Hi I'm Dranzerstorm
You may remember me as a regular contestant on the caption battle contest.
Welcome to Retro Retrospective, my world dedicated to the old guard of the Otaku world; expect some reviews of the old & obscure, and in-depth geeky knowledge with the occasional top ten and I now have a logo.
Little info about me
Well I'm British and I'm in to all things animated and nostalgia.
I've grown up with every cartoon going and have watched hundreds of anime.
Oh and to answer a question I was asked once, no I don't wear glasses in real life, I would wear Loke's sunglasses though.
Last review got a bit serious so here's something a bit more straightforward.
Himeno is a plucky young girl straight out of a fairy tale as she literally is in Cinderella's shoes as a stepdaughter to a wealthy step mother along with two step sisters, a stuck up one and a much more introverted one. Hey at least her father is still alive.
A chance meeting with broody man Hayate creates a bright light between them meaning Himeno is the chosen one to become Pretear, a magical girl who can call upon the 7 Knights of Leafe to give her the power to save Leafe, the natural life force of the world from the Princess of Disaster who creates monsters for Himeno to fight. The catch is that the Leafe Knights literally become her magical girl costumes so she can fight.
This can only have been made in the 00s, an obvious candidate for ADVfilms trash but that's a little harsh; for a reverse harem at least the lead character is interesting, she isn't bland or completely reliant on the knights to hold her hand through the experience and learns very quickly how to adapt to each power she receives and each knight seems to bring a nice balance of personalities, even the side characters can bring some much needed comic relief particularly in the overly dark 2nd half of the series as it becomes more obvious that someone close to Himeno is pulling the strings and the Leafe Knights know much more than they're letting on. I like the twists in the anime more than the manga as the anime handles the build up better.
Dub is a collection of the dub actors most type cast roles it seems, I guess that can be it's own glowing recommendation but if you're used to these actors then you can't help but hear their more famous roles.
Final Verdict: A solid attempt at a magical girl series mixed with reverse harem tropes that feels a little gimmicky at times but is a decent watch overall.
This is an important anime, not the best but important.
In early 80s Japan, college student Ken Kubo gets drawn into the early craze of otaku culture in the hopes of being crowned Otaking establishing a business in selling model kits in the process only for his friend to steal his business; unhindered, Ken bounces back with his remaining friends by creating a popular anime named Misty May ending with both friends reuniting and marvelling at the success they created for their culture. The live action sections are broken up by interviews with Gainax staff and actual Otaku of the era as well as two shorts depicting the anime sequence to Daicon III and IV.
I'm not big on anime reflecting the otaku culture as quite often it portrays it in a negative light hence my extreme hatred of Comic Party. With Otaku no Video it looks at it from both sides, I find it ironic the anime chose the good side to focus on, as passion for a simple animation about robots, alien women or magical girls, the most popular genres of that era can lead to fulfilling careers in the industry, the Gunpla having been created in much the same way to give more power to the adult fans seeing as shows like Gundam, Lupin and Urusei Yatsura cannot be considered kid friendly therefore toys couldn't be made nor can said anime get vital sponsorship. Without these early pioneers we wouldn't see this sort of support today. On the live action front, many of the people interviewed are the type of people that Japan feel ashamed of, shut in perverts with no ambition but to admire drawings of fictional characters portraying a world much better than their own some of which coming from Gainax themselves who have made some of the greatest anime in existence for better or worse. This era doesn't seem to have changed much just that the quality is better and were much more open about our interests, but added to this era is the internet which were all too keen to hide behind when people judge us.
It might seem harsh to bring all this up but that's reality.
Dub really isn't important in this title.
Final Verdict: This is the most honest look at Otaku culture without being patronizing. You need to see this so you can really see otaku in it's purest form both the good and the bad. It's a little dated but not much of it has changed in nearly 40 years.
Now a reasonable look at the Slayers series.
It's not immediately clear which order this is meant to go in as most of the episodes take place before the events of the main series apart from Slayers Premium which takes place after Slayers Try.
The episodes frequently feature Lina Inverse travelling with a busty sorceress named Naga the Serpent who is just as capable but extremely full of herself and will laugh alot.
A typical plot often involves coming across a minor to mid level evil that needs vanquishing and Lina and Naga often doing more harm than good to resolve it, it keeps to formula extremely well despite the lack of characters for Lina to play off on and the quality can be some what mixed, the Slayers TV series is also guilty of the same problems but are usually surrounded by better episodes while the OVAs and films only have one shot per attempt with mixed results. Even the longest movie, Motion Picture can spend half it's run time dealing with filler villains before the main one shows up. My only other issue stems mostly from Premium but some of the others have it as well, the comedy is cringy.
I will give the dub props as the voices for Lina and Naga actually suit them better than their voices in the TV series especially Lina who sounds more spunky than her Amy Rose voice.
Final Verdict: The OVAs and films keep a solid formula and is well backed up with a decent dub, it's humour can be cringy but each episode and movie is at least fun.
Now for another Music Video.
On Your Mark is another music video but unlike Clamp in Wonderland it has a plot.
The video follows two police officers as they attempt to free an angel from a religious cult, the video deliberately makes each moment as cryptic as possible as it frequently attempts to make the viewer guess the outcome of each moment of peril eventually leading up to an ending where the angel flies away. Apparently Miyazaki made this to cure his writers block during the production of Princess Mononoke.
Studio Ghibli I still have an odd history with, to really categorise this video I'd put it under one of their better projects that could easily be it's own film.
Final Verdict: A decent music video that really grabs the audience making pay attention to every scene.
This was certainly an experience.
Dash Yonkuro tells the story of the Dash Warriors and their rise to the top of the Mini 4WD championship facing all sorts of colourful rivals along the way.
Our team consist of the following.
Yonkuro is the passionate leader, takes things really seriously with the charisma to back it up often dashing into battle without thinking, also voiced by Son Goku.
Tankuro is the large support often the one to back up the others.
Shinkuro is the rich kid with all the tools you could possible get and a bit full of himself.
Punkuro is a hapless nerd who dons rock makeup to increase his confidence.
Rinko is the lone female of the team and acts as the heart as well as the moral support.
Kaidanji is Rinko's older brother, an ex Formula one engineer who was supporting Yonkuro's father in the Hell Rally before injury forced him home and does his best to keep Yonkuro and his team going out of respect for Yonkuro's father.
Among toy anime this is the only anime to remember that it's a toy anime. While there are exaggerated actions at times it doesn't take away the fact that these Mini 4WD cars function the same as in real life, there's no realistic Holograms, Mystical Beasts or Robots with enough power to level a skyscraper, these cars run and break as if they do in reality and it's properly explained so any kid watching can actually do this in real life and not be let down by your marbles not turning into dragons or not summoning a real Dark Magician Girl.
Even the Dash Warriors function as a proper team and their rivals are more than just the evil team, they have morals and beliefs as well and it's not uncommon to see good sportsmanship between them. These types of anime can easily be dragged down by the need for the protagonist to pull the plot forward but Yonkuro does actually manage to step back and let his team help and even accept proper guidance from their coach even if he does look like a grizzled retired robot pilot from Getter Robo.
Think the only dub is in Malaysian and Indonesian so don't expect it in English.
Fun fact, this was Hiroyuki Takei of Shaman King fame's first job as assistant to the mangaka Zaurus Tokuda and would later continue the manga after Zaurus' death. Although Zaurus had very little restraint in putting himself in the manga and anime.
Final Verdict: This is the best toy anime ever created, it remembers it's a toy first and showcases all the functions of the Mini 4WD without fabulous secret powers and very minor exaggerated actions. At the end of the day the cars are to quote Woody "A Child's Plaything" and it succeeds well before the likes of Beyblade, Bakugan and Yu-Gi-Oh existed.
