Angel's Anime Rating Guide

Today, I picked up  Sky Crawlers ... In a world very similar to ours, there are children who do not age. They're known as "Kildren," and they're fighting a war. Against whom, and to what end is not important. One such boy, a young fighter pilot named Yuichi Kannami, arrives at his base out in the country, assigned to a small battalion. He's never met these people before, but soon finds himself in an alarmingly familiar routine, acting out relationships that seem predestined. Of course, this has all happened before. Sky Crawlers seemed intriguing, so, it came home with me. A major selling point was that the feature was directed by Mamoru Oshii, the famed director behind the Patlabor and Ghost In The Shell movies. So, my expectations for Sky Crawlers were pretty high. Sky Crawlers is beautifully rendered using a mix of traditional and CG animation, but, overall I was a bit disappointed with the Sky Crawlers . I gave Sky Crawlers a 2 out of 5.

AnimEigo is one of the pioneers of the American anime industry and is responsible for bringing such gems as Urusei Yatsura and Bubblegum Crisis to the U.S. I stopped by the AnimEigo site recently and got such a tickle out of their latest sale announcement, that I thought I'd share with you... Would you believe it, 2009 marks our 20th year of operation. Ah, the good old days, when 45-minute OVAs on VHS tape sold for $40, and the fans were damn glad to be able to get them. Now you want them on DVD, you want liner notes, you want dubs as well as subtitles. Want, want, want... that's all we ever hear from you! What about our needs? What about the boats and sports cars all our employees deserve so very much? What about finally getting that corporate jet for Natsumi -- she'd settle for a small one, and they're cheap right now! But Nooooooo! You keep insisting that we provide better products for lower prices! You keep insisting we "celebrate" our 20th year by