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Reviews
Final Fantasy: Unlimited (2001)
Great introduction to Final Fantasy...
The basic storyline is that Ai and Yu, two twins, are seeking their parents who disappeared in a rift 12 days ago. This rift takes the twins to Wonderland, a series of worlds with one ruler: Duke Tyrant, a cruel child who seeks to be the most powerful of all in Wonderland. Ai and Yu must find their parents and stop this Duke from invading their homeworld with strangers they meet along the way... First of whom, Lisa (a young sorceress) meets the twins on the "Ghost Train" that takes them around Wonderland. There's also Kaze, a strange fighter with amnesia and no charisma whatsoever, who defends the twins and Lisa (unintentionally) from the beasts and bosses of Wonderland using a strange and legendary "Magun" that appears to be permanently attached to his right hand that uses powerful colored bullets he calls "Soil". A wide assortment of other characters also exist...
This is a great introduction to the Final Fantasy series of video games for new players. It introduces the elements that are present in almost all of the games: Cid, the summoned monsters, what opposes which, etc. and it doesn't do it in a stubborn manner, such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, where concepts build upon each other.
Many people look at the recent games, and decide that this anime is inferior to the quality of stories that are present in the recent titles. This isn't geared towards that at all; Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II/IV were very simple in storyline as well, and are hailed as classics. Could more have been done with this OAV? Sure, but this does have value in of itself in the way it was made.
Of a four star scale, I'd give it two. It has originality and imagination, it could be better, but thankfully it's not the original Final Fantasy series anime. If the introduction was more solid, however, such as clarifying the significance of the Day of Conjunction, and how their parents released a book about it 12 days after the rift opened before disappearing... that would make this a candidate for three stars.
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
Excellent... It's Just That Simple (Entire review contains spoilers... Please pass this review up if you haven't seen it.)
I thought this was an excellent addition to the Zion Mythos (I guess I'm terming the Matrix World much like H.P. Lovecraft...)
A common comment I see about this film in boards is that the mystery of the Matrix that was so boldly introduced in the original is gone, leaving people not as psyched about this film as the original. That's all fine and well for this film, but the depth of the film more than makes up for this shortfall, as the details enter areas the first film could not.
For example, the emerging conflict in Zion (pre-destruction): those who believed in the prophecy that would later betray them (Counselor, Morpheus, etc.), as well as those who believed that humans needed to outthink the machines (Locke, Most Ship Captains, etc.) was refreshing to see. Not everyone agreed with the way Morpheus did things outside of Zion.
In addition, the machines themselves had their own dichotomy, in which the programs of the Matrix had different levels of existance: the active programs, such as the Architect, the Agents, etc., who all exist within their duties in the system; those programs marked for deletion, such as the Oracle, Seraph, and the Keymaker who all have 'outlived' their usefulness in the system, and applications, such as Merovingian, who perform tasks for the active programs, but not at the same level as the other programs, as he mentions his more illegal activities in the Matrix, and as can be seen with his guardians (The Twins) shooting Matrix Agents in pursuit of them.
In addition, you also have viruses, such as Agent Smith, who is now outside of the mainframe, who exists now to destroy the entire system, with the humans inside of it as well, as can be seen with his assimilating of clones made of human participants (Cain) and digital participants (Agent Thompson). This latter part of the machine hierarchy will be indeed interesting to see in the Matrix Revolutions as Agent Smith now acts as a threat to both the source code as well as Neo and the humans.
The most interesting aspect, however, is Zion, where the Prophecy and the Oracle referred to the Human City as a secret, but the Matrix more than allows the city to exist to serve it's ultimate purpose; to revise the Matrix code with The One as it's catalyst, which introduces the division problem: what really is the boundary between the Matrix and the real world? What if Zion is a part of the Matrix itself? Neo's little stunt with the sentinals introduces that thought: that perhaps Zion itself is an illusion, and there is no real world.
In any case, the third chapter to the trilogy should deliver much of the same thing. It was amazing to see this film reveal so much, but I see the third film being taken like "Return of the Jedi", or "The Return of The King", as people will see it just to conclude the story, but still, it should be an interesting chapter nonetheless.
Overall, The only bad things I've heard from others is that the action scenes seem too video-game like, and that the love scene in Zion was too damn long (which I thought fit in as a mental shift perfectly). I think if you expected to see something as mindblowing as the original, you may have been disappointed. But if you're an action junkie, you'll totally dig, and if the drama/philosophy is only what your after, this more than blows the first one away.
Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku no tobira (2001)
Hard to find, but worth it.
I really am disappointed in the way this film was marketed.
First of all, I had to drive about 90 miles to catch this film in Long Beach, to one of only 5 theaters in the area that even had this title at a non-ridiculous time (12:18 at night?!!) Second, the little to no promotion of this film from Sony, Adult Swim, and Sunrise tells me that this is not a very low-budget marketing effort in any part (yet films like "What A Girl Wants" that fits a very limited audience is plastered all over the small screen) of a film whose plot lines rivals the completeness of any Miyazaki film. Third, the only time I saw the trailer was online. Why wasn't this in any theatre??
Okay, petty ranting aside, this was an excellent movie... very well written, good for those who haven't seen the series at all, involving action sequences (Watanabe is an excellent director), and very interesting plot devices. The soundtrack is superb (and I am very disappointed that there is no soundtrack commercially available for this title) with Mai Yamate doing an excellent job with the credits track again, just like music on the series episodes "Ballad of Fallen Angels" and "Real Folk Blues" Pt. 2. Yoko Kanno and house-band Seat Belts made the mop-fighting scene irresistable, with stings from the song matching blow-for-blow the action on screen. Musically, this anime is alone a prime example of just how capable music can be on putting anime on a level playing field with other motion pictures.
The disappointments? Just a few: (as we all are aware than no motion picture is perfect) the story did continue the plot line of the entire series, but it left Ed, Ein and Faye as more flat, predictable characters, as Spike and Jet got even more developed. This leaves first timers to the series a little disdainful to otherwise very human performances in the series, as you see Faye change from gambler to jaded wanderer to almost back to where she belongs in the world. In the film, she's just an annoying tag-along for Jet & Spike to take care of.
SPOILER ALERT -- STOP READING FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE
Also, one of the plot devices, the butterflies, were present in some shots of Electra and Volaju, but where were they with Jet and others, and why weren't people freaking out with this at the Halloween Festival? If I was in that crowd, and saw those flashes of light, I'd think it was a cool effect, but when I got home, I'd be going nuts trying to make them go away! Also, with Spike, would the butterflies affect his already unnatural vision? It'd be annoying using a digital eye with those glasses with butterflies obscuring your vision!
Aside from that, I was very satisfied with the movie, and can't wait for the DVD!