Angel's Anime Rating Guide

F3  is notable for being only partially dubbed in its original U.S. release... Part 1 She's FRANTIC, she's FRUSTRATED and she's FEMALE. That's F3 for short, but to Hiroe Ogawa it's just a pain in the rear! Now our intrepid Hiroe's bound and determined to get rid of two of her three "F"s in the wildest sex comedy ever animated! In what may be the ultimate "feel good" movie, Hiroe plunges bravely forward, again and again, putting out everything she has in her desperate bid to come clean! She'll stay up the entire night if she has to (it's just too bad her boyfriend can't do the same) and if she has to beat her brains out doing it, then that's a sacrifice Hiroe's willing to make! No helping hands are refused, even when they belong to the local mad scientist and his unbelievable inventions! Our Hiroe may have to take quite a licking before she reaches her ultimate goal, but rest assured that she'll finally get what she ...

A while back, when VCRs still stalked the Earth, I picked up the VHS version of Fake ... Meet Dee Latener and his half Japanese partner Randy (call me Ryo) McLane, a couple of detectives in New York's 27th Precinct. Not only does this pair of crime fighting crusaders chase down criminals, but Dee can't seem to stop chasing Ryo as well. Is it just his dark hair and eyes that attract him so, or is it something else...?

Over the years, I picked up various incarnations of the Final Fantasy franchise... According to Wikipedia ... Final Fantasy is a Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix, and centered on a series of fantasy and science fantasy role-playing video games. The franchise has since branched into other video game genres such as tactical role-playing, action role-playing, massively multiplayer online role-playing, racing, third-person shooter, fighting, and rhythm, as well as branching into other media, including CGI films, anime, manga, and novels.

Years ago, I picked up the VHS version of Robot Carnival ... Note : The director commentary for each segment came from the liner notes included with the soundtrack CD JVC/Streamline # JMI-1002... Nine Animators - One Vision. Showcasing the work of nine world-class animators, ROBOT CARNIVAL is an animation lover's dream. Producer Kazafumi Nomura has gathered a group of artists with their own unique styles.

A while back, I picked up the VHS version of Fist Of The North Star ... Ken, the Fist of the North Star, is the chosen heir of this ancient martial arts technique, a school of fighting in which touching psychic pressure points can kill someone between five minutes and two days later. His world is a bleak one, devastated by a global nuclear war. Some survivors are struggling to rebuild their lives and create an orderly, peaceable society out of the chaos. Some are reveling in the anarchy of a ruined civilization and using their own strength to exploit the weak and helpless. Ken must fight, not only bands of marauders, but former friends and even his own brother Raoh as he tries to help those who cannot help themselves.

In the mid-to-late-80's, anime in the form that we all know and love, had not yet established itself. Robotech had been created in the early 80's from three unrelated anime series... According to the  Robotech FAQ (v0.9) part of the Robotech Compendium : In late 1982, Tatsunoko Productions' SUPER DIMENSION FORTRESS MACROSS premiered on Japanese airwaves. Originally intended to be a comedy, it went on to become one of the most popular shows ever in the giant robot (a.k.a. mecha) genre, right next to MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM. After MACROSS ended in 1983, it was followed in the same time-slot by Tokyo Movie Shinsha's SUPER DIMENSION CENTURY ORGUSS. ORGUSS shared some creative staff with MACROSS (thus the similarities in character designs and mecha), and there were a couple throw-away in-jokes in the first few episodes, but otherwise there was no relation between the shows. Meanwhile, an obscure mecha show called GENESIS CLIMBER MOSPEADA came and went...

Although  FLCL (Fooly Cooly)  is short enough that it could have been packaged on a single disc, the initial release of the series was on three discs... Produced by GAINAX (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and animated by Production I.G. (Ghost in the Shell), FLCL takes animation to yet another level. Get ready for this shocking, funny, and right out freaky show about adolescence, expectations and alien intrigue. Naota wants to be normal. But with a talented brother leaving Japan for the US to play baseball, everyone now looks at him a bit differently. His brother's girlfriend is acting strange and now there's an even stranger girl hitting on him.

Way back when VCRs still stalked the Earth, I picked up the VHS version of  Genocyber ... It began with two sisters, both powerful and at opposite ends of the spectrum. If they could be fused into a single being, that being would be the most powerful being this world has ever seen: The Genocyber! Part 1 Birth of Genocyber As the nations of the world begin to merge their armies into one international force, world peace is now being threatened by the private armies of individual corporations. The Japanese Kuryu Group may have discovered the one weapon which will tip world power in their favor.

One of AnimEigo's early releases was the VHS version of Genesis Survivor Gaiarth ... Stage 1 Cover Art Gaiarth - a world devastated by a cataclysmic war, where pockets of humanity struggle to survive amidst the rubble of technologies made magical by ignorance. Gaiarth - a world where artificially intelligent machines doggedly pursue their programmed imperatives - to protect, or to destroy, humanity. Gaiarth - the world of Ital del Labard, a young man raised by an aging War-roid, Sahari, the leader of a band of Junk-Hunters, and Zaxxon, an amnesiac War-roid who may be a link to the fabled past. Gaiarth - a world in which an old and terrible evil has reawakened, threatening to bring about the End of the World - again!

Sometime ago, I picked up the VHS version of  Rg Veda ... Volume 1 At the dawn of time, the gods ruled the universe under the leadership of the mighty Tentei. But suddenly, the ferocious general, Taishakuten, appears, and brutally slaughters Tentei! Brandishing Tentei's severed head, Taishakuten declares that a new age has begun, and all who oppose him will die horribly.

A few years ago, I picked up Full Metal Panic ... Volume 1 On the surface, Kaname Chidori appears to be a normal, popular high school student. The problem is, she doesn't realize just how popular she is. Unbeknownst to her, a group of terrorists believe she possesses the special powers of "the Whispered," and they're out to kidnap her. Enter Sousuke Sagara, a young, hotshot agent from the stealthy anti-terrorist organization Mithril. Will he be able to protect Kaname without her finding out what's really going on? Or will he just drive her crazy as he tries to fit in as her awkward, gung-ho, war-crazed classmate?

Years ago, I picked up the VHS version of Patlabor ... Movie 1 The year is 1999 and Tokyo's Mobile Police have a new weapon in the war on crime, advanced robots called Labors are used to combat criminals who would use the new technology for illegal means. The suicide of a mysterious man on the massive Babylon Project construction site sets off a cascade of events that may signal the destruction of Tokyo. What is the connection between the suicide, the new Mobile Police AV-XO Zero Labor, and a berserk prototype tank? When Patlabor cops Noah Izuma and Azuma Shinohara investigate an unexplained wave of rogue Labors' rampaging across of the city hanging in the balance and a typhoon poised to trigger the devastation, Noah, Azuma and their teammates must destroy the source of the virus, the giant Babylon Project tower in Tokyo Bay in a die hard battle to the finish.

A while ago, I picked up the VHS version of Perfect Blue ... Pop singer Mima Kirigoe looks forward to a bright new career when she quits her chart-topping trio to become an actress. When she lands a role in a sexually-charged murder mystery, Mima's life begins to fall apart. Reality and hallucinations merge into a terrifying world where innocence is lost and dreams become nightmares. Quickly descending into a dangerous state of paranoid delusions, Mima watches as Internet sites appears describing every intimate detail of her life. She is helpless and afraid as her associates are threatened and killed by a mysterious stalker.

Sometime ago, long before Pioneer went out of business, I picked up the VHS version of  Phantom Quest Corp. (You-Gen-Kai-Sya) . And, as part of Pioneer's fledgling anime club, P-Anime, I got the Promotional VHS video called Incident 00 and a matching Phantom Quest Corp. t-shirt for free... Volume 1 Incident File 01 Kiss of Fire Deep in the basement of a skyscraper in Shinjuku city is an exorcist detective agency named Phantom Quest Corporation. Gathered there are a group of people with psychic abilities to detect ghosts. The owner of the company is Ayaka Kisaragi, a shapely woman with taste in designer clothing. What's going on at Phantom Quest Corp. this time? A confidential mission has been assigned from the Transylvanian ambassador in Japan to Phantom Quest Corp. Dracula's casket, classified as a nation treasure, has been found empty. Recent strange murders are believed to have been committed by the resurrected vampire. Ayaka's inseparable companion, assistant ...

A long time ago, when VCRs still stalked the Earth, I picked up  Ping Pong Club ... Volume 1 Make Way for the Ping Pong Club The 6 Schoolboys The boys' Ping Pong Team is preoccupied with girls, obscene jokes and everything else except ping pong, and Tachikawa, their teacher, is doing all he can to break them up. Adding insult to injury, the team's room is handed over to the girls, and the boys try just about everything to heal their wounded pride.

A while back, I picked up the VHS version of  Plastic Little ... No paradise is perfect, not even the breathtakingly beautiful planet Yietta, a world composed entirely of dense liquid gas, where colonists must live on a floating artificial continent and make their living by exploiting tourists and exporting the planet's unique resources... resources with certain applications best left undiscovered. Behind the backs of the civilian authorities, a secret organization within Yietta's military initiates a ruthless plot to take the planet for themselves, seizing control of the gravity-belts that keep Yietta's floating city one step away from armageddon! Deceived by the military until it is almost too late, Professor Nalerof Mordish manages to sabotage their plans at the cost of his own life... but the merciless Commander Guizel is not one to give up easily, and the target of his anger is Mordish's daughter, Elysse.

On one of those days, when there was really nothing else, I took a chance on the VHS version of  Powerdolls ... Volume 1 In 2535 A.D., after decades of oppressive policies instituted by the Terran government, the people of the colony world Omni joined together to declare their independence from the tyranny of planet Earth. Lacking an established military or specialized weapons of warfare, the Omni rebellion seemed doomed to failure. However, by adapting the robotic Power Loaders used for unloading spaceships into man-like battle tanks, the rebel forces instead introduced a whole new era of mechanized combat. Now, five years later, the future of the planet Omni rests upon a handful of young female pilots who serve in the special Detachment of Limited Line Service. Their code name: The Power Dolls. Their assignment: Blow the dam at Chateau Village!

Way back in the misty dawn of time, I picked up the VHS version of Princess Minerva ... When a tournament for Combatively-Inclined Warrior Women is announced, the residents of the quaint little kingdom of Wisler quickly find themselves up to their hips in fearsome fighters of the fairer sex! This is NOT a good situation, especially since when these lethal lovelies aren't fighting for a profit, they're out fighting for pleasure, revenge, or just for the heck of it! Soon the hills are alive with the sound of cat-fights, with each and every combatant dreaming of the cash prize that could allow the winner to live like a princess. Every combatant, that is, except one: Princess Minerva already is a princess, and, frankly, she doesn't like it one bit! This royal Highness would much rather be a daring adventuress enjoying a life fraught with perils, not pearls, and, with the aide of her loyal bodyguard, Blue Morris, she's been secretly sharpening up her basic sword and sorcer...

Sometime ago, I picked up the VHS version of  Private Psycho Lesson ... Sara Iijima is a brilliant psychotherapist specializing with the ancient eroticism of the East. With the help of her drooling assistant Tamine and the dizzying effect of her ample and hypnotically sublime bosom, this D-cup angel of mercy provides her subjects with a private lesson in self understanding, along with a delicious taste of her sensuous physique!

Anime, in the form we all know and love, didn't really begin to appear until the early 90's. The first uncut, unedited, subtitle-only anime that came home with me on VHS was Project A-ko ... Movie Earth - The not-too-distant future... A city is miraculously reborn just sixteen years after being completely destroyed by a giant meteor. Our story begins in the prestigious Graviton High School for Girls as the teacher, Miss Ayumi, introduces two new students - A-ko and her ditzy sidekick C-ko. A-ko is a lively seventeen-year-old, no different from any other... except that within her diminutive frame lies superhuman strength. The trouble begins when B-ko, the spoiled, brilliant daughter of a business tycoon, decides she wants C-ko for herself. And what B-ko wants, B-ko gets. Unless A-ko is standing in the way. B-ko becomes the irresistible force and A-ko the immovable object as the action explodes across this unsuspecting city. B-ko goes up against the invincible A-ko with her a...

Several years ago, I picked up the VHS version of  Psycho Diver ... Yuki is a young, beautiful pop superstar with her life in turmoil. She is haunted by memories of a dark and violent past and is discovering she possesses extraordinary psycho-kinetic powers she cannot control. It is up to Bosujima, a Psycho Diver with exceptional talents, to descend into her turbulent soul and set things right before her inner demon kills him. What he doesn't know is that there are others who will stop at nothing to control Yuki's fate... and that he is stepping into a power struggle he may not survive.

A while back, I picked up R.O.D. (Read or Die) ... OVA Based on the popular manga of Hideyuki Kurata, Read or Die is a three-episode OVA series notable for it's exceptional animation and design. Directed by Kouji Masunari (Tenchi Muyo in Love) with Production Design by Kunyuki Jinguji (Trigun). The library of Congress never planned for this! A sinister plot is afoot and only one young school teacher with an overdeveloped affinity for literature can stop it - Ms. Yomiko Readman... better known to her colleagues in Section A of Library Special Operations as "Agent Paper."

A while ago, I picked up Rahxephon ... TV Series Volume 1 Threshold From writer/director, Yutaka Izubuchi (Gasaraki, Patlabor, and Assemble Insert), and the production company, BONES (Escaflowne the Movie, Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heaven's door) comes RahXephon. 2015 AD. Tokyo is apparently the last city remaining on the otherwise devastated Earth. But high school student Ayato Kamina is caught up in a devastating attack on the city, from fighters that must have come from outside.

Years ago, I got involved with the Ranma 1/2 franchise... In the town of Furinkan in the greater Tokyo area, martial artist Soun Tendo operates a dojo training students in the Anything-Goes Martial Arts technique. (The dojo does not appear to be doing terribly well, as we almost never see any students actually training there.) To ensure that his family continues in the traditional martial arts, Soun makes plans with his old friend Genma Saotome that Genma's son Ranma (also a practitioner of the Anything-Goes School) marry one of his three daughters-19-year-old Kasumi, 17-year-old Nabiki, or 16-year-old Akane-and thus carry on the dojo together.

Sometime ago, I picked up the VHS version of  Record of Lodoss Wars ... Fans of fantasy role-playing games can't ask for a better anime portrayal of a great campaign than RECORD OF LODOSS WAR, a six-volume (thirteen episode) OAV based on the actual gaining sessions of creator Ryo Mizuno and friends. LODOSS details the adventures of a party of six adventurers: Pam, the teenaged righter son of a disgraced paladin, Deedlit, a flighty, haughty elf attracted to Parn, Ghim, a stolid, haunted dwarven warrior, Slayn, an experienced sorcerer, Etoh, a novice cleric and close friend to Pam, and Woodchuck, a cynical but good-natured thief. The grand journey of this untested band will take them across the length of Lodoss, the accursed island continent, as a "War of Heroes" revives an elemental battle between good and evil.

Long ago, I picked up the VHS version of Rei Rei ... Based on the manga by Toshimitsu Shimizu (801 T.T.S. Airbats), Rei Rei, is the story of a supernatural "missionary of love" named Kaguya, who seem to function as a sort of arbiter of relationships doomed to sexual frustration. From her palace in an undefined netherworld, the provocatively dressed Kaguya senses disturbances between couples (which oddly enough, seem to cloud her view of the moon like a bad case of smog) and sets off for Earth to set things right. Kaguya, a strangely powerful being with the ability to manipulate the fabric of reality and an extremely perverse sense of humor. A living manifestation of the Hand (or some bodily portion) of Fate, those who fall under Kaguya's twisted spell will never be the same again as she delights in giving people their heart's desire... and letting them suffer the consequences! Together with her stumpy man-servant, Pipi, Kaguya stages her human puppet shows with the ...