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The manga for today is Cherry Juice. This school romance manga tackles the question “Would it be really hot or really creepy if Greg started dating Marsha on the Brady Bunch?”. My answer would be “really creepy”. I’ll do my best to set that aside to provide a fair review for the people that answered “really hot”. You perverts. T_T

Story

The main character of Cherry Juice is Otome Hasaki. A middle school girl who is about to move on to high school. Otome’s step-brother Minami is only 3 days younger than her, so he’s in the same year at school. Minami is also the most popular boy in school.

Otome likes Minami’s friend Amane. Lucky for her that Amane also likes her. Yay! Wait… not yay, a story needs conflict. If her crush likes her and starts dating her in the very beginning where is the conflict?

Oh wait, here it is…

Otome also likes another guy too, but won’t admit it. Not even to herself. Yep, Otome also has the hots for Minami. Say it with me now, EEEEEEEEWWWW!

Problems

Yeah, the whole step-sibling romance bugs me. If that were my only problem with Cherry Juice I’d just ignore that part. It’s not the only thing I don’t like about it though, and here’s the rest of it.

• The characters just don’t seem real. They seem flat and unbelievable.
• The story is repetitive. Even in the first volume, the same thing happens over and over. If you read the first half of the book, you can just skip the rest.
• The art relies too much on soft and blurry close ups. Half the time I can’t tell what I’m supposed to be looking at.
• The flow of reading is a bit off. I don’t know if this is because of translation issues or not, but it’s there.

Is it worth it?

Nope, sorry. There are much better school romance manga available. I’m sure there are even better step-sibling school romances available. I’d recommend skipping Cherry Juice and reading one of those.

Manga, Reviews, Cherry Juice, School, Romance, Creepy

I’ve put off watching Le Chevalier D’Eon for a while now. I’m not sure why, maybe because I’m not a fan of historical anime. I would have watched it sooner if I had known there were zombies. Not only that, but zombies filled with mercury. How can you make an anime with the undead even better? Easy, give ‘em a gooey toxic filling known to cause insanity.

Dude looks like a lady.

Story

Le Chevalier D’Eon takes place in the days before the French Revolution. The anime is narrated by and follows the adventures of the title character, D’Eon Beaumont. D’Eon joins a secret police force after the death of his sister in the hopes of solving her murder. What he discovers is a supernatural conspiracy among influential nobility.

There’s some pretty cool stuff going on in this anime. Granted, I’ve only seen the first few episodes, so I can’t tell you if the story breaks down later on. The beginning is strong enough that thing would have to be screwed up very badly to bring down this anime. I’m not saying that can’t be done. Even if the story follows the predictable path, it should still be pretty darn good.

The True Story of a Chevalier

As freaky as the anime is, it’s only about half as interesting as the story of the real D’Eon Beaumont. I’d suggest looking him up. No zombies involved though. What you will find is a fairly interesting story of transgender history.

Is it worth it?

I wasn’t expecting much from Le Chevalier D’Eon, but I was surprised. It’s pretty good so far. I’d recommend renting the first DVD at least.

Anime, Reviews, Le Chevalier D’Eon, D’Eon Beaumont, Zombies, Gargoyles, Undead, Alchemy, French Revolution, Transgender

Black Lagoon is a modern day pirate story. Don’t get the wrong idea, there’s no fancy sailing ship or map to buried treasure. It’s more like Cowboy Bebop than it’s like One Piece. Robbery, hijacking or illegal salvage, the crew of the Black Lagoon will do it if the price is right.

Story

Okajima Rokuro, a Japanese salary man, gets taken hostage while delivering important documents for his company. Instead of trying to help him, his company decides to to kill him and the pirates that took him. All to keep the documents secret. These are very important documents. Somehow they manage to survive and deliver the package. Instead of going back to his white-collar job he decides to stay with them and become a pirate too. The show follows the crew of the Black Lagoon as they go from job to job trying to get by.

Action and Cliffhangers

Black Lagoon has lots of action. Gunfights, explosions, chase scenes and foul language abound. While the occasional slower moments let us get to know the characters a bit better. Before you know it the episode is over. I’m not talking figuratively either. The show often stops right in the middle of something.

It bugs me when an episode ends abruptly. It’s not like it’s a cliffhanger, it just stops. It’s almost like they made the entire series in one huge episode. Then they had to chop it up into half hour segments.

Is it worth it?

Yeah, I’d say so. I’d recommend this anime. I hate the way some episodes seem cut off, but that’s my only problem with it. Other than that it’s great.

Anime, Reviews, Black Lagoon, Pirates, Action, Cowboy Bebop

Whether it’s a secret war like you’d see in Zatch Bell or a public competition such as Angelic Layer, tournaments have been a staple of anime. Fate/Stay Night takes this standard anime structure and runs with it. Since the tournament idea has been around the block a few times, the most important thing is how well it’s done. Can Fate/Stay Night go all the way, or will it be eliminated in the first round?

Story

Fate/Stay Night is about the secret war to possess the Holy Grail. The Grail chooses 7 people to fight to prove themselves worthy. Those chosen, known as Masters, don’t fight alone. They have help from summoned spirits known as Servants. The servants are legendary fighters from myth and history. The winning pair will each have a wish granted.

Looks Familiar

The description of Fate/Stay Night might sound very similar to several other shows, with good reason. The basic structure of the show has been used before in anime, manga, movies and books. Even the prize that everyone is fighting for in this anime isn’t that original. There are lots of stories about the Holy Grail and the attempts to find it.

Originality Isn’t Everything

Fate/Stay Night’s story elements may not be very original, but the execution is pretty good. By using well established concepts and tweaking them the makers of Fate/Stay Night have given themselves a lot to work with. That’s pretty clever. It lets them focus on making the story as good as they possibly can. Let’s face it, we’ve all checked out an anime that sounded like nothing that came before only to be disappointed. Just because something is original doesn’t mean it’s good.

Is it worth it?

Yep. I think it is. It’s got some decent characters, a good story and some action. I’d recommend checking it out.

Anime, Reviews, Fate/Stay Night, Zatch Bell, Angelic Layer, Tournament, Holy Grail

I was lookin’ forward to reviewing the Case Closed DVD. I liked this anime when I saw it on it’s very short run on [adult swim] and wanted to see the DVD version by FUNimation. I was surprised by what I found.

Small Things

Some of the differences I found are so small it doesn’t really matter. The murder victim in the first episode’s opening is a business partner instead of the murderer’s wife. No biggie, it still makes sense in the story.

The sub uses Japanese names while the dub uses English ones. I can see an argument for this. People watching the sub are more likely to want it as close to the original as possible. It’s kinda confusing the first couple of times Jimmy gets called Shin’ichi if you’re used to the English names. The rest of the sub is similar. It’s not quite the same as the spoken dialog, but for the most part you get the same story. So all in all it’s no big deal.

Big Things

You might remember that I mentioned the amount of blood in some of the stories when I reviewed the Case Closed manga. I kind of expected some editing, and I was right about that. What get’s me is how the blood is removed. Apparently the guy on the roller coaster is an Immortal, because when he’s decapitated a fountain of white light spews from his neck.

Not a problem, just go to the DVD settings and remove the filter, right? Nope. Take a look at the DVD menu.

No options to change that, or anything else either. All the violence is still there. The guy still gets decapitated on a roller coaster. There is just no blood.

That’s bad enough, but there’s also no option to translate signs and other Japanese text into English. If you want to be able to read the occasional text you’ll have to turn on the English captions for dialog too. WTF? One more set of captions wouldn’t fit on the DVD? Remember how I said that the subtitles don’t match the dialog? Yeah, that’s inexcusable now. It wouldn’t matter if there was a caption setting for text only, but without it the subtitles are just annoying.

Extras

There are none. Even the trailers shouldn’t count as extras. They’re just ads. I know that’s what trailers are. These are worse. Play the trailers and you get commercials, not trailers. There’s even a commercial for the online store. Somebody please explain to me how that’s a trailer?

Is it worth it?

No.

As much as I like the show, I can’t recommend buying this DVD. It’s been screwed up in too many ways. Rent it if you have to, but I would recommend the manga instead of the crappy DVD.

Anime, Reviews, DVD, Case Closed, FUNimation, Detective Conan

Today I’m looking into one of the most talked about, argued about, cheered and maligned aspects of anime. Voice acting. While I’ll be talking about dubs, this is something that even die-hard sub only anime fans might relate to. The actors and languages may be different, but I bet we’ve all run into this before.

Recognize him?

The Black Ranger in that clip is Adam Park, played by Johnny Yong Bosch. Even if you’re not a Power Rangers fan, you might recognize some other characters he’s played.

• Ichigo Kurosaki, Bleach
• Vash the Stampede, Trigun
• Kiba, Wolf’s Rain
• Renton Thurston, Eureka Seven

That’s just a few.

I’m pointing out some of his anime roles as an example. I’m sure we’ve all recognized someone’s voice and thought “Hey, that’s (character name)!”. When I hear Johnny Yong Bosch in an anime I think “Hey, that’s Ichigo!”. Even though I watched Mighty Morphin Power Rangers when he was on the show, and I never made the connection. Even though I’d seen all of Trigun long before I ever saw a single episode of Bleach. So why don’t I think “Hey, that’s the second Black Ranger!” or “Hey, that’s Vash!”? I think it’s about connections and association.

Who’s Who

For some reason Johnny Yong Bosch is Ichigo Kurosaki, at least to me. The same way that Steven Blum is Spike Spiegel. The same way that Vic Mignogna is Edward Elric. For one reason or another those characters just wouldn’t be the same without those voice actors. They nailed it. They were perfect.

What about you? Are there any voice actors who are, and always will be, a particular character to you? What characters cross your mind when you think “Hey, that’s (character name)!”?

Anime, Sub, Dub, Voice Actors, Johnny Yong Bosch, Steven Blum, Vic Mignogna, Ichigo Kurosaki, Bleach, Vash the Stampede, Trigun, Kiba, Wolf’s Rain, Renton Thurston, Eureka Seven, Black Ranger, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Just wanted to let you know a couple things. I finally got the first 2 DVDs of Case Closed in the mail. So I can write up the review that Rechelle from Celebrity Fashion Watch requested. I’m going to try to write a thorough review. I’m thinking of using this to test out a different way to write up my reviews. We’ll see.

I also wanted to let you know that I’m trying to get the posts up despite the schedule problems I’m having. I know the posts aren’t going up at the normal time, I apologize for that. I’ll try to get things back to normal as soon as possible.

I’d also like to apologize if you’ve encountered pop ups on AnimeFansOnline recently. It seems that the folks in the office at 451Press were doing some server load tests. The method they chose to do this was to put a pop up on all the sites. That sort of thing is beyond my control, but I’m still sorry about it.

Anime Fans Online, General, Announcements, Case Closed, Schedule, Pop Ups, Apology

In recent Anime News reported by AnimeNewsNetwork there were a couple of articles about bittorrent. Some anime fans who use bittorrent to download anime illegally have recieved notices from their ISPs.

It turns out that BayTSP, the company working for Odex to track down illegal downloaders in Singapore, sent out notices to other countries… by mistake.

Warning Shot

It may have been a mistake this time, but what about next time? What are the chances that anime producers and distributors are going to ignore that list of people? I’d say the chances are pretty slim.

This is proof that downloading anime is not just illegal, but dangerous. While some creators want their work disseminated as widely as possible, others view it as business and want to be paid.

I still believe most fans want to support anime. They also want access to anime. The companies just want to be paid. While it’s possible to satisfy everyone, it isn’t likely.

Anime, Online, News, Downloads, BitTorrent, Warning Notice, ISP, Odex, BayTSP, Piracy

Today I’m reviewing My Neighbor Totoro, a classic anime by Hayao Miyazaki. Seems kind of pointless though, because everything he does is awesome. However, not everyone knows how incredible his movies are so someone has to review ‘em.

Story

Satsuki and her little sister Mei move to the country with their father while waiting for their mom to get out of the hospital. From the day they arrive they see strange things. It seems there are forest spirits living near by. When Mei goes exploring one day she meets a forest spirit she calls Totoro.

My Opinion

My Neighbor Totoro is a wonderful movie. That really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who is familiar with Hayao Miyazaki’s work. If you haven’t seen anything from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, you’re really missing out. They’ve made some of the best animated movies of all time. Notice I didn’t say anime? That’s because I believe Studio Ghibli movies can hold their own against any company, even Disney. Disney has partnered with Studio Ghibli and distributes a few of their movies in the US. I guess they can recognize quality when they see it.

My Neighbor Totoro is a great example of that quality. As simple as the story is, it is a must see. It has wonderful characters and some truly magical moments. That’s why I included it on my list of anime for the whole family.

Is it worth it?

Just in case you missed it, or skipped down here, I’ll say it again. My Neighbor Totoro is a wonderful movie. If you’re an anime fan, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Anime, Reviews, My Neighbor Totoro, Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli, Disney, Family Anime

Sorry, but the post is going to be late today. Posts will probably be screwed up until next week. Thanksgiving is screwing up my schedule. I don’t normally write posts in advance. So when my schedule is messed up, the posting schedule gets messed up.

I’ll try to get some posts written in advance for Christmas. Otherwise I’ll probably be even worse then.

Here’s that Death Note wallpaper I promised you. It’s really simple, but I like it. If you have any ideas for other wallpaper you’d like to see on AnimeFansOnline leave a comment and let me know.

Original Image

Sizes:

Just right click the size you want and choose “Save Target As…” to save it to your computer. Or you could just click the one you want, then right click the picture and choose “Set as Background”. Either way works.

800×600

1024×768

1280×800

1280×1024

Anime, Wallpaper, Death Note, 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024

I’m sure everyone else has already reviewed Death Note, but I’m going to chime in anyway. I thought I had reviewed it. I guess that’s because I’ve talked about this show so much. Since that’s the case, feel free to leave a comment and talk about how much you love/hate this anime.

Story

The story centers around the Death Note, an otherworldly book with the power to kill. Anyone who’s name is written in the book will die. That’s a frightening power, but there are rules which are explained in the show. The real substance of the anime is in the characters.

Ryuk, a shinigami, is the original owner of the Death Note. Bored with his existence, he drops it in the human world to see what will happen when someone finds it. Lucky for him it was found by Light Yagami, because Light is smart enough to do some very interesting things with the Death Note’s power. Such as killing criminals to make the world a Utopia. A Utopia which he will rule over as a god. MwahahahahahahaHAHA!!!!

The mysterious deaths of criminals around the world doesn’t go unnoticed by the police though. That’s when L, shadowy figure that the police around the world turn to on their toughest cases, steps into the picture. Yes “L”, not Elle, just a letter for a name. This is when things get really good.

Is it worth it?

Absolutely. This anime is incredible. It’s probably one of the best shows to come along in the past 5 years. I have no doubt that it will be considered a classic. Good news, if you don’t want to shell out your hard earned cash to check out Death Note, you can see it on [adult swim]. I would recommend at least renting the DVD though. While the dub is ok, the voices just don’t seem to fit. The original voices are great. This is one I definitely prefer to watch subbed.

Oh, and just to say I’m sorry for being late today, I’ll make some wallpapers of the image at the top. I’ll try to post them later today.

Update: The wallpaper is up. In these sizes…
800×600, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024

Anime, Reviews, Death Note, Light Yagami, Yagami Light, Ryuk, L, Shinigami, Wallpapers, Desktops

I’d heard some good things about Kiddy Grade, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see it. It looked vaguely like Galaxy Angel, and that one was a big disappointment. I decided to give it a chance, so I watched a few of ‘em to see if it was worth it.

Story

The Galactic Organization of Trade and Tariffs, also known as G.O.T.T., keep the peace for the Galactic Union. Two low ranking ES agents for G.O.T.T. are the focus of the show, Lumiere and Eclair. They each have abilities that help out in tough situations. That helps since their jobs is basically to travel the galaxy, fight crime, stop wars and generally get into trouble.

Lumiere can take over and control computers, or anything run by computers, with her mind. Cool! Wish I could do that. You wanna know about Eclair’s ability? Well, umm, Eclair has a whip made out of lipstick. Yeah I know, kinda disappointing. That’s like taking the coolest thing about Indiana Jones and, well, turning it into lipstick.

My Opinion

There are some pretty cools scenes and the action is decent. It’s far, far better than Galaxy Angel. At least I think so. It takes itself a bit more seriously. It’s not full of some deep meaning about life in our galaxy or anything. it’s not gonna change anime as we know it. it’s just a good old fashioned sci-fi lady cop show. Toss in a little fan service and it’s pretty good.

Is it worth it?

It’s pretty good. I’d at least recommend renting it to see if it’s something you’d enjoy. I’ll probably be renting the rest of the episodes myself.

Anime, Reviews, Kiddy Grade, Galaxy Angel, Galactic Organization of Trade and Tariffs, G.O.T.T., GOTT, Galactic Union

I recently watched the first few episodes of the anime version of Witchblade. I didn’t know what to expect. I’m kind of familiar with the comic it’s based on, but it wasn’t something I bought regularly. I think that helped since I heard some Witchblade fans weren’t happy. Lucky for me I wasn’t coming into it with many expectations.

Story

The Witchblade is a legendary weapon of enormous strength. In battle it grants it bearer superhuman abilities. Masane Amaha bears the Witchblade now.

Masane has no memory of what happened six years ago. That’s when she was found at ground zero of a catastrophe that sank part of Tokyo. With her they found a baby they believed to be hers. Now she’s caught between a government agency and a shady corporation when all she wants is a normal life with her daughter.

My opinion

I like it. It has a decent story. I like what they’ve done with the power struggle between a questionable branch of government and a corporation trying to control the Witchblade. Some of the characters are pretty interesting too. Masane and her daughter, Rihoko, are likable. Even after only a few episodes I already like Yusuke Tozawa, a freelance reporter that gets caught up with Masana and Rihoko.

The action is pretty good, but seemed kind of short. Maybe she just hasn’t gone up against anything very strong yet. I hope that’s why the action was lacking. As short as it was, I liked what I saw.

When the Witchblade takes over there’s a little fanservice, but that’s a given. The fan service is just part of Witchblade. Just look at the comics. While it has it’s share of T&A, the anime barely(><) comes close to some of the comics in the area of exposure.

I’m definitely putting this on my list of anime to rent. If it gets any better I’m gonna have to buy it. I’ll let you know what I think after I’ve seen more of it.

Anime, Opinion, Fanservice, Fan Service, Witchblade, Comic, Top Cow, Image Comics, Masane Amaha, Rihoko Amaha

I’m not going to bother calling this a review. It’s a rant, plain and simple. One of my earlier posts here at AnimeFansOnline was about the first Ghost Stories DVD. I liked it. Kind of. I was surprised that such extreme changes were made and there was no indication of it on the packaging.

I figured the rest of the DVDs in the series were about the same. I could get 2 different shows on the same DVD. I was wrong. While the subtitled version remained the same, the English dub got much worse. It’s like everyone involved knew they were screwing it up and decided to screw it up as much as possible. Gotta give ‘em that, they had the balls to really run with it.

Entendre, and make it a double.

The first DVD had a few jokes that relied on innuendo. Not that bad, right? A couple of almost dirty jokes in the entire DVD. It could have been worse. Then here comes number 2. The second DVD of Ghost Stories cranks up the innuendo until the knob breaks off. That’s a good one. Think I should apply for a job at ADV? Hmmm… Nah, too subtle for them.

Seriously, it was bad enough that one voice actor asked to use a pseudonym. I won’t out them here, and any comments that do will be edited or deleted. I respect the fact that they lived up to their obligations even after the found out what was happening. The rating on the DVD case says PG when it really should be for older viewers.

If you’re like me and you kind of liked the first one, rent this one before you buy it. It’s much worse than the first one is. I will not be buying the rest. Animax did a serious version of this called Ghosts at School. So if you’re interested you might want to see if you can find that one instead.

Anime, Rant, DVD, ADV, Ghost Stories, Animax, Ghosts at School, Bad Dub, Lost in Translation, Innuendo