Change Your Image
gordonthegorilla
Reviews
Chikyûgai-shônen-shôjo (2022)
High quality sci-fi space anime. Kid friendly, but very detailed.
I really enjoyed The Orbital Children. It has the adventurous spirit of old fashioned science fiction, but takes place in a futuristic high tech setting. The story focuses on a group of kids who find themselves in a difficult situation inside a space station orbiting the earth.
Visually it is excellent, as you'd expect from Mitsuo Iso, an absolute legend of Japanese animation. Really nice painterly backgrounds, interesting shot choices, cool designs & high quality animation. Storywise there are a lot of technical details to absorb, but it worked for me. I liked the characters & found it very engaging. Tonewise there was a nice mix of seriousness & silliness.
You could safely show this to kids without worrying about the kind of violence or sexual content which anime often contains, but the only issue might be the density of the story. I imagine it would be hard for the average kid to process. In that regard Orbital Children is similar to Iso's previous anime show Dennou Coil, which is also a brilliant piece of work, but requires a good attention span to enjoy fully.
If a highly detailed, wholesome, space adventure anime is what you're after then Orbital Children is for you!
Shin Evangelion Gekijôban (2021)
A success or a big mess? As a longtime Eva fan I am undecided...
The story here is what you expect. Like a jazz trumpet solo. Whatever. Just go with the flow & don't expect to grasp everything. Way too long though.
I'm not a huge fan of the new character designs. It looks like they've made the chins all pointier, sort of jutting out too.
I am a diehard fan of the original TV series. The heavy drama & spectacular action. The sense of scale & power. Just awesome. In my mind there's a definite 'Evangelion Look'.
At times the film really nails that look & it is quite awesome to watch. Grand scale spectacular action, with high budget cinematic polish & modern day animation techniques.
Unfortunately there is also some stuff which just plain looks bad. There's a certain scene which should have been epic, but sucks because it looks like an unfinished computer game.
Some scenes later in the film suffer from having a really 'off' style. There is more lame computer game looking animation too.
Music choices throughout the film often feel 'off' too.
I really wanted to like this film. There is plenty of terrific, high quality animation on display. But there are also some artistic choices that will make you cringe.
I'm not pumped about this film, but I don't hate it either.
Halloween Party (2019)
Fun
Vibe-wise think Happy Death Day, mixed with aspects of The Hills Have Eyes & any of those Japanese (The Grudge, The Ring, whatever) jump-scare creepfest movies. Amusing, not-too-heavy, comedic horror. With creepy stuff at times. Witty writing & the two leads are quite likable. A good bit of fun.
Twin Peaks (1990)
Varies in quality
Season one is truly legendary. An engaging mix of mystery, unique characters & odd situations. Badalamenti's music is amazing. Serial television at it's finest. Season two starts off reasonably well, buts slumps into nonsense & lame melodrama after six or seven episodes. Season three is straight up awful. Totally different feel to the previous seasons. So much pointless filler. Torturously slow. The appearance of many original characters is more of a weak novelty than a clever integration. Just stick to season one & the first third of season two. Everything else sucks.
Re: Cutie Honey (2004)
Mixed quality. Episode 1 is good. Episode 2 is crap. Episode 3 is AWESOME!
Being a long time Gainax fan & an anime lover I found this 3 episode series quite intriguing. Kind of a perverted comedy/action type thing. For the most part it stays fairly light & silly. Gets a bit heavier in the last episode.
The opening credits are excellent. A combination of slickness & silliness. Very cool. The j-pop theme might put some people off a bit, but it suits the show to come.
Episode 1 is directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi who you'll know as the director of the wild & crazy Dead Leaves & Gurren Lagann. This episode does a good job of setting up the campy vibe of the show & Imaishi maintains his manic style! The animation is crude & loose, but vibrant & expressive too. Later in the episode there's some really well composed action sequences.
Episode 2 is a pile of poo. This is what I'm referring to in the summary. It's very poorly done.
Thankfully Episode 3 is AWESOME! From what I can tell it is directed by Masayuki & Hideaki Anno. Great shot choices & execution - really good animation throughout. Lots of action. A satisfying end to this short series.
So there you go!
Redline (2009)
Furious action spectacle! A lot of fun!
I saw this film in Adelaide as part of Madman Entertainment's 'Reel Anime' festival. Redline is directed by Takeshi Koike, whom you'll know as long time Madhouse animator working under Yoshiaki Kawajiri on such legendary anime films as Ninja Scroll & Wicked City. So you know what to expect lookwise. Lots of dark shading & fluid, really well choreographed action movement. Redline is no exception! An absolutely incredible amount of effects animation on display here. Explosions & detailed mechanical carnage abound. Every shot of any character is just dripping with attitude too - very cool stuff.
I won't say too much about the story other than to say it is a fairly straightforward racing tale. Follows the typical formula - racing, a bit of background stuff, then the BIG race... Fairly familiar in that regard, but the visual side of this film - the car designs, the architecture, the costumes - are really original & just plain cool! As I've said above, the animation is awesome & the shot choices are really dynamic & exciting to watch. A visual feast! Sit back & soak it up!