First of the Project 1000 Special Stage reviews takes us first to a film that easily pisses me off.
Makoto is an average girl who finds a small object in her school, this follows with her death when her bike brakes fail and gets wiped out by a train, only she doesn't die but goes back in time before she sets off on her bike.
Knowing that she now has the power to go back in time she sets about making her life easier but after a while she starts using it to avoid petty situations which leads to disastrous consequences.
As nice and as well written this film is, I have a massive pet peeve with the main character. At no point in the entire movie does she ever fix her bike, the very thing that should've killed her!
It just makes Makoto seem petty, selfish and stupid, that really stops me from supporting her, I shouldn't hate the main character especially in a movie written so well; yeah the Uncle Ben great power, great responsibility line but she's using time travel like a soft reset on a dating sim for just saying the wrong thing.
Not seen the dub but considering what I've said about this film, an English voice would make me hate the film more, not that it would be a bad dub just hearing stupidity in my own language would be more of a trigger.
Final Verdict: A well written film spoiled by an utterly stupid main character.
Of all the Gundam stuff taken off project 1000, this title stayed so I can talk about it.
With the one year war nearing it's end, Zeon become suspicious of a prototype Gundam being developed by the Earth Federation which they fail to destroy leading them to the neutral colony of Side 6; after a skirmish in the colony, Zeon ace Bernie crash lands in woods being discovered by a child named Alfred, a boy with a romantic view of warfare not seemingly bothered by which side Bernie is on. Alfred being quite a devious child, charms his way into helping Bernie so he can play soldier even dragging in Christina, the prototype Gundam test pilot with neither pilot aware of each others intentions. With no other teammates, Bernie is told to destroy the prototype or Zeon nuke the colony leading to a conclusion which can only end in tears for Alfred as he realizes how horrific war is.
Gundam is no stranger to portraying war in it's most realistic form but this is the only time where it really works as an anti war message.
I remember reading a book called the Machine Gunners which has a group of evacuee children discovering a shotdown nazi pilot and persuading him to help construct a machine gun for them only for it to end as tragically and in pretty much the same way as this OVA did. The kids in the story share the same wide eyed romantic view of war as Alfred does having been sheltered from the conflict in an untouched area of the world, it's not uncommon for kids to behave like this, even now in peace time as the likes of Call of Duty has replaced the sheltered evacuee areas in giving kids these exciting scenarios to play soldier, in essence nothing has changed. In regards to Gundam when Alfred does have a dose of reality he can't bring himself to play soldier anymore while his friends continue their naive view of war.
War in the Pocket captures everything perfectly without going too melodramatic or making the Mobile Suit battles the focus, this is a civilian who finds out the hard way what war really is and there's only really one way to end this story, tragically.
Dub is decent and acted well for the most part.
My only issue is I wanted to learn more about Christina but she fails to appear in any future Gundam series.
Final Verdict: This OVA is an essential watch for any Gundam fan and even a fan of this genre, it let's the story and it's leads do all the work and what you get is the best anti war anime you'll ever find.
Time to do what I do best.
In 1920s Europe, Kazuya Kujo, the son of a high ranking member of the Japanese Imperial Army is sent to St Marguerite Academy, a school with a history of mysteries and ghost stories. In the library exists a mysterious blonde girl who spends all day reading books wearing dresses fit for her doll like figure. Upon meeting this girl, Kujo is dragged into the many mysteries that follow the girl named Victorique, but perhaps the biggest mystery maybe Victorique herself and why her mind is so well functioned to be able to solve cases most detectives struggle with?
This is a show that I like, it builds it's mysteries really well, each step is carefully explained and the setting gives it a unique identity among it's contemporaries backed up by a fun cast of characters, Victorique easily being my favourite tsundere.
While the regular mysteries shine, the over arching plot of Victorique can easily cause the immersion to collapse with the villain's ultimate goals being more or less the same as quite a high number of comics, movies and even other anime. It does it better than most as I find it less of an annoyance but after such a good 1st half, I expected something a bit more original.
Dub is pretty good and well cast.
Final Verdict: Gosick is a fantastic mystery series backed up by a gorgeous early 20th century European setting, and I wouldn't feel too put off by the second half as there is a sequel, even if the second half is something you've seen many times before.
Now let's look at an Anime based on a Sega Master System game.
The planet Maris is under attack from a malevolent race known as the Nohzas. The humans are granted access to three guns containing a powerful energy known as Zillion which can one shot kill most beings. Using these guns are an elite team of teens called the White Nuts, no that's not a typo, that's what they're called but at least the translators were more kind to give them the name White Knights.
Our team consists of idiot hero JJ, who now I think of it looks suspiciously like Yuri on Ice's JJ.
Champ who acts as the leader.
Apple who keeps them in check.
Dave who is support and carrier pilot.
Amy and Mr Gord who give orders.
And to tie it to Sega, Opa Opa is here.
I want to like this, I really do, but it's very formulaic; the Nohzas attack a major target, White Nuts are deployed looking like a laser tag team, JJ does something stupid, at least three times an episode and they somehow make it out having foiled the Nohzas attack.
It doesn't help that the guns are stupidly over powered and only fail on command for plot devices, not made any easier by the lack of character development with the exception of Apple who still makes the anime watchable.
The soundtrack is brilliant though, I'd be happy just getting the CD Soundtrack.
Dub is not that bad but stupidly rare as they only dubbed five episodes and the OVA.
Zillion seems to have some unique factoids.
1. The anime featured in music video Scream by Michael and Janet Jackson.
2. Opa Opa is likely the first Sega character to appear in an anime and one of the earliest examples of a guest character.
3. Zillion the game was so popular in Brazil that it prolonged the life of the Master System long after it was defunct and Japan even had to make merchandise exclusive to the region.
4. It's also Production I.G's first ever anime.
5. The dub was also sampled on the single Cyberpunks by Del the Funky Homosapien (the rapping ape that once sang with the Gorillaz)
6. The guns were modelled on Sega's Light Phaser Gun for the Master System.
Pretty unique title.
Final Verdict: It's formulaic but an okay watch, it's place in anime and gaming history is a lot more interesting as well as the soundtrack.
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.
