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 …

Remember being a senior in High School, drugging and raping underclassmen and making bombs filled with razor blade schrapnel? No? Maybe you were the self-mutilating waif with a penchant for instigating violence amongst your classmates. Not that either? Boy, times sure have changed, eh? Or maybe the epitaph left by This World of Ours (Oretachi no Sekai) is that things haven’t changed, that immorality is a distinct rite of passage and possibly a survival requisite.
Fueled by the familiar “coming-of-age” annals describing peer pressure and …

Poor timing dealt from inopportune situations, that’s Paranoid Park’s premise. Highschooler/skateboarder (not necessarily in that order) Alex (sweet-faced, eternally Zoo York clad newcomer Gabe Nevins) went out to “see the freaks skate” at Paranoid Park (oh, you know it’s Burnside) one night in order to drown his own almost all-too-aloof adolescent angst (parents’ divorce, his own dead-end relationship, his little brother reciting Napoleon Dynamite verbatim — just kidding about the latter because he adores his brother), but winds up witnessing the grisly death of a rent-a-cop instead.
As always, …

“It’s an understandable habit… what’s strange is that people ever quit.” Words of wisdom from shamen/orthodontist Perry (Keanu Reeves) right before he hypnotizes Justin Cobb (Lou Pucci), a 17-year-old chronic thumb abuser. “From now on, your thumb will taste like echinachea”, and it does. It “cures” Justin of his affliction, but not the addiction. He goes from one impulsion to the next, riding the temporary high of newfound experimentation.
On the surface, Justin is like any normal nonconformist niche kid, searching for acceptance and answers, yet is …

I just found this article over the weekend. An Iranian girl who fended off three rapists has been sentenced to death by hanging. Insanity I tell you.
Read the article here.
As always, post your thoughts below.

Perpetually oscillating between the disturbing, mysterious, perverted, horrific, explosive, meditative, surreal, hilarious, and introspective, Gantz is one of the most entertaining, and frankly, best animes I’ve seen in recent years.

Due for US remake in 2007 Chris and I have somehow managed to avoid the infectious plague of ubiquitous cell phone abuse. It is only through obstinate willpower that we haven’t allowed ourselves to be drawn into the modern lifestyle adaptation where possessions actually possess their owners, where some are left crippled without the items they don’t actually need. Billions of the world’s population of course, aren’t so lucky. In Japan, children are often rewarded with the most technologically superfluous gadgets and accessories to adorn and …

SHE SAID: Ce n’est pas une école. Columbine is a subject I sometimes wish would just go away. Not because it was a tragedy, but because the media never handles situations of that magnitude truthfully. (i.e.: Iraq~ Jessica Lynch). Don’t you remember High School? Sure it was fun, but it wasn’t all hunky-dory and everyone holding hands and getting along. Being a teenager meant you were forced to deal with angst. The majority overrules. The disempowering choke-hold because you’re older than a “kid” but not yet an “adult”. Peer …

HAVE YOU EVER KILLED SOMEONE? Okay, wait a minute, [[REWIND]].. Have you ever been at the local 7-11 or ‘quickie mart’ and hosed down some slushies, nachos, maybe some smokes? The cashier lackadaisically taps the register keys, wishing you were her last customer and is secretly praying to god you don’t have a handgun hidden. The total is the same as always: $6.66.
What does that MEAN?? Is it a sign that evil is following you or are they just a coincidental sum of a series of random digits? Besides using …

SPECIAL EDITION DIRECTOR’S CUT DVD Note: While many people believe this film to be banned in America due to its “excessively violent” nature, the actual reason for its absence from American markets is due to the fact Toei, the film company behind Battle Royale, refuses to have BR distributed in America at any cost. Unfortunately this means the film will never be released here in America.
I’ve been a big fan of Battle Royale since I first saw its theatrical cut on VCD a few years back. Because of my fondness …

Note: This was the second review I ever wrote, and was published initially on Film Rotation (FilmRot.com). It was written for a different audience, and stands as somewhat at odds with the rest of the reviews on our site. I warn you that it is not particularly insightful, and is fairly crass. Still, it is my review, so I keep it here for posterity’s sake. Enjoy.
CREEPY OR CRAPPY? Suicide Circle has been called Japan’s take on Heathers. Sure it’s got a lot of gore, but is it …