Now for a fairy tale adaptation.
Maya is a problem child who misbehaves all the time to the point that her mother can't handle her no more, so her mother asks a witch to help her out, this witch gives her the book Thumbelina which after reading, Maya gets transported to the dream world as if she were Thumbelina herself. With a fairy made of sugar and some magic items, Maya sets off on her way to the Land of South to find her mother, along the way numerous creatures want to either kill Maya, force her into marriage or throw her into nightmares, so yeah that's pretty much how Thumbelina goes anyway.
The version I watched was the dubbed American version which attempted to re-tell the story as an 80 minute feature from a 26 episode series, while the series probably makes very little difference to the story it would've at least given us a cleaner narrative especially in regards to her so called behaviour which the dub doesn't portray well making Maya very tame for a so called troublemaker. The editing isn't any better as it makes it all too obvious there were cuts.
Dubbing was actually pretty good even if it did remind me of Digimon.
Final Verdict: Passable movie but it isn't the best in terms of editing or narrative which would've helped the story alot, if you can find it, try and watch the original tv series.
Now for a lesson in what to do with a dull story.
The story revolves around Satsuki who moves to a town haunted by a multitude of ghosts from an abandoned school, together with other local kids and a demonic cat, Satsuki sets about exorcising the ghosts.
On it's own merits, it's really tedious to watch, you'll feel like you're wasting away into nothingness, thankfully ADVfilms agreed and decided to turn it into a deliberate gag dub, not the first to do so as Samurai Pizza Cats were the first to do this but while that dub was a result of poor preservation on the part of the Japanese this one was more along the lines of: "What do we do with this anime? We got it as a freebie when we got the Saiyuki license but it's really dull. I know, the voice actors need to let off some steam lets just take the piss out of it"
And what you got was comedy genius, one of the few times you would completely ignore the subtitled version.
Final Verdict: Without the comedic dub this wouldn't even be worth the effort to watch, it's proof that you can sometimes get something from a freebie anime license.
Next up is an 80s classic.
Hold up, isn't this Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs? Why yes it is, but this is the original Japanese incarnation Star Musketeer Bismarck, so on it's own merits does it do better than what the Americans did to it?
Our team of pilots is made up of four members.
Shinji Hikari - A military dropout turned race driver.
Richard Lancelot - An intelligence officer for Her Majesty's British Intelligence Division.
Bill Willcox - American Sharpshooter Jet Pilot.
Marianne Louvre - French Engineer for the giant robot they pilot called Bismarck hence the title and sadly the robot doesn't talk.
The team are set up to stop an evil alien race called Deathcula from taking over the solar system, now I feel like we've been done out of a better story than what Saber Rider gave us; when set in a proper order the episodes are much easier to follow, the violence gives more weight to it's scenes and makes the villains more effective, the character building and chemistry between the Bismarck cast is superb with special mention to Marianne who is less 'the girl' and more the lynchpin for the other cast members to function.
It's a solid sci-fi space adventure that really didn't need changing, heck knowing what I know now, Saber Rider feels like a poor man's version in comparison and makes me feel sorry for the 80s kids who watched it, because we in the west missed out big time.
Final Verdict: It's a solid sci-fi space adventure that easily slots in the era along with it's contemporaries. It didn't need changing at all and I feel the west were done out of something far better than what we actually got.
Kind of a sequels theme going as next is Gundam Seed Destiny.
Two years after the war ended, rumblings among both sides threaten to start another war when ZAFT's new mobile suits get stolen by a terrorist group under the Earth Alliance, however the crew of the Minerva also discover rogue ZAFT troops attempting a colony drop on Earth, with actions on both sides aggravating each other a new war starts with the Minerva in the center and Shinn Asuka being the focus as he attempts to get over losing his family during a battle in season 1.
It's more of the same as season 1 but while Kira Yamato at least had something to work with, Shinn Asuka is a serious downgrade as he's the worst protagonist since Kamille Bidan, he won't stop whining and the impact of his loss gets weaker with every viewing, it makes for difficult watching when he's on screen but at least Athrun and Kira are around to make up the weakness as well as a decent supporting cast, dub is as good as before and it still kept it's core values but Shinn Asuka is a huge challenge to look pass.
Final Verdict: A strong story led by a weak protagonist, if you stick with it, you can enjoy it but if you can't because of Shinn, I don't blame you
This has been coming for a while but it's necessary to address a common problem with Clamp.
A year after the events of the first series along with 20 years worth of technology as well, Sakura starts Junior High School, however a new dream of a mysterious cloaked individual haunts her regularly which triggers a host of events beginning with the clow cards losing power and Sakura's key upgrading to capture new cards known as the Clear Cards in what is basically deja vu as she seems to retread the same scenarios she used to capture the Clow Cards.
Now I really do like Card Captor Sakura but when the old series ended, it ended on the right notes, it didn't require a follow up, especially not like this.
The issue comes from the heavy build up to a big reveal which never happens, we know from watching that Sakura's new friend is involved and that said friend's butler is not as he seems but after 22 episodes were left with just pure speculation and this is after retreading the same plot the first series had, it's very poor writing which brings me to my big pet peeve with Clamp.
Clamp keep trying to fix what isn't broken, it's a common problem shared among all four artists in the group, it's more notable failures are season 2 of Rayearth and Sakura's role in Tsubasa, I also didn't care much for Chobits after a while and there's a plot point in the Angelic Layer manga that had me pissed off, I haven't even got to the train wreck of X but that maybe coming soon as a review, my point is that the stuff they do well shouldn't need anymore done to it but Clamp insist on undoing their own franchises by trying to push for poor sequels that weren't needed and their universal laws are hard enough to work out as it is knowing that much of their key characters easily cross stories.
I never did like Card Captor's dub so I'm glad not to view one, even if the cast is changed assuming there is a dub.
Final Verdict: It's a retread of the first season essentially, with better art but more frustrating story.
