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.
I just finished this one so lets see what it offers.
Kakei has an affinity for books and is told about a mysterious library that can change the fate of many people. At the huge academy of Shiomoi, a premonition of an accident leads him to save an introverted girl named Shirasaki, a girl eager to have a happy school life forming the odd jobs style club of Shimoi Happy Project, joined by other members hoping it can change them for the better. Over seeing the school is a mysterious entity known as the Shepherds said to change the paths of students usually communicated through E-Mail. What link does the Shepherds have with the magic Library that Kakei seeks?
So many times this show was about to hit a bad trope only to avoid it. It's pacing has issues as it seemingly jumps from character to character in order to try and resolve their individual plots often forgetting some characters in the process. When the main plot does kick in, it feels a bit late in the series and the laws of the so called Shepherds while interesting can also be sloppy in execution.
If not for some genuinely decent characters I could easily write it off as Generic School Anime No.8 but on it's own merits it at least tries to keep my attention.
No dub that I know of but I'm not expecting it to be groundbreaking if their was.
Final Verdict: It's serviceable, mostly because I like the cast but it's own universal laws are flimsy due to poor pacing and an inability to keep focus on a single character at a time.
Now let's crank it up a notch as I start putting out more reviews.
Machine Island is isolated from the rest of the world hidden by a huge gravity curtain, it is a warzone for supremacy as three factions fight for dominance, the Kiba Army made up of bandits and mercenaries, the Garan Army made up of trained soldiers and ruled more or less like an empire and the Hachiryoukaku Army made up of Athenian style women that wouldn't look out of place in Wonder Woman. With the constant fighting, the Gravity Curtain starts becoming unstable which would eventually lead to the planet's destruction. Left with no choice, the outsiders WSO send in the Skull Force to stop the Gravity Curtain but the main force they send is struck down leaving only Yuuki alive along with Death Caprice Squad, two unhinged mercenaries with a penchant for violence piloting the devil like robot Mazinkaiser who starts tearing up the war faction by faction with only Hachiryoukaku being smart enough to cooperate with Skull Force. With the mechanized persona of the devil in play, will the planet be saved from destruction?
It's stupid and manly and I love it, a testosterone filled OVA with killer battles that doesn't require much thought to enjoy but I still wish that certain plot elements were explored such as
Who are Skull Squad?
How did Death Caprice Squad acquire Mazinkaiser?
What is Ryou's past and why is he so easily triggered by it?
Why did Aira's sister Himiko join the Garan Army?
It's these questions I would like to be answered, so I at least know why certain elements are exactly what they are.
The dub is fine, some poor acting choices along with some very wooden performances but for the most part it's fine.
Final Verdict: Stupid manly mecha series let down by a lack of explanation for it's plotholes, not a total loss as for the most part it plays well as an action series.
Just assume that most reviews will be drip fed from now on.
Mint is the princess of the Dream Kingdom who has been tasked with restoring her Kingdom as the human world has stopped dreaming. She goes to the human world using her Aunt's Gift Shop as a base to use her magic to help humans dream again with the help of human friends Plum and Nut.
This is a magical girl show that has more in common with the original concept of the genre being magical girl helps solve problems with magic and a bit of mischief. It's welcome to see after the 80s gave us the peak of magical idols before returning to this genre. Mint's design even looks 90s despite airing in 1990 when the trend was still on baby steps and not fully established. Each episode is pleasant and non-offensive and is a great casual watch.
Pity the animation is awful.
I normally overlook animation, particularly in older shows as it's usually the cost that really hinders quality and that cost hasn't really changed much over the years but Dragonballz was already a year old when this was released so there really wasn't many excuses for such shoddy animation.
No dub, but is in plenty of European languages particularly Italian.
Final Verdict: Badly let down by shoddy inconsistent animation, otherwise it's a decent anime.
I'm happy to be watching anime again after a slump so here is another 80s title.
What's Michael is broken down into two story styles. The first is Michael's daily life at the apartment building in which everything happens through tabby cat Michael's point of view or sometimes other animal characters, the other is an anthropomorphic series of stories of whatever Japan was into at the time featuring the animal cast in everything from a crime thriller to a simple baseball game, often with the punchline of cats failing to control their instincts. Each segment is about five minutes long through a 45 minute run time per episode, an hour if you include commercials.
Hold on, this sounds an awful lot like Garfield? Actually that's a surprisingly accurate reaction; Michael even has a cartoonist for an owner who dresses in the same colours and the fact that he's a ginger tabby creates some close comparisons to Garfield. The biggest difference is that the humour relies on Michael's reaction to his environment as a regular cat. Even when he does talk for the Anthro sections it's broken by the long running joke of Cat's lol instincts.
With a lengthy run time and very limited scenarios, What's Michael runs out of steam quickly making it a chore to finish.
It was never dubbed and I'll be surprised if it made DVD as all I could find were VHS recordings.
Final Verdict: It's basically Japanese Garfield that has more grounded rules while the Anthro shorts are standard Japanese animal anime series. It's long run time wears the series out fairly quick and with over 40 episodes you'll be lucky to finish five.
Let's return to the 80s with a magical girl series.
Pastel Yumi is part of Studio Pierrot's big four magical girls along with Creamy Mami, Magical Emi and Fairy Persia, the difference with Yumi is she relies on her magic to aid the situation rather than relying on becoming a teen idol. The setup is the same, other worldly beings grant Yumi magic as a result of her kindness and she takes each scenario as it comes. Her magic is formed through drawing, summoning anything she desires but with a time limit, Yumi must be more creative in each approach to succeed.
It can get really 80s at times but it's largely one of the more tame ones and Yumi's charm makes her the strongest in personality of the four girls as well as having the strongest plot.
No dub, none of these shows ever made it to English speaking territories but you can grab any of the shows in every other major European language.
Final Verdict: Removing the teen girl transformation does alot to clean up the narrative hazards of the show and is much better for it. Yumi is a charming, whimsical magical girl show worthy of it's target audience, 80s-isms not withstanding.
