Now for a series that I should hate.
Aikatsu has a very basic plot that runs throughout the whole franchise, Starlight Academy is a training ground for aspiring new idols who participate in numerous auditions showcasing singing, drama and fashion; fashion especially as the title system Aikatsu, is a digitised system allowing the girls to transform into pop idols and enter virtual live stages for their performances powered by collectible cards that coordinate fashion to match the performance or to a character's personal taste such as goth lolita or sugar pink pop princess, the level of detail maintained in all the various costumes is incredible mostly because each performance relys on CGI taken from it's video game source material making it one of the most accurate adaptations of any video game ever and the fact it's been going since 2012 means it's not leaving anytime soon but one thing that's going to create questions, why do I like this idol show, but hate the others?
I think it's because at the heart of it all, it knows what elements it wants to sell, it is not ashamed to admit that it's based on a game and runs with it by putting emphasis on it's set pieces, the performances themselves, it also helps if the music is catchy. This makes the most tedious parts all the more bearable as the actual idol industry itself is really tiring to sit through, Aikatsu fixes this by promising a performance at least once per episode to breakup the interactions the girls have to deal with such as communicating with the designers; it doesn't weigh itself down by shoehorning in a corrupt music producer conflict (Jem and Eriko) or go through the notion of having to do this to save the school (Love Live) or having to make a preteen become 16 years old so she can live out her dreams with childhood naivety in check (pretty much all 80s shoujo) nor does it go through an entire process of the industry looked through the eyes of a faceless ring master (Idolm@ster) it's just a cornucopia of fantastic rainbow kawaiiness that just makes you smile.
If Aikatsu has any problems, it's the fact that the characters feel so forgettable that I never even bothered to name them, now it does work in a weird way because it represents any character that can be designed by a player playing one of their games and each character represents a style path anyone can follow but it also makes it very difficult to judge them by their own merits since the girls only follow one personality setting, even Love Live remembered to add some depth to their characters even if they were lazy about it. This comes to my only conclusion about Aikatsu, watch in small doses, to marathon the series would piss you off and it's set pieces leave less of an impact the more frequently seen, mostly because the characters can't offer anymore to their one dimensional blueprint so basically it's like watching a music video on VH1 with a special on how it was made, the difference is you learn nothing about the performers.
Being a shojo of this calibur, of course there's no dub but I do believe it would wipeout trends in the toy industry faster than the IPHONE if it did come stateside.
Final Verdict: It's cute, colourful fun with enough ideas to last a lifetime just don't go into this expecting anything deep or meaningful.
Would you believe in the six years I've been doing this that this is the first Gundam series I've reviewed?
Colony Frontier IV was all peaceful until Cosmo Babylonia attack with their Crossbone Vanguard armed unit completely taking control of the colony; caught in the crossfire Seabook Arno and friend Cecily Fairchild escape with numerous young refugees but it becomes apparent that Cecily is more than she seems as she gets captured by the enemy only to be revealed as the missing princess of the Ronah family, meanwhile Seabook comes to terms with the fact that his mother constructed a Gundam for the Earth Federation and goes into battle to save Cecily and to deal with a far more serious plot when the Crossbone unleash their new weapon bent on eradicating humanity.
This is pretty weak considering all the events that came before this timeline, it's obvious what they were going for with Cecily and Seabook but they have no chemistry and are not strong enough personality wise to cover this weakness, the actual plot feels less Gundam and more Star Wars as the bad guys unleash their horrific weapon with the intention of preserving the planet by killing humanity which is really pathetic, while Gundam is no stranger to high kill counts it's impact is somewhat undermined by some embarrassing deaths including a woman taken out by an empty rifle round.
Dub is weak but the music is nice.
Final Verdict: A weak entry to a timeline that is more or less ended, the characters are no where near strong enough to hold the movie together and just comes off as mediocre.
I'm reviewing these two together for convenience as it takes place in the same timeline.
Sakura Wars is a steampunk RPG dating simulator made by Sega, the OVA here acts to fill in the gaps for the game's prologue and gaps within the game to give characters a chance to shine outside of combat.
Ova 1 is the prequel which showcases the development of the mechs, the discovery that only certain people can use them, the build up to Ohgami and Sakura's recruitment, the team's first mission and a one off just to prove that Ohgami is the ideal commander. OVA 2 pairs two of the girls together per episode with the last two focussing on Sakura going to help a wedding ceremony for a family member with the rest thinking she's getting married but it showcases a real dilemma when it hits the girls that if one of them did marry they may decide to retire, of course Sakura doesn't marry and it's all one big misunderstanding.
Mixed bag here, the 1st OVA may as well have been game DLC, which would've helped clean up the narrative alot so lets focus on the character driven episodes of OVA 2.
Sakura and Maria: Maria's past catches up to her as a mafia hitman comes after her but working with Sakura she manages to overcome it, even perfecting the trick she failed at the start, both work well together and gives both a healthy boost in character strength.
Iris and Reni: Iris has a sulk after an argument about her being too young to lead a play, leading her into the city causing trouble only for Reni to bail her out, they don't gain much from the experience and feel weaker because of it.
Sumire and Kanna: The team encounter a film set haunted by a former silent film actress driven to suicide when the introduction of sound drove her out the industry, this is my favourite episode as it shows a softer, stronger side to the normally stuck up Sumire, while Kanna doesn't do much, I still enjoy an early rendition of what would later become the voice of Monkey D Luffy.
Orihime and Kohran: The team help out a village overrun with Yakuza by using one of their plays of a comicbook hero as inspiration to drive out the bad guys, nothing really achieved here either as their characters are pretty much the same as normal.
Episode 5 and 6 is a giant misunderstanding but the use of silence and music really captures the mood set at the beginning of episode 6, this is sadder in context when you realize it also reflects the actresses who play the girls as it was only a few years later that saw Sumire get an Ova just to showcase her actress' retirement, what makes Sakura Wars unique among other franchises is the stage shows as OVA 2 in particular has plays that are done in the stage shows and all the main actresses play their characters, so when it came to end it hit everyone pretty hard.
Dub is a mixed bag as some voices were recast between OVAs but not too bad.
Final Verdict: They definitely hit the right tone and notes throughout the OVAs and while some characters don't improve, others do but it's frustrating to watch this and not be able to play the games due to the Japanese only stamp.
Bet you didn't expect this to be anime did ya?
Everyone knows this story, Tom Sawyer is Mark Twain's story of a young mischievous boy growing up in the Southern States of early United States. Along with Huckleberry Finn and a host of other colourful characters, it's pretty much the origin story of the class clown way before the creation of Dennis the Menace and Bart Simpson.
Since the Japanese love adapting western novels, it came as no surprise when they tried their hand at Tom Sawyer and it's remarkably well made, so much so it became America's most faithful animated adaption.
Now being British, this doesn't hold much weight for me in nostalgia, so this slice of wholesome Americana is not something I can give a fair review for as in my opinion if you see one episode, there isn't going to be much difference in the rest, but I also didn't have the benefit of reading the story when I was young so take this with a pinch of salt.
Of course there's a dub, if they couldn't dub this properly then they should apologise to Uncle Sam; thankfully the dub is solid.
Final Verdict: I can see alot of care went into this and I can see why it's the best version but I'm also British and lack the nostalgia goggles for it so I leave it to the viewers to judge this more fairly.
Now for a complete waste of time.
The Planet Libertia was once known as the Planet of Death until the inhabitants installed giant mirrors to try and curb the extreme heat.
Alicia and her grandfather Professor Grace are developing the armour unit Legaciam said to be capable of surviving extreme heat but a group called the Guild led by a former friend wants the armour in order to investigate a mysterious tower, which is also what Professor Grace wants to do so together with Zeno they break out of the Guild's grasp and head to the tower which never gets resolved.
That was a waste of time, nothing gained from the effort put into the armour which Alicia is too petrified to even pilot, there appears to be some form of class war but it's barely touched upon, it's unclear what the ultimate goal is either, all we know is the tower makes a horrible sound that makes people die and that Legaciam was found there, nothing gets resolved.
No dub but wonderful musical score, wish you spent more effort on the story.
Final Verdict: Waste of time but the music is at least nice
