Few more to run this week, let's do this.
Sora Naegino dreams of one day being on the Kaleido stage, a circus inspired by the real life French Canadian Cirque De Soleil.
Now she is old enough, she auditions to join the troupe but a series of unfortunate events hamper her on the way to the top. Betrayals, comedy, reluctant performers, bitchy rivals, tears and copious amounts of drama bombs all take place on the Kaleido stage under the fortunes and predictions of the Spirit of the Stage.
Drama bomb is definitely the right term for this, while spectacularly animated and choreographed to a high degree, every episode comes with it's own drama which can either make you cry or really feel sorry for Sora. A lot of people are really mean spirited with some people being easier to forgive than others, May Wong being the worst offender who really pushes all the buttons for worst character.
While the dub is well done it suffers from being a bit melodramatic however some moments can really be phenomenally performed by the voice cast.
Final Verdict: Probably the most spectacular looking anime but it's easily hampered by soap opera plots that get too heavy on the drama bombs.
Okay, now for something that doesn't suit the manga artist.
Earth is under attack from cute aliens that resemble stuffed toys. Worried that fighting them with the usual tanks and guns would make Earth look like bullys, Earth's Defence Force seniors turn to their Granddaughters by making them magical girls. Mao, Misora and Sylvia make up the Ground Self Defence Force defending Japan from Land, Air and Sea; led by long suffering Colonel and obvious Naru lookalike Kagome.
Ken Akamatsu seems the least likeliest manga artist to do this kind of show and yet, he did and at least learned some restraint considering his history.
Mao-Chan plays with the magical girl trope well, it understands how ridiculous the premise can be and plays with it by using the military theme to it's advantage but the anime like much of Akamatsu's work is plagued by cheap animation and bizarre choices in dubbing.
While I've not seen the dub personally it does share a few directions from Love Hina which was already hit and miss mostly miss.
It's weird to say this but Mao-Chan is actually Akamatsu's best work.
Love Hina has aged poorly.
Negima is baffling.
Itsudatte My Santa is WTF.
A.I Love You rips off Ah My Goddess.
And the less said about UQ Holder the better.
Mao-Chan despite being a parody feels unique and disspells the myth that Akamatsu can only do ecchi by being heartwarming and silly further exhibited by the three main girls especially Sylvia.
Final Verdict: A surprisingly well rounded parody only let down by cheap animation.
Life is making posting difficult but this should start me off again.
Lucia, the Mermaid Princess of the North Pacific Ocean, saved a boy seven years prior to the story from a deadly tsunami, entrusting him with her Pink Pearl. Present day and Lucia tracks down the boy she loves, a surfer named Kaito but unable to tell him the truth, Lucia must try and help him remember. Meanwhile water demons attack the Sea Worlds, so it's up to Lucia and her friends to gather the remaining mermaid princesses to summon Sea Goddess Aqua Regina to save the Kingdom. They do so by transforming into idols and singing away the evil.
Back in the past, this was a guilty pleasure, it's a novelty to watch these girls perform which gets better when going up against singing villains, in fact the villain songs made my car playlist. But now, it's worst than I remember.
There's only so much of the same set pieces I can stand, the series is notoriously long and can be an absolute slog to sit through, there's nothing particularly wrong with much else, the character arcs are well written along with the characters themselves being very joyful; the Orange Mermaid Princess especially noteworthy for her performance. It's just too long.
It was meant to have a dub and it is finished just never released, the network still has the footage locked up.
There is one dub that does make the series so much better and that's the Italian dub version. Italy have a good record for shojo series and they gave Mermaid Melody some much needed justice.
Final Verdict: it's fine but way too long for a series that has too many set pieces, could easily shorten to 26 episodes from it's 91. Italian dub does improve the show.
Again, I'm going off script but I found this anime interesting enough to review.
Cleopatra Corns is the young super rich CEO of the Corns Group, the financial powerhouse of the United States but Cleo is usually more interested in dressing up for lavish parties much to the chagrin of her secretary and friend Swen. But when trouble literally crashes into her penthouse, Cleo springs into action, defending maidens in distress from rival companies hoping to achieve world domination through any means whether it be civil war in Saudi Arabia over oil, stopping the creation of a satelite laser or rescuing an ESPer from being used for evil. Nothing is too much for Cleopatra DC who even adopts the girls she saves for her team.
This is surprisingly good; I compare it to a cartoon I watched over a year ago from the same era, Goldie Gold. While Goldie is horribly incompetent and should be dead if not for her absurd gadgets and wealth that is not possible in any form of media including fiction; Cleopatra knows what she's doing, even arranging a clever trap to outwit trained military soldiers; she's at least capable enough in combat to take out regular bad guy Colonel Karts on multiple occasions, is fully aware of the consequences of what happens if everything goes wrong, is surrounded by people who can do their job and she does all this with no ridiculous gadgets but knowing the right people to call and how to organize properly, you know like a proper Billionaire big boss should do!
Okay she still parties too much but she is still way better than any character who shares the same position.
No dub, I think it should be dubbed as it was set in America and was aimed at a Western audience.
Final Verdict: It's actually good. The art style is unique to it's era and very stylish and it shows phenomenal attention to detail in how the Corns Company operates. It relies a little too much on the "right place at the right time" trope but it's a minor nitpick.
This is a little off topic from Project 1000 but I've carefully watched the whole series and really want to sign this off.
Loosely based on real events, Wangan Midnight is about the rivalry between the Devil Z - A 70s Nissan S30Z and Blackbird - An 80s Porsche 911 made by RUF, along with many other drivers drawn into the world of highway racing.
The goal is simple but getting there requires a lot of work, for any car enthusiast, the intricate details that go into all the tuning is very insightful and adds so much weight to each battle.
Backed up by a soundtrack that creates an intense atmosphere particularly when Devil Z shows up to a theme of what can be best described as a demonic ritual.
It's easy to forget that the start of the anime painted the Devil Z as a cursed vehicle who killed all it's previous owners yet somehow still runs.
To really appreciate what messages the show speaks, it constantly switches between minor and supporting characters each with different lives, some are still in the racing world, some are drawn in, some are pulled out of retirement, some want nothing to do with it anymore; every decision that's made comes off the back of witnessing the Devil Z race as a passenger, mechanic or as the unfortunate racer beaten by it and Blackbird.
It's a carefully written story that shows how much the presence of a legendary vehicle can affect those in it's world in the pursuit of speed and the only ones who will understand this are car enthusiasts.
I do not know of a dub but it may not be a bad decision to have one knowing how much detail is described on the cars which is exhausting to read. Incidentally the franchise boasts a live action film and numerous arcade racers.
Final Verdict: This will do nothing for you if you don't like cars but for the avid petrol head, this is the best anime you can watch on cars, yes, even better than Initial D!
