Yawara! Preview DVD This is feel-good entertainment without all of the treacly baggage, and things simply don't get much better than that. 2008-01-17
Buried Treasure - Virtua Fighter Stupid anime adaptations of plotless fighting games are usually terrible, but this week's Buried Treasure is awesome, despite still being pretty stupid. 2008-01-17
Shelf Life - Hell's Bells This week, only the best of the best of the best! At least in somebody's eyes.
- Hell Girl v.2
- Phoenix v.1
- Suzuka v.5
- Welcome to the NHK v.2
Pumpkin Scissors GN 1 This action series about a military unit dedicated to war relief gets off to a solid start by featuring strong lead characters, a good concept, and occasional small touches of humor. The anime version is slightly better, however.
Glass Fleet DVD 2 The second volume inserts a few more players into this tale of war between aristocrats and commoners in space, but otherwise maintains the exact same mix of mild entertainment, bad drama and predictable politics.
Hikkatsu! GN 1 It may not be the best-looking or most entertaining manga title out there, but it has good enough comic timing with its quirky sense of humor to qualify as a satisfying light read.
Hell Girl DVD 1-2 This series is good for a scare, but it also comes with a whole lot of repetition.
Freedom Sub.DVDs 1-3 Once you get past the price issue, the series swims in anime goodness. A merely pretty good opening episode improves into very good second and third episodes which will doubtless leave viewers wanting more.
Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: The Hidden One Year War Sub.DVD 1 Its ill-fated experimentations with fully 3D CG animation and motion-capture acting so overpower its modest merits that it is more of a footnote than a landmark in the history of the Gundam franchise.
Casshern (live action) DVD Kazuaki Kiriya's 2004 live-action re-envisioning of the 1973 anime of the same name is a clanking behemoth of a movie, made with big ambitions and little skill.
Simoun Sub.DVD 1 Though it unabashedly advertises itself as a yuri series, the first six episodes have enough other merits to stand as an interesting sci fi series in general. It offers some decidedly unusual twists on standard fighter-pilot fare.
Girls High Sub. DVD 3 As if learning its lesson from the dreary stab it took at drama last volume, Girl's High returns to what it does best for its final installment: serving up a plain old good time.