Prepare to have your mind opened.
Kosaku's mother passes away, on her deathbed she requests that her son stays with an old friend Ibari Ozora, a well known Yakuza. Things seem normal at first with Ibari and his daughters but then Kosaku meets Ibari's son Hibari who acts and dresses as a girl much to her father's chagrin. Hibari doesn't seem to care how she acts and is more than capable of holding her own against people who try and force her to act male, however Kosaku is left confused as he doesn't know how to respond to Hibari as Kosaku thinks she's cute but all too aware that Hibari is male.
I wouldn't let the review picture fool you, the animation is way more 80s than that. It's a decent comedy that has gotten better with age thanks to further interest in trans culture in recent years and the fact that Hibari is the most positive progressive figure in transgender manga. Yeah the series suffers from being 80s and it's failure to finish, resulting in a "the madness continues" ending means if you've seen one episode you've seen the other 34 episodes. But the fact that it was able to create such a positive character in Hibari and the fact that Kosaku is hardly a pushover himself makes them worth watching and remember the first manga was 1981 followed by the anime in 1983, it was doing this long before creators like Steven Universe's Rebecca Sugar was even born.
No dub but deserves one, it also deserves a modern remake.
Final Verdict: A strong anime with a strong character that transgender people can support with pride; suffers from 80s at times but a decent anime nonetheless.
This will be my shortest review, probably.
Kinnikuman is a bumbling fool of a superhero who is the missing Prince of Kinniku. In order to ascend the throne and prevent others stepping on it, Kinnikuman must prove his worth in intergalactic wrestling tournaments defeating long time enemies the Chojin.
A generation later his son known as Kid Muscle in the only translated anime to date does pretty much the same thing against a new organisation the dMp.
Basically in short, it's what happens if WWE was an anime and was written by pre Dragonballz Akira Toriyama. Again in short, copious amounts of juvenile humour packed into a camp show that has all the typical shonen traits of it's contemporaries.
The 80s original and the sequel from the early 00s are really not that much different except obviously the 00s benefits from better animation from improved technology.
4kids dub surprisingly suits the 00s anime as it compliments it's style of releasing anime, more so than it's other attempts, looking at you Shaman King and One Piece.
But is it good? Well do you like wrestling? If yes, this will likely get a few giggles but very much like most kid's interest in wrestling it fades away when you realize it's not as good as it makes itself out to be and even if you still like wrestling into adulthood then you're more likely to make fun of it. If no, you'll likely find it too childish and you are hardly short of alternatives in action comedy.
Final Verdict: There's nothing really wrong with it, it's one of the few anime you can look at and say "this is for kids" a term I hate using to describe any anime but it's juvenile humour and wrestling plot makes it a low hanging fruit for kids.
Now for a genre that doesn't age well.
Translated as "If I see you in my Dreams" Yume De Aetara is about two star crossed lovers, Salaryman Masuo and Kindergarten teacher Nagisa; both are 20 something virgins with a lack of experience to match but they do manage to fall for each other only for an endless run of misunderstandings to constantly drive them apart usually created by their friends or love rivals.
This feels like the prototype for Love Hina but instead Masuo is even wimpier and Nagisa is a wilting flower who would break from a sneeze, it's painful to watch especially when most of the conflict comes from Nagisa being way too quick to judge; as bad as Naru was in Love Hina at the very least she has a personality that's memorable.
This type of romance narrative is better suited to younger characters, not 20 something adults; in this format, both characters come across as kind of pathetic which is of the detriment to the love rivals who have stronger personalities as well as the comic relief characters for the same reasons.
Dub is underwhelming and to be honest if you saw the OVA, the TV series will be more of the same barely changing plots.
Final Verdict: Maybe I'm just bitter on love stories now but I kinda expect more effort from romance anime. A fanfic writer could do a better job of making a romance anime than Yume De Aetara, even if it's themselves making out with the characters.
At least this thriller is better.
Police Detective Ross Sylibus is transferring to Mars to begin a new part of his life following the death of his partner at the hands of an android. Androids in this universe were fundamental in the terraforming of Mars and already the world is prospering with the 2nd Generation of Androids.
Back to the plot, Ross is given a new partner in Naomi Armitage and already they have to investigate a murder case of a popular Country Singer, but a shocking discovery is made when said singer turns out to be an android; the culprit later reveals the existence of a third generation of androids simply known as thirds who are so life like that they can pass for humans, to complicate things Naomi is one as well. Now Ross and Naomi must stop the murders of other thirds and solve the mystery of why these androids are being targeted.
After Spiral left me feeling bitter, Armitage left me with a better written story to digest, it features great aesthetics and a deep cast of characters led by Naomi and Ross who have great chemistry, it plays on all the strengths of the cyberpunk world and plays all the right notes in achieving it's desired ending.
The dub goes the extra mile by hiring big talent, especially in the Poly Matrix feature that re-tells the story in a smaller format.
Both the short series and Poly Matrix have their advantages, the plot is easier to follow in the tv series but the movie benefits from better animation and voice talent. Dual Matrix I've not seen which acts as the sequel, may review that another day.
Final Verdict: A good anime with a good eye for cyberpunk, I say try the movie first and if you want to know more try the TV series.
Warning - Rant incoming.
Ayumu has a brilliant mind but his older brother Kiyotaka was even more incredible leading Ayumu to be introverted and self doubting, this gets worst when Kiyotaka goes missing when he investigated the Blade Children.
But when murders start happening around Ayumu relating to the Blade Children, Ayumu becomes intent on solving the mystery behind Kiyotaka and the Blade Children aided by enigmatic reporter Hiyono, but the Blade Children are keen to test Ayumu to see if he really is the one to save them.
I'm going to just say it, this is the worst anime of the 00s. How I judge bad is dependent on a few factors, and Spiral falls under, competent anime trying way too hard. The problem is, the Blade Children are shown to be twisted freaks of nature who aren't afraid to murder just to hide their secret but the way they challenge Ayumu breaks one of the fundamental rules of mystery thrillers which is the payoff. Spiral fails at this by making it clear way too early that Kiyotaka is pulling the strings, hardly a spoiler as it's made obvious as early as the first 7 episodes that he is, so they resort to an insulting twist near the end that ruins any integrity the story had left. What makes it worst is that Ayumu frequently lampshades the fact that the Blade Children are trying way too hard to challenge him to these games of death when a handgun could do the job much quicker.
It's a pity really as it started so well and it is impressive how Ayumu gets round some of the challenges but it's undermined by the fact that his brother is an ass hole for setting all this up, I feel sorry for Madoka.
Dub is fine, Ayumu and Hiyono were the best of an otherwise regular bunch of voice talents.
Final Verdict: A poorly written mystery that insults the viewer the more it goes on.
