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Reviews
Koi kaze (2004)
True Love
Let me start this review by saying Koi Kaze is the most depressing story I've ever seen. A love that cannot blossom does just that gradually throughout the series, with the viewers sense of dread building along with the story. This isn't for kids.
There will be MINOR spoilers when I'm describing the story/characters since I'm feeling a little chatty. :) Plot: 9.7 -- The plot of Kai Koze is very simple: A brother and a sister who haven't seen each other since they were very little start living together (along with their father) when 15 year old Nanoka (who had been living with the siblings mother) needs to move closer to her new school. The brother, Koshiro, is 27, meaning there's a 12 year age gap between the siblings. The two instantly have a connection and feelings for each other that go above simple friendship/family feelings.
Before the pair learn they are brother and sister, they bump into each other on a train after Nanoka drops her ID card. They later randomly bump into each again, ending up going together to an amusement park since Koshiro had just been given 2 tickets. They end up having a heart to heart, telling each other about their love problems, Koshiro ending up crying. They find out they are siblings when their dad meets them together as they're exiting the amusement park.
Koshiro's initial reaction to the sister revelation is to be nasty to her, hiding the conflict going on inside himself. He doesn't want to face up to his feelings for her, choosing instead to simply act like a bad brother. Nanako, being young and naive, initially has no idea about Koshiro's feelings and doesn't understand her own, leading her to be confused about Koshiro's transformation from nice guy to bad brother. She does manage to discover he does care for her due to his actions - Concerned when she has period cramps, worried when she's out in the rain, jealous when she's talking to boys, etc.
As you might have worked out after reading the above, Koi Kaze deals with a taboo subject without really holding back. That doesn't mean incest is glorified here (if anything it's the opposite since the story is tragic); what it does is show a true love that can never be in this world. Both parties don't want to feel how they do, they just do and cannot change it.
The series progresses at a slow pace as their relationship develops. At first it bothered me that nothing seemed to be happening, but once it gripped me the episodes seemed to be going much faster. Give it chance before dropping it.
Characters: 9.7/10 -- With the focus being on the love between two siblings, the two get a lot of attention.
Koshiro is constantly in conflict with himself throughout the series. His brain knows what he's thinking and doing is wrong, yet his heart tells him otherwise. He tries to hide his inner conflict from Nanako by simply being a bad brother at first, attempting to push her away. His guilt over how he feels eventually drops down and allows him to be VERY friendly with her, but he still knows it's wrong to think and feel how he does about his kid sister.
Nanako, on the other hand, doesn't have the same conflict Koshiro has going on right from the start. Being naive, she takes his aggressive attitude as nothing more than him being a bad brother, not able to understand what reason he could possibly have to act the way he does. She does eventually start to understand that her own feelings are above and beyond sisterly love, leading to the feelings of both coming out in the open.
Both characters have a lot of depth, as you'd expect. The rest of the cast don't really get fleshed out very much, but that doesn't matter an awful lot when the 2 most important characters do get fully fleshed out, hence the high rating.
Art / Animation: 8.5/10 -- It looks and moves good enough for a show without any action sequences. The art, while not of the highest level, looks good enough to make Nanako look like the most cute thing I've ever seen.
There's no problems, the series is in wide-screen and looks more than good enough for a series that doesn't need fights to drive it.
Sound: 8.5/10 -- I didn't like the soundtrack very much at first due to there not being many tracks that stand out. However, on reflection, I understand that the music used was pretty much perfect for this type of show - It's irrelevant how many tracks there are that I'd listen to away from the series; the only thing that matters is that the music fits the series and sets the right mood for whatever scene it's playing during, which the Koi Kaze soundtrack does.
Total: 9.1/10 -- Overall, Koi Kaze is one the best series I've ever watched...along with I being the most depressing and one of the most unsettling. If you can handle a tragic story, this series is unmissable.
Gankutsu-ô (2004)
The Path to Despair
Plot: 9.7/10 -- Not having read the novel prior to starting this, I had no idea what to expect. I knew about certain vague details, such as a young man becoming fascinated with Monte Cristo, but that's all.
The setting was quite a shock, with the story taking place in the year 5053, where as the novel takes place during the 1800's. It was a further surprise to discover the story started on the moon. I do kinda wish the story had been told in the 1800's instead since very few details are given about the futuristic universe and the setting becomes more of a distraction than anything.
In a nutshell, Gankutsuou is a fairly simple revenge story that's executed extremely well. The Count is kind on the surface, yet you can tell there's a hatred inside him waiting to explode. He manipulates and kills as his plan to bring those who wronged him to despair is slowly revealed. There's a twist added to his character in the form of a sort of pact with the devil - He gained the power to get revenge by giving his soul and body in exchange, meaning he loses his humanity bit by bit while getting his revenge.
In order to add mystery to the Count's character, the story is not told from his perspective (unlike in the book). Instead, the story is told from the perspective of Albert, a young noble and son of a powerful general. This brings both bad and good points - The good being the added mystery and a different angle on the story, the bad being Albert having the IQ of a dog. I wanted to kill him when he failed to work out that it was in fact the Count pulling the strings behind the awful sequence of events unfolding around him for the 10th time.
The story was a wonderful ride. A timeless classic with artistic differences, it was executed excellently, at times perfectly. You do have to wait for the 'main event' before you discover just how amazingly well told the story is, the first half in particular being nearly all build up, but I still felt compelled to keep watching even without any major twists/events occurring.
Characters: 9.3 -- This is a tough one. I liked pretty much the entire cast...apart from the main character, Albert. Although I knew he had to be retarded for the sake of the plot, his stupidity and inability to see the obvious became very annoying. You'd think he'd be able to put 2 and 2 together when the Count just randomly kept appearing and the Count himself had told Albert that there were no coincidences! As I said, I liked the other characters. The Count is easily one of my favourite characters ever, Franz made up for Albert's lack of intelligence by being very bright, Eugene made Albert's character more interesting with their love for one another... Everyone else was great.
Art: 9.7/10, Animation: 9.7/10 -- The first thing that hits you about Gankutsuou is the rather bizarre CG effect clothing and hair has. The effect is hard to put into words; it's as if the character is reflective. It certainly takes a few episodes to get used to it. If nothing else, you have to praise the studio behind Gankutsuou (Gonzo?) for the huge amount of effort they put in.
The second thing to hit you is the bright range of colours used. If, like me, you went into Gankutsuou expecting to see dark and dull colours you'd be completely wrong since it's anything but dull, vibrant being a much better description.
Gankutsuou also has a fair amount of CG outside of the clothing/hair effect, including some epic mecha fights. The CG stuff is stunning at times, almost jaw dropping for a TV series.
Overall, Gankutsuou is a joy to watch...once you get used to it. Production values were clearly not low here.
Sound: 9.5/10 -- First of all, let me say that I didn't think very much of the OP or ED. The OP, while fitting, was so dull and slow I had to skip it after watching it once.
The soundtrack is very high quality, as you'd expect. There aren't too many tracks I'd listen to outside of the series (although there is one AMAZING track), but the music fitted the show like a glove and helped keep the story epic.
I have to mention track 18, one of the best pieces of music I've ever listened to. It was almost orgasmic to listen to when it played during the best episode in the series (strangely enough, episode 18!!!), making it even more thrilling than it was already.
Total: 9.6/10 Having watched a fair amount of anime, I'm hard to please. Gankutsuou pleased me.
I'm not sure if it's the best anime I've watched, but it certainly had the best episode of anime I've ever watched (episode 18 ), one of the best fights (episode 18 ), one of the best characters (the Count) and one of the best pieces of music (track 18 ). It's, quite simply, a stunning anime that EVERYONE should watch.
Noein: Mô hitori no kimi he (2005)
Complex Universe... x100
Plot: 8.5/10 -- Rich in detail and very complex. The idea of different universes existing for every choice, with the you in that universe going down a different path, is truly fascinating.
I have to mark it down a little because of the slow pacing and unexplained elements of the story. However, I'm sure someone who has a better understanding of quantum physics would add 0.5 to this rating.
Characters: 9.7/10 -- Watching the main characters develop in Noein is different than in any other anime I've watched. You see how they *possibly* look and act in the future throughout the show (sometimes even more than one possible future version), which creates thoughts and shows the characters from different angles.
My favourite characters were not the main two (Haruka and Yuu), my favourites instead being Ai and Isami. It's both funny and cute seeing them try to hide their feelings for each other as the series progresses, Ai being a fiery red/orange-head and Isami being your average male - Unable to pick-up on signals. Isami's character is probably my favourite due to the future versions of him shown.
The only real bad character point I can think of is Yuu's character - He gets quite annoying with his attitude. The annoyance is worsened by slow plot progression.
Art: 9.5/10, Animation: 9.5/10 -- I can't rate art and animation accurately since I know nothing about it.
Noein looked amazing and fairly unique to me from the moment I first saw it. The start of the show showed that it obviously had quite a big budget, combining CG with excellent art and animation. The show kept up the high quality visuals until the end, although the less important episodes didn't get the attention the more important ones did.
Sound: 9/10 -- I'm probably being quite harsh here - The soundtrack is outstanding. The the choral battle/action music really gets you excited, the dramatic music does its job, the cute/funny music is fun to listen to... It's all great. My only reason for not rating higher is because there aren't too many tracks I'd want to listen to when not watching the series.
Total: 9.2/10 -- All in all, an amazing series. This is a series every anime fan should watch.
Death Note - Desu nôto: The Last Name (2006)
Worth your time, if only for the ending
First of all, some information for people who don't know about Death Note: This movie only goes up to chapter 58/108 of the manga and 25/37 of the anime. However, from what I understand, only the placement of the ending and the events leading up to it changed from what happened in the manga/anime.
The most notable change before the ending is Takada's role in the story. In the manga/anime plot it's a character called Higuchi, an executive in a corporation called Yotsuba, who plays the role of the third Kira. Takada doesn't play a key role in the manga/anime until near the end.
I felt extremely annoyed after watching the first Death Note movie. The people behind the movie seemed determined to butcher the movies with their own plot and poor characters, which is stupid when the source material is loved.
The second movie started in pretty much the the same way, the Sakura TV incident receiving much butchering and retardation for no apparent reason. Thankfully, it did start to pick up after the conversation between Light and Misa was near enough copied word for word from the source material...even the alterations that happened after Light/Misa scene started to show dramatic improvement.
The best part the movie? The ending. I won't spoil it for you, I'll just say that many Death Note fans prefer the ending of this movie to the ending of the manga. My rating went from 7/10 to 8/10 for what happened in the last 20-30 minutes.