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Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam Collection Two on Blu-ray (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : March 11, 2016
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Category: Reviews

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mobile-suit-zeta-gundamTitle: Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam Collection Two on Blu-ray

Director: Yoshiyuki Tomino

Studio: Sunrise

U. S. Distributor: Nozomi/ Right Stuf

U. S. Release Date: April 5th, 2016

Format: Blu-ray / 25 Episodes / 625 Minutes

Genre: Mecha, Sci Fi

Age Rating: TV14

Overall Personal Rating: B

Synopsis:

A new force enters the Universal Century conflict. Can the A.E.U.G. fight a war on two fronts?

The Universal Century world is locked into an escalating conflict. While the A.E.U.G. resistance group strives to convince the world of the justice of its cause, the brutal Titans continue to suppress dissent through violence and fear. Now the struggle enters a new phase as a powerful third force enters the battlefield, and the A.E.U.G. and Titans race to enlist the support of the mysterious Axis renegades. Confronted with his past, Char Aznable at last decides to embrace his role as leader of the A.E.U.G. But his choice may have come too late, for the Titans have completed their most terrible and devastating weapon.

Commentary:

In the world know as Gundam there are often conflicting messages, but one thing stands true, women make great shields. I think Zeta has the greatest body count of martyrs than any other Gundam series. The one thing that runs through most of this plot devise is that most of them die for the wrong person.

Zeta Gundam is still one of my favorite series of the franchise and yet it manages to frustrate me and remind me how backward much of the mindset set was back in the 1980’s. I am not proud to say that I come from the era and less proud to relive the foolishness that was viewed as high entertainment in the anime world,

Overall Grade: B

The series as a whole is good enough and is clearly a stand out in the Gundam universe. I know that there are a good deal of fans that will climb over each other to get their hands on this series and plenty that will stand back and scratch their heads. I do understand the fandom, I may not always agree with it but I get it.

So, all you Gundam fan get your Zeta hats on and get ready for part two of the Mobile Suite Zeta Gundam series to hit the store shelves. I know you will like it.

When They Cry: Complete Collection Season One on Blu-ray (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : March 2, 2016
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Category: Reviews

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when-they-cry-1Review provided by Andrew and Katie

Title: When They Cry: Complete Collection Season One on Blu-ray

Director: Chiaki Kon

Studio: Studio Deen

Author: Ryukishi07

U.S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks / Section 23

U.S. Release Date: March 15, 2016

Format and Length: Blu-ray / 26 Episodes / 650 Minutes

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Psychological, Supernatural, Thriller

Industry Age Rating: 17 and up

Overall Personal Rating: A+

Similar Series or Titles to Check Out: Elfen Lied, Another, and Future Diary

Synopsis:

Moving to the picturesque town of Hinamizawa is going to be a big adjustment for Keiichi Maebara. For all its beauty, it is also very small, so small that there’s only one school, one where most of the students have known each other all their lives.

Fortunately, he soon meets four girls… Rena, Mion, Satoko, and Rika, who are willing to let the new guy in town join their afterschool club. And for a while, things seem wonderful. Until Keiichi starts discovering strange things, like when the project manager for a controversial dam project was found dismembered five years ago.

As he digs deeper, there are whispers and rumors of other murders and disappearances, stories of a town curse, and mysterious rituals. And then people he knows start to die. What secrets have the people of Hinamizawa kept hidden from the rest of the world? Could his new friends somehow be involved? The shocking answers to these and other questions will be revealed in When They Cry: Complete Collection!

Commentary:

When They Cry: Complete Collection epitomizes how you should never judge something by its cover. It looks like a simple, generic harem series at first glance; however When They Cry: Complete Collection is anything but that. When They Cry: Complete Collection is nothing short of genius and the whole setting, atmosphere, and mood are incredibly well executed. The plot may seem simple at first with a new kid moving to a strange, new town and meeting new friends but beneath the exterior appearance of this seemingly tame series lays a dark story of murder, violence, and mystery.

When They Cry: Complete Collection has a plot that consists of arcs. Although these arcs seem disjointed at first, it is all part of the plot and is actually an important part of solving the mystery of the Hinamizawa murders. However, When They Cry: Complete Collection is not a simple, generic murder mystery where the solutions are force fed to us. It is up to us to decide between what is true and what is not. This way we think and interact with the story. Each arc has a twisted finish that will leave you saying, “What just happened?”.

While When They Cry: Complete Collection is full of mentally instable characters, however they are extremely well written and developed. Luckily, the mental instability of the main characters does not take away from their personality and interaction. Each and every character serves a purpose to the plot in some way, shape, or form so be sure to pay attention to what a character does in different arcs.

The animation was normal for the age of the series but the background animation was breathtaking. The opening and closing songs were amazing and fit the series perfectly. The voice actors filled the series with psychotic laughter, blood-curling screams, and extremely cute voices in order to bring the characters to life.

Extras:

When They Cry: Complete Collection includes clean opening and closing animations and Sentai Filmworks trailers as special features. When They Cry: Complete Collection has both English and Japanese with English subtitles as language options.

Overall Grade: A+

I cannot begin to explain how excited I am that Sentai Filmworks licensed When They Cry: Complete Collection! I hope they release the rest of the series so that we can learn what else happens. I recommend that you watch When They Cry: Complete Collection if you enjoy the horror or psychological thriller genre. You will not be disappointed.

 

 

 

Love Live! Anime Review

Posted by :Joann On : March 1, 2016
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Category: Reviews

Title: Love Live! School Idol Project

 

imagePublisher: NIS America

Format: Blu-ray English language sub and/or dub, 2 disc, 13 episodes

U. S. Release Date: February 14, 2016

Genre: Comedy

Age Rating: 13+

Overall Personal Rating: A-

Synopsis:

Otonokizaka Academy is a small high school for girls. Enrollment has been dropping for years. Finally the school directors decide it is time to close the school. They will not have a freshman class next year but allow the current students to finish until graduation. This makes some of the students very unhappy.  Honoka’s grandmother and mother went to that school and it breaks her heart to think of the school closing. She sees that other schools seem so vibrant and attract new students because they have school idol singing groups. So, why not them?

She begins a group with a few of her friends.  It isn’t just singing they need to do. Having to work within the school’s authority, they have to form a club, find a place to practice, design costumes, get in shape, create songs and dances. They also need to find an audience and ways to get their act to be noticed. Along the way, they gather more members to join in their mission to save the school.

Commentary:

Love Live! is an anime comedy with a mission. The girls always have a goal they are working towards. Let me tell you, they don’t always achieve what they aim to. I think this was a positive for the series. It wasn’t all “Hey, let’s be enthusiastic and win at everything.” It keeps it all fresh because we can’t predict what will happen.

This anime is about connection and friendships. All the girls came to the group by different places in their lives, with a variety of reasons. As they were gathered into the group, their different talents all melded together. Not everyone was perfect, their is some attitude and self serving motives, but by working together towards a goal, they not only made friends, but learned about themselves. This lead to character growth which really is important to me.

Visually, I like the look of this anime. It is has the bright saturated colors and cute, but not chibi, style.  I also like the details in the back ground. There is a lot going on that really sets the stage for the drama. There is sort of a upgraded realism. For example, the cherry blossoms were falling for a longer time than probably possible, but for setting the mood, it was awesome.

This is a music themed story, and I think the stage performances were great. The music is the peppy pop that idols are known for, sung in a mix of cute to squeaky voices. The songs are sung in Japanese, which I glad they kept. J-pop translated in English never retains the energy and feel of the original.

I think a wide variety of people could enjoy this. I have already met both male and female viewers who enjoy the series. This is for the anime fan who likes comedy, or J-pop, or uplifting stories.

Overall Grade: A-  A cute anime with lots of heart and shojo enthusiasm to bring you a smile.

If you like Love Live!, I think Tamako’s Market or K-ON  would be ones to int rest you.

 

 

Celestial Method (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : February 27, 2016
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celestial-methodTitle: Celestial Method the Complete Series on Blu-ray

Director: Masayuki Sakoi

Writer: Naoki Hisaya

Studio: Studio 3Hz

U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U. S. Release Date: March 22nd, 2016

Genre: Slice of Life, Fantasy

Age Rating: TV PG

Overall Personal Rating: A

Synopsis:

It’s been seven years since Nonoka Komiya last lived in Lake Kiriya City. However, while she knew that there would be changes in the town, she’s still unprepared for what she finds upon her return: A giant saucer hovers over the entire city, as it has since shortly after she and her family left.

Stranger yet, a girl she doesn’t know, Noel, is waiting for her, claiming that they have met before. Confused, Nonaka tries to focus on reconnecting with her old friends, but odd memories, suppressed in the wake of her mother’s death, begin to float to the top of her consciousness.

Can it be that she has met Noel before? And how does this connect with the appearance of the saucer itself? To solve the riddle, Nonoka must join with her friends and rediscover the events that occurred before she left Lake Kiriya. Because there’s more than a mystery that must be solved: there’s a promise that has to be kept in Celestial Method.

Commentary:

There is one thin that can be said about anime and that is that it covers a great deal of ground from hard edge dramas to silly strange comedies. Celestial Method is a series that is dear and sweet that explores friendship and the bonds that transcend space and time. There is also a very buhhdist  idealism running through it regarding connections and happiness.

I found much of Celestial Method to be a reminder of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day in how it approached the groups of friends but with the group not being so damaged there was a sweeter side of them coming back together. This kindness made the series a great fit for the younger audience.

Overall Grade: A

I realize that it might seem strange seeing Celestial Method as a top notch anime, but there is something very simple and heartwarming about it that made it great. Celestial Method is another example of a anime geared toward a younger audience that was not  given and English dud and that for me is a great mishap. I know that older viewers won’t have any issues with the subtitles, but it would be wonderful if there was a English dub for those viewers under 11 or 12. Over the last 12 to 18 months there have been a good number of anime that fall into that category and each one of them have been solid titles that would have helped foster a new generation of anime fans. Alas, they will just have to wait until they are older and only want to do sub-titles.

As you can read, I really like Celestial Method. It is a solid little anime which offers a tad bit of a tear jerk at the end, but all in all it reminds you of the friendship. So, if you are in the mood for heartwarming story about a small group of friends then Celestial Method is something you should see.

Space Brothers Collection 7 (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : February 20, 2016
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Category: Reviews

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space-brothers-7Title: Space Brothers Collection 7 on Blu-ray

Director: Ayumu Watanabe

Music By: Toshiyuki Watanabe

Studio: A-1 Pictures

U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U. S. Release Date: February 16th, 2016

Format: Blu-ray / 11 episodes / 275 minutes

Genre: Sci Fi, Slice of Life, Action, Drama

Age Rating: TV 14

Overall Personal Grade: A

Synopsis:

Whether in the planning rooms for lunar missions or the claustrophobic steel confines of an undersea laboratory, the one thing that every astronaut must learn to deal with is pressure.

But as deadly as the blowout of a pressurized cabin may be, the peer pressure that weighs on brothers Mutta and Hibito may be even more crippling. As Mutta prepares to journey to the bottom of the deep blue sea for NEEMO training, Hibito’s path descends to even lower depths as his inability to recover sends him into a downward emotional spiral. Will a trip to Russia be the cure for Hibito’s malaise?

Or, having once reached the stars, will he now end up forever grounded by NASA and JAXA? Yet even as one rising star falters, a second prepares for his ascent to the heavens as Mutta’s quest to reach space advances to the next level in the seventh spellbinding collection of Space Brothers!

Commentary:

I know that by saying how much I like Space Brother makes me sound like a broken record, but the simple fact is that it is one of the more humanistic slide of life series I have seen. It doesn’t just tel a story to make you cry or be happy. Space Brothers comes at you with real life lesson that make you stop and think about your own life and how you might react in the same situation. Space Brothers collection seven provides us with more trials and tribulations for the brothers and also give us a glimpse at what it means to be a brother, either a younger one of a big brother. There is something special about family that has a universal understanding about it.

I had my concerns that with a series this long that it will lose it’s way and either become a silly redundant story about brotherhood and achieving dreams. Instead it gives us a plot line that makes thing tough for both brothers and shows us how life can be about choices and decisions rather than just dumb luck.

Overall Grade: A

Again these 12 episodes put you in the mood to stand up and applaud what you have just watched. Space Brothers is written by a person who have experience life in a way that makes it interesting with a understanding of the universal struggles that we all go through from fear, anger, frustration and competition against friends. I was impressed how each emotion was brought out and exposed in both of the brothers. There is also the aspect of understanding and friendship that comes into play for each. I found myself looking at myself and trying to see when I was in a situation like this. No I am not an astronaut and yes these struggles are not the same for everyone, but when you watch the series and get to these episodes you will understand what I am saying.

This is a great series and I know most anime fans will not even care about it. It may not be Free or Attack on Titan, but it much better. Space Brothers is about us, humanity and how we go about working toward our dreams. So, if you are looking for a heart warming series that gives you more to think about than how many bad guys get killed then you really need to pick this up. Be sure to start from the beginning. You will thank me later.

Bring on the last collection!!!!!!!

 

Wolf Girl & Black Prince Anime Review

Posted by :Joann On : February 17, 2016
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Category: Reviews

Tags:,

1Title: Wolf Girl & Black Prince

Directed By: Kenichi Kasai

Created By: Ayuko Hatta

U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks

U. S. Release Date: March 8, 2016

Format Blu-ray /12 episodes  / 300 minutes

Genre: comedic romance

Age Rating: 14

Overall Personal Rating: B+

Synopsis: 

Erika is just starting high school and is determined to have friends. In order to achieve this, when the girls she sits next to her do almost nothing but talk about their boyfriends, she invents one for herself. Once they start to doubt, she needs proof. Snapping a picture on the street of a cute guy should do the trick…unfortunately he turns out to be, Kyoya, a student at her school. She then begs him to play along with her story, and he agrees with one condition, she has to be his “dog” and do whatever he says.

Kyoya is considered really cute by the school’s female population. He has plenty of girls interested in him, but he doesn’t seem interested in any of them. In fact, he doesn’t seem to care about much. He comes across rather arrogant and hateful.  Now Erika is stuck with walking home with him. Ever the optimistic, she tries to be cheerful in this odd situation. No matter what, the charade must go on… really?

Commentary:

Wolf Girl & Black Prince is a high school comedic romance. So, even though the plot and even the Blu-ray cover jacket hint at things going to far, they don’t. True, they talk about some sexual relationships, it is not part of the anime. There is nothing worse than one would see on some evening TV teen show.

The thing that bothered me about this show was the story premise that he is going to treat her like a dog. When he treats her badly, she still wants to be around him and take it. Sure, there is a background story that explains his attitude, but I really hate the idea that books and shows set an example of staying relationships with a guy that is abusive. I don’t mean Kyoya physically hurts her, but he is very mean in the beginning, even making Erika cry. On purpose. She had the chance to date a nice guy and didn’t take it, hoping that Kyoya will change. I do understand why she took it, I just wish it wasn’t so in the cultures of the world.

Okay, so if I ignore the fact that Erika should have gotten away from him and stop trying to hide the fact that she lied, it was an enjoyable show.  It was the characters taking us along with the events that made it all work so well. Erika is such a sweet and eager character that it is easy to cheer for her. She has the soul of a dreamer and wants the best years out of high school. She just makes some bad choices when she lies to fit in. Kyoya, well, in the beginning, he’s enough to make a viewer hate him, but there is something about him. More than his looks, and it might be as stupid as the bad boy attitude, but there is this hint of deeper understanding and being beyond the high school social games. The skill of portraying him is one of the elements I appreciated.

I enjoyed the animation style. It has the exaggerated realism current of today. A good employment of the anime tools worked well to express the situation or what was on people’s minds.

I was trying to think for whom I’d recommend  this anime . So if you like Ouran High School or Fruits Basket, I think you could  also enjoy Wolf Girl & Black Prince.

Overall Grade: B+

 

 

Wizard Barristers (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : February 14, 2016
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Category: Reviews

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-wizard-barristersTitle: Wizard Barristers Complete Collection on Blu-ray

Directed By: Yasuomi Umetsu

Written By: Michiko Itou

Music By: Kayo Konishi, Yukio Kondoo

Studio: Arms

U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U. S. Release Date: March 1st, 2016

Format: Blu-ray / 12 Episodes / 300 Minutes

Genre: Supernatural, Action, Drama, Mystery

Age Rating: TV 14

Overall Personal Rating: A-

 

Synopsis:

When the laws of magic are broken, it’s the duty of the Police Department’s deadly Section 1 to enforce them. But, since even craven maven Wizards and nefarious Necromancers have the right to a fair trial, the job of defending them belongs to the Benmashi, the Wizard Barristers!

It’s a tricky profession, requiring both arcane ability and a judicious sense of jurisprudence, and at just seventeen, Cecil Sudo is the youngest Benmashi that Butterfly Law has ever employed. That means a lot of late nights burning the midnight brimstone, summoning up summaries, parsing phrases with paranormal paralegals and cutting deals with opposing counsels from hell.

And when a young Benmashi starts to discover that her own charm may be more magically-based than she realized, there’ll be a hex-tra incentive to work wonders outside the courtroom as well! Every trial is a witch trial as the most enchantingly Adept Attorney ever becomes a Master of the Art of Defensive Spells in Wizard Barristers!

Commentary:

Okay, I know that there are some of you that think I am crazy for giving such a high grade to Wizards Barristers. The truth is that I found it rather appealing. I saw it as a true amalgamation of a lot of anime and western pop culture. Right off the bat I saw Cecil as a new form of Sawa from Kite, and a strange blend of Fullmetal Alchemist along with a health dose of Harry Potter. Cecil is the girl who holds the key and doesn’t remember her past. She is destine to be something very special and she is very unaware of it. There are wizards on both sides that want her and she is surrounded by a group of people who are there to be not just friends but protectors too. This series is a interesting blend of  the world of supernatural story telling and if not watched with a curious eye much will be missed.

Overall Grade: A-

Wizard Barristers has much to offer and provides it all in a lively colorful package. The one drawback for me was the animation. I found the computer generated (CG) work to be a little stiff, but with the advances in CG it is easy to watch.

The rest of the series had plenty of light humor tossed in to keep you interested and a lot of dark questions kept coming up that made it a must to watch the next episode. The ending felt a tad rushed and there are some gaps in the plot that I personally would like to see explained in an OVA or a second season. With Wizard Barristers being only an Anime property I just don’t see more coming and that is too bad. If you like Harry Potter, Kite and Fullmetal Alchemist then I believe you should enjoy Wizard Barristers. It is worth the time to check it out.

Akame ga Kill Collection 1(anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : February 14, 2016
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Category: Reviews

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814131018571_anime-akame-ga-kill-blu-rayTitle: Akame ga Kill Collection 1

Director: Tomoki Kobayashi

Creator: Takahiro

Written By: Makoto Uezu

Studio: White Fox, C-Station (ONA)

U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U. S. Release Date: February 9th, 2016

Format: Blu-ray / 12 Episodes / 300 Minutes:

Genre: Fantasy, Action, Supernatural, Drama

Age Rating: TV14

Overall Personal Rating: B+

Synopsis: 

When he set off for the Capital, all Tatsumi wanted was a way to make money. Instead, he finds himself rescued from a fate worse than death by a group of assassins known as Night Raid, and thrust into the middle of a bloody revolution. On the one side: Prime Minister Honest, his secret police, elite squad of assassins, and the armies of the Empire. On the other: Night Raid and a handful of rebels desperate to overthrow the brutal regime of Honest’s puppet emperor. Leveling the playing field: the Imperial Arms, a legendary set of unstoppable weapons created in the distant past. But to use an Imperial Arm is practically a death sentence, for only a select few can even survive using them… and when two Arms go against each other, only the user of one is likely to survive in Akame ga Kill!

Commentary:

I really like to say that Akame ga Kill is something new and different, but I just can’t. It is very entertaining and full of action. Akame ga Kill just falls into the trap of being another action anime that isn’t so worried about the plot but rather the movement across the screen. Akame ga Kill proved elements of being a harem, a supernatural drama and a fantasy series that provides plenty of battles with blood splattering all over the place. Why is it that we never meet the cleaning crew and the cloths washers. With these characters only having one set of close I would think that the cloths washers are always on hand and ready to scrub the blood out of teams duds. It might be interesting to see a comedy anime about these magical creatures and their washing skills. I would think they are prized employee no matter what action/fantasy/horror anime was in favor.

Overall Grade: B+

Even though I don’t find anything new or different about Akame ga Kill I still find a fun watch. It is fast and packed with action, albeit bloody, along with plenty of pretty girls. I guess that the thing that I find interesting is what is going to happen when Tatsumi is fitted with Imperial Arms that bring out his true power. I am guessing that in the second half of the series w will find out what makes him so special and if his stalker will get him back into her loving arms.

Akame ga Kill isn’t for everyone, but I think it will find broad appeal. If the Attack on Titan crowd discover it they just might make a huge hit. So, if you enjoy a fun, fast, action packed anime with plenty of splattering blood the Akame ga Kill is for you.

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2Wei! (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : February 12, 2016
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Category: Reviews

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prisma-illya-2weireview provided by Andrew & Katie

Title: Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2Wei! On Blu-ray
Director: Shin Onuma and Masato Jinbo
Studio: Silver Link
Author: Kenji Inoue and Hazuki Minase
U.S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23
U.S. Release Date: February 16, 2016
Format and Length: Blu-ray / 10 Episodes / 250 Minutes
Genre: Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Magic, Magical Girl
Industry Age Rating: 17 and up
Overall Personal Rating: A-
Similar Series or Titles to Check Out: Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya

Synopsis:
The magical girls are back and are ready for a new adventure! However, with great powers come great responsibilities including cleaning up the aftermath of your previous adventures. Which means that, instead of getting a break after saving the world, newly changed magical girls Illya and Miyu have to help deal with the side-effects caused by the sealing of the Ley Cards.

Still, that shouldn’t be too hard, right? Wrong! Not only are the ley lines failing, but to make matters worse, Illya somehow ends up with a magical clone… and that sinister clone has plans of her own! Worse yet, since the “dark” version of herself is drawing its power from the same source as our heroine, Illya’s own powers are being reduced proportionately. These are definitely not the kind of problems that the average girl should have to deal with. It’s double the trouble as Illya’s split personalities face off and the personal conflicts get physical in Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2Wei! On Blu-ray

Commentary:
Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2Wei!, the second season of the magical girl spin off of the Fate multi-verse, follows the continuing adventures of Illya as a magical girl. If you have not watched the first season, I strongly suggest you do or you will have no idea what is going on. They provide a brief but lacking synopsis of the first season as it does little good to update you on events thus far. You will need an understanding of the first season to understand the story of Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2Wei!.

To be or not to be, that is the question. There are many other questions visited in Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2Wei! including: does one person have the right to turn back time when another person would cease to exist? When one person becomes two, does either really have a say in the other? It almost seems as if Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2Wei! asks very difficult and philosophical questions in every episode. The characters are the same from the first season with the addition of Kuro as named by the group, or Chloe as named by herself. Kuro’s introduction to the series could be summed up with such difficult stances. The characters are well developed already coming into this season, but it hardly means they did nothing to build upon what you already thought you knew. They continue to build them up and even made previously unlikable people seem likeable. The second half gets less into the philosophical and more into the lengths people will go to protect what is important to them, even when there is nothing they can really do. The story itself was much deeper than you would expect, and in all truth it does not hit you right away how deep it gets, till you are longing for the 3rd season, which I hope Sentai Filmworks will get out sooner rather than later.

One thing that most series of this genre use is simple animation that will appeal to the younger of fans, but instead the animation was beautiful and the battle scenes, with seamless CG (not the CG that stands out like a sore thumb) and multi angle viewpoints were something to behold. There was fan-service but nothing distasteful or in excess. The voice actors brought the characters to life and made the series very enjoyable. The opening and closing songs were catchy and fun to listen to. I have always had a special place in my heart for magical girls, beginning in my early days of anime long ago. Even now I find myself very much still loving the genre. Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2Wei!, the second season of the Fate/Type Moon magical girl spin off, has earned its place among my favorite titles.
Extras:
Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2Wei! On Blu-ray includes 2wei! Shorts, TV Spots, Clean Opening and Closing Animations and Sentai Filmworks trailers as special features. This series was released with both English and Japanese with English subtitles as language options.

Overall Grade: A-
If you love the magical girl genre then I think you would thoroughly enjoy Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2Wei.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (anime review)

Posted by :Patches On : February 6, 2016
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Category: Reviews

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mobile-suit-zeta-gundam-Title: Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam Collection One on Blu-ray

Director: Yoshiyuki Tomino

Studio: Sunrise

U. S. Distributor: Nozomi/ Right Stuf

U. S. Release Date: March 1st, 2016

Format: Blu-ray / 25 Episodes / 625 Minutes

Genre: Mecha, Sci Fi

Age Rating: TV14

Overall Personal Rating: B

Synopsis:

The Earth Federation stands victorious, but are they still on the right side?

In Zeta Gundam, we see the future world of the Universal Century through a dark mirror. Having defeated the Zeon menace, the Earth Federation has itself become cruel and oppressive. A new generation of Gundam mobile suits is created not to fight for peace, but to punish the enemies of the state, and yesterday’s villains must become today’s heroes in order to balance the scales of justice. When a young civilian named Kamille Bidan is caught up in the rebellion, he little suspects the price he will pay in the fight for freedom.

Commentary:

I really wanted to like Kamille and I wanted to root for him, but that didn’t last. Once he joined the A.E.U.G. he became even more obnoxious. In the beginning he was a thief and then he just became a whinny little Japanese main character. Other than the obnoxious main character I found the series rather enjoyable. To be honest I don’t find the older series rather tiresome, but Zeta Gundam has some interesting points of view that are well developed and explored in a very deliberate manor. The philosophical viewpoint from A.E.U.G. is rather forward thinking for a series that is almost 15 years old.

Overall Grade: B

When the name Gundam is mentioned I know that I am in for a long conversation with a fan who are immersed in a universe of contradictions and  fanciful flights of science fiction that tend to defy any real grounding in physics or understanding of the universe we live in. Zeta Gundam manages to find some reality but the strength of the series is in its viewpoints not the understanding of the physics that surround them.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam is a fun series and I have a feeling that the second collection will round it out and bring it home with a bang. I know that Gundam fans will grab this one up, but if you are new to the series this is a good one to start with. The animation is reasonable for a TV series and the writing is better than several of the other series in the Gundam universe. So, if you want to dip your toe’s in the world of Mobile Suit Gundam then Zeta is a great place to start.