This being April Fool’s Day, I know nothing I post today is really going to be taken seriously, but honest to god, Cat Shit One is real. It’s a new cg-anime production that sees cute little bunny rabbits engaging in covert operations in the middle east. Don’t believe me? Have a look at the Youtube video below. Also, check out the official site. [via]

And I thought I’d seen everything…
Bonus non-violent talking cats for you

Episodes: 1-24, plus Burst Angel Infinity
Genre: Anime, Action
Burst Angel is a show that has little right to be as decent as it is. The series’s entire appeal seems to hinge on the most terribly cliched anime stereotype imaginable: big-eyed, scantily clad, massive-mammaried girls, wielding big guns, and fighting cyborg menaces in giant robots. It’s everything that makes anime hard to legitimize to the non-viewing public. Even the back of the dvd case emphasizes its eye candy content over its actual story. So why, oh why would any self respecting …

I don’t remember Crayon Shin Chan being so dirty. I mean, I know that’s the main draw and premise of the whole show, but when stripped to bare bones (this expression is something the bowl-haired mischievous main character would surely snicker at), Shin Chan’s entire cast rules raunchy tactless-town.
I just don’t remember every character being so dirty.
Thankfully, Season Two pt. 1 handles potty-mouths as professionally as possible (in this genre), the zippy transitional episodes providing lots of laughs and just enough contrasting insight into Shin’s …

Episodes: 6-10
Genre: Anime, Action
Last volume I stated that I was very impressed with Claymore, but I wanted to wait until I saw a bit more of the series before I declared an actual verdict on the series. Having now finished volume 2, I’ve seen enough to do so. Simply put, Claymore is the best fantasy anime since the original Record of Lodoss War. I’m completely serious. It’s got amazing artistry, a truly engaging story, style, substance, emotional gravity… It’s just plain awesome. Everything I mentioned in my previous …

Director: Takashi Okazaki
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Lucy Liu
Genre: Action
Given the number of articles previously published at this site, the recent release of the Afro Samurai video game (complete with giant, billboard advertisements), and the fact that this is a sequel, I think I can forego the usual introductory paragraph. Suffice it to say, Afro Samurai’s back and looking better than ever.
The last go round with Afro saw him climbing the headband ladder to avenge the death of his father. Resurrection picks up a few years later, with Afro still …

And….we’re back. The past month and a half has seen little in the way of updates, but not without good reason. I’ve finished my degree in Software Engineering (with honors and a Mathematics minor), Kris and I both started new jobs (Kris at Cisco, me at On-Site.com), and we took some well deserved time off for Christmas. During that time the review queue has piled up something fierce. I won’t bother to relate all the titles to you here, but suffice it to say in the next few weeks, you’ll …

Episodes: 1-5
Genre: Anime, Action

Throughout my years of anime fandom, I’ve tended to favor shows and films with visual flair and kinetic action over those with dramatic plots or mundane romances. I’ll go to books and films for intellectual and emotional stimulation, but when it comes to anime, I want to see animated feats that can’t be realized convincingly in a live action format. Additionally, I’ve tended to favor shows with strong heroines (also see our Bad Ass Chicks category) over those with weak, moe-style females. Last year’s Witchblade …

Wow. Our queue’s been filling up faster than ever before, but there’s a lot of really cool stuff to be seen. I’m going to do my best to knock a bunch of these out over the next few weeks, continuing the capsule format. Hopefully we’ll cover a lot more ground this way. This week I have School Rumble Season 2 – Part 1, Ghost Hunt Part 1, Shuffle! vol 6, and the whole season of xxxHolic. Coming up we’ll have reviews of Ouran Host Club part 1, the Negima Special, …

I just received a press release regarding Funimation’s recent acquisition of Shikabane Hime (aka: Corpse Princess). Now, I don’t know much about Shikabane Hime, but it’s undead-sukeban style heroine and premise of zombie action has me intrigued. Apparently Funimation acquired the rights to Shikabane Hime just weeks after its initial Japanese Television debut — I’m guessing it must be pretty good to warrant such a speedy acquisition. Oh, and the best part? Funimation will be offering streaming downloads of the individual Shikabane Hime episodes, free, through their own site and …

Director: Shusuke Kaneko
Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Kenichi Matsuyama, Erika Toda
Genre: Manga

I’ve officially had to watch this film twice past my patience limit just because I couldn’t get on the review quick enough before I forgot it all. So here it is, just in time for Halloween cosplay ideas, and so I won’t have to watch it again. —Kris
Death Note: The Last Name starts off running, with an admirably quick and tidy recap, hinging on your ability to ignore the odd usage of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Dani California …

And, we’re back. I’ve finally had time to sit down and watch a few of the anime titles sent us, and you know what? There were actually some great shows this time around. Some shows I’ve reviewed previously only continued to derail, but the vast majority of the others surprised me with their quality. Since there are a lot of titles to cover, I’ll make this short and sweet. Expect a few more of these capsule reviews until I’m able to whittle down the queue a bit. —Chris
Devil May Cry: …

I’ve been meaning to get these out of the way for quite a while now, but just haven’t had the chance (see upcoming Summer update article). Since the capsule format was so popular last time, and since my review stack has grown so large, here are brief reviews of Shuffle vol. 4, School Rumble – Extra Class, Batman: Gotham Knight, and One Piece Season 1 Voyage 1. On with the show.
Shuffle! vol. 4. If there was one thing that bugged me about Shuffle, it was the character of Primula. The …

Director: Katsuhide Motoki
Starring: Eiji Wentz, Mao Inoue, Yo Oizumi
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Manga
US DVD Release Date: October 28, 2008

GeGeGe no Kitaro tries too hard. It tries to be enchanting but relies too heavily on floppy CG (nearly 700 shots). It tries to be a comedy without wit. It wants to be an action blow-out without excitement. It even attempts to be a romance without chemistry, in fact it comes across as creepy. And when the ultra dampening piano plunks desperately attempt to flag the tragic bits, you …

Director: Keiichi Sugiyama
Genre: Anime, Action

In Origin: Spirits of the Past, the forest reclaims earth in catastrophic fashion and leaves human civilization devastated when an experiment in growing plants on the moon goes awry and the plants destroy the moon and extend to earth, tearing through everything in their path. In this post-apocalyptic world, two cities are left, Neutral City, a city built on metropolitan ruins at the edge of a sprawling forest, and Ragna, an industrial city in the middle of the desert that surrounds Neutral City on …

Episodes: 1-13
Genre: Anime, Action

I really wanted to like Aquarion. The first episode was visually dazzling and confusing, and you were just thrust into this other world, an alternate post-apocalyptic future where an inexplicable threat continues to plague humanity and a small group pilots who command three jets that can merge into the legendary robot Aquarion are the last line of defense and only hope for humanity. I liked the colorful characters and the possibilities they represented; Apollo, the wild-eyed orphan with raw power and a possible past …

Director: Kankuro Kudo
Starring: Shichinosuke Nakamura, Tomoya Nagase
Genre: Japan, Comedy, Curious, Fantasy
See it at SF Indie’s Another Hole in the Head June 2008!
Everyone loves a roadtrip movie. Maybe even a gay roadtrip movie. How about a couple of Edo era gay samurai who are forbidden to ride their motorcycle (by famed Susumu Terajima, no less) and must walk for the rest of the “roadtrip”? Well, there’s a lot of similar pain and disappointment to endure in Yaji and Kita: The Midnight Pilgrims, bookended by the baleful and the …

Kris and I just got back from a short vacation, and some of the review titles have piled up quite a bit (I just received 4 more titles yesterday). So, in an effort to clean house, here are a few short capsules for Black Blood Brothers vol. 3, Baldr Force EXE, Hell Girl vol. 4, and Shin Chan Season 1, part 1. If you guys like this format, I can continue it for reviews of other anime titles.

Black Blood Brothers vol. 3
And so Black Blood Brothers winds to a close, …

Director: Fumihiko Sori
Genre: Japan, action, action, sci-fi
Release Date: May 27, 2008
As interested as I was in watching Baldr Force EXE, I was completely ambivalent about Vexille. I’d seen the ads on all the geek sites, but its comparisons to Appleseed weren’t winning me over. You see, to be completely honest, I’m not that big a fan of CG animation. I’ve not bothered to see either of the Appleseed CG movies, and while I have checked out the Final Fantasy CG films, they didn’t grab me in anything more than a …