time watching it: the visuals were nice, the actors congenial, the writing mostly fun and not too unlikely.
3. Three seasons was enough, though.  I will likely not watch any of the fourth season.

C. Soul Eater (TV series, anime, horror, the supernatural, comedy)

1. The anime series comes in 4 parts, for a total of 13 + 13 + 13 + 12 = 51 episodes.
2. The underlying manga has run from June 2004 to at least September 2013.
3. I'm about half way through the third part.
4. For writing, humor, and visuals, this is the best anime series I've ever seen.

D. Hemlock Grove (TV series, live action, Netflix original, 2013, horror and the supernatural)

1. I'm in the ninth episode.  Each episode runs about 43 minutes.
2. So far, good writing, good acting, good plots, and wonderful visuals. 
3. Dougray Scott and Famke Janssen are great as the adult leads.  In general, the acting is excellent.  Bill Skarsgard and Landon Liboiron were particularly engaging.
4. This series is not for the faint of heart.  There is more than enough butchery of the human form, self-mutilation, alcohol abuse, generalized anger and mistrust, nightmares, and horrid corporate goals.
5. I hope the conclusion of the series is as good as its progress to the ninth episode.