Angel's Anime Rating Guide

This past weekend, I saw Rogue One in the theater... From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves. For weeks ahead of time, I played and replayed the trailers on my phone. When the time came, Mom and I along with Anthony, went to a late afternoon showing of Rogue One in our local theater. We got to the theater a bit early so we could reserve our usual seats. Anthony and I got the snacks while Mom camped out in the theater. As we were getting settled, Anthony carefully folded his jacket and promptly sat on his snacks -- Oops! The crowd was a little rowdy during the previe

This subject is very off-topic, but, after trawling the depths of the internet for a couple of months, I thought I would share my experience. Your mileage may vary. Last year, I took part in the free upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 10. Microsoft Solitaire was and is an important time-wasting tool for Windows users. And, when that tool was threatened by the upgrade to Windows 10, I went to a fair amount of difficulty getting the Windows 7 version of Microsoft Solitaire up and running in Windows 10. A few months ago, Microsoft made the Windows 10 anniversary update available to users. I installed the anniversary update and suddenly the Windows 7 version of Solitaire stopped working. I found a fairly decent Windows XP version with a nice installer out in the wild (sadly, I can't remember where in the wild at the time of this writing). Unfortunately, I don't see very well -- hence the thick glasses -- and, when I installed the XP version, I found that the cards were too t

I picked up Arpeggio of Blue Steel ... In Arpeggio of Blue Steel, the Fleet of Fog came on the rising tides of the oceans. Where the waters swallowed the land, the ships of war, bearing far superior technology to anything humanity could produce, brought desolation to the armies of man. Conquering the oceans, the Fog isolated the nations from one another. With no means of communication, and no ability to conduct trade, humanity was doomed, unable to inflict the slightest scratch upon the overwhelming power of the superior ships. But not everything is lost. Despite the rumors surrounding his father, Chihaya Gunzou is following in his old man's foot steps by attending a naval academy. But while his father might be dead, or worse, defected to the Fog, Chihaya wants to gain the power to break the stagnation gripping humanity. And as it so happens, he gains that power when a mysterious girl approaches him, and claims she has orders to obey him. As strange as it seems, the truth t

Recently, I picked up  Accel World ... Volume 1 The year is 2046. Portable devices known as Neurolinkers have enabled mankind to oversee their daily life within virtual reality networks. But the advancements in technology have yet to provide a solution for the growing number of victims of bullying. Haruyuki Arita is one such student who finds himself on the lowest social rungs of his school. Ashamed of his miserable life, Haruyuki can only cope by indulging in virtual games. That all changes when Kuroyukihime, the most popular girl in school, approaches Haruyuki with a cryptic proposal: to "accelerate" further, and beyond. Haruyuki is introduced to a mysterious program called Brain Burst and a virtual reality called the Accel World. Learning its secrets, Haruyuki musters the courage to accept Kuroyukihime's proposal and to fight alongside her as her knight. Volume 2 Haruyuki Arita has come a long way since his days as the helpless bullied kid in school. Reborn a

I picked up Plastic Memories ... Volume 1 From the writer of Steins;Gate, Naotaka Hayashi, comes an original love story!! In this moment... I think I've already fallen in love with you, without even knowing your name. In a world where there were slight scientific advancements... Tsukasa Mizugaki is offered a position at the renowned SAI Corporation thanks to his father's connections. SAI Corporation is known for its production and management of androids capable of feeling human emotions called Giftia. Tsukasa's position is in the terminal service department where their main job is to recover Giftias who are near their expiration - it is a dead end department in every sense. To make matters worse, Tsukasa is assigned to work with a female Giftia named Isla, who was never given any responsibility other than serving tea to her co-workers. Volume 2 The heartwarming finale to writer Naotaka Hayashi's (Steins;Gate) original love story! I hope one day you&#

I picked up Okami-san and Her Seven Companions ... Ryoko Okami, the wolf, and her BFF Ringo, also known as Little Red Riding Hood, are members of Otogi Bank - a high school club that helps classmates out of grim situations. One day, a meek young man proclaims his love to Ryoko, who does nothing but bite him in return. "You're much too weak for me," she huffs. So the boy joins Otogi Bank to prove he has the stuff to protect his beloved - even if it means taking a blow to the head with a lead pipe. He's no Prince Charming, but will Ryoko allow herself to have her own happily ever after? Okami-san and Her Seven Companions centers around Ryoko, the muscle behind Otogi Bank. Some of the more interesting aspects of the series, are the references to classic fairy tales. Unfortunately, that aspect of the series seems to disappear after only a few episodes. Without the fairy tale aspect of the story,  Okami-san and Her Seven Companions is essentially a variation of the sc

Spirit of Wonder is a series of manga stories written and drawn by Tsuruta Kenji and later adapted into a handful of OVAs... Miss China's Ring Sometime during the late 19th. century, a young Asian girl has made a place for herself in a seaside town as owner and operator of the Tenkai Restaurant and Boarding House. Yet "Miss China" as the locals call her, is in the dumps. She's got a Mad Scientist called Breckenridge living upstairs who is chronically late with the rent, and she's pining for Jim, a handsome watchmaker apprentice whom she mistakenly believes is pursuing the local flower girl. But this isn't our world. It is a world that has the Spirit of Wonder, where every so often, just occasionally mind you, amazing things happen. The Mad Scientist actually has come up with an incredible invention, and Jim has an unbelievable plan to use it to give Miss China the most beautiful ring in all the world. Scientific Boys Club As young boys, Cooper, Gordon,

Recently, I've been rewatching the Transformers animated movie (circa 1987) and I've noticed some differences between the 10th anniversary edition that I had on VHS, the 20th anniversary edition that I have on DVD and the newest re-release of the 30th anniversary edition on DVD. More Than Meets The Eye! The year is 2005, and the Decepticons have retaken Cybertron from Optimus Prime and his Autobot warriors. Both sides are seething with anger, and that has blinded them to a hideous menace headed their way. That menace is Unicron, a monster so powerful he devours planets. Unicron has chosen to take control of the Autobot Matrix for his own evil purposes, and to accomplish this he has created a force of super robots. By gathering the remains of fallen Decepticons, including Megatron, and infusing them with life, he forms the Unicrons. With Decepticons on one side, Unicron on the other, and Optimus Prime lost in battle, Earth and Autobot survival depends on The Chosen One who mu

Anime A to S Anime T to Z CDs, Animation, etc... Collectibles Currently, I have over 4500 DVDs. Lately, I've been struggling under the weight of anime that will not fit in my custom cabinet. Shortly after installing the cabinet, I had it completely filled, but, only with titles from A to N. Titles from O to Z were crammed into two drawers under my bed and scattered among four shelves and there was no room for new titles. So, I took the doors off the cabinet and added longer shelf brackets and filler strips to expand the shelves from 8 inches to 12 inches. With the expanded shelves in place, I could add a second row. To allow for new titles, I only used half of the second row. I then added two fixed shelved below the cabinet. The expanded shelves and the two new shelves still only made space for titles from A to S. Next, I decided to turn my attention to a bookcase on the opposite side of the room. I reorganized the books to make better use of the space and that gave

Recently, I took the opportunity to watch  Canaan ... Colors have scent. Sounds possess images. In this future world, where biochemical weapons have changed the game, an unlucky few have their senses blended. They are gifted with abilities beyond what normal humans feel. They possess synesthesia. This makes them the perfect assassin... and the perfect target. Welcome to the new world. Welcome to the war. Canaan centers around a female character of the same name and follows her exploits as she undertakes various dangerous assignments. Canaan is action-packed and features a decent amount of blood, gore and gun play. The plot is more than a bit convoluted and requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief to overcome some of the more unbelievable aspects of the series. Canaan is a bit slow in the middle, but, eventually things pick up again and the series concludes with a reasonably satisfying ending. Overall, Canaan is classic "girls with guns" genre and has some

I took the opportunity to watch  Redline ... Redline: the biggest and most deadly racing tournament in the universe. Only held once every five years, everyone wants to stake their claim to fame - including JP, a reckless dare-devil driver oblivious to speed limits with his ultra-customized car. Meanwhile, organized crime and militaristic governments want to leverage the race to their own ends. Amongst the other elite rival drivers in the tournament, JP falls for the alluring Sonoshee - but will she prove his undoing, or can a high speed romance survive a mass destruction race? John from the AnimeNation blog speculates on the limited appeal and wrote... I don’t wish to direct any disrespect toward anyone when I say objectively that director Takeshi Koike’s 2009 anime film Redline is specifically and exclusively a film for hardcore fans of Japanese animation. The movie has limited appeal to mainstream viewers likely to find it too outre, or fans of particular varieties of anime. Mo

Over the weekend, I had a peek at the crowd-funded anime, Under The Dog ... It is the year 2025, five years since devastating terrorist attacks put an end to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The UN has taken control of the former Olympic site on the edge of Tokyo Bay, placing it beyond Japan’s jurisdiction. Hana Togetsu is a seventeen-year-old high school student who lives in the area. Not your typical teen, she belongs to a special unit run by the UN. Hana is sent on a mission as a transfer student to a public high school on Enoshima Island. Her target: Shunichi Nanase, a boy in her class. As Hana is about to make contact with her target, a middle-aged man appears at the school asking for Shunichi. The situation turns critical when the American military arrives at the school in pursuit of the man. As the bloodshed escalates, another teenage girl begins to make her way to the island to break the deadlock. According to Wikipedia: Under the Dog was originally conceived in the l

Recently, I picked up Rideback ... After an injury forces Rin to trade her stage career for college life, she finds new thrills as a member of the RideBack Club. When she discovers an unusual connection with one machine in particular - Fuego - she is forced into the middle of a revolution. The tyrannical new government rules with an iron fist, and Rin is reluctant to take them on. But as her dearest friends suffer and the insurgency struggles to topple the increasingly powerful regime, Rin may have no choice but to gun Fuego's engines and speed directly into the heart of the fight for freedom. John from the AnimeNation  blog was somewhat disappointed and wrote... Madhouse’s Rideback TV series begins as a loose remake of Production I.G’s 1987 mecha racing OVA Dead Heat (which Production I.G also loosely remade as IGPX) but turns into something else entirely. The series’ first four episodes suggest something like a bishoujo mecha Initial D in which a prodigy discovers her talen

I picked up Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo ... This is (not) the world you thought you knew. Shinji Ikari just woke up in his Eva unit fourteen years after starting the Third Impact. He hasn't aged, but everything else has changed. The earth is in ruins. Rei is missing. The people he once protected, treat him like a prisoner and threaten to kill him if he pilots another Eva. When he escapes to the remains of NERV headquarters, Shinji meets pianist Kaworu, who is destined to be Shinji's copilot in a new dual-cockpit Eva. As the boys bond, NERV's true mission begins to come into focus. Lost in a labyrinth of deception, Shinji careens toward a mental breakdown that could bring about the end of humanity. Evangelion 3.33 continues the groundbreaking rebuild with stunning robot battles and mind-bending revelations. The end of every world has a beginning. The latest installment of the rebuild of Evangelion, Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo , has certainly taken its ti

Recently, I picked up Boy And The Beast ... The Boy and the Beast is the latest feature film from award-winning Japanese director Mamoru Hosoda (Summer Wars, Wolf Children): When Kyuta, a young orphan living on the streets of Shibuya, stumbles into a fantastic world of beasts, he’s taken in by Kumatetsu, a gruff, rough-around-the-edges warrior beast who’s been searching for the perfect apprentice. Despite their constant bickering, Kyuta and Kumatetsu begin training together and slowly form a bond as surrogate father and son. But when a deep darkness threatens to throw the human and beast worlds into chaos, the strong bond between this unlikely pair will be put to the ultimate test- a final showdown. Can the two finally work together using all of their combined strength and courage? Don't miss the critically acclaimed film The Boy and The Beast! Boy And The Beast follows the exploits of Kyuta, a human boy, as he enters an apprenticeship with Kumatetsu, a legendary sword master

I took some time to have a good look at  Tokyo Godfathers ... It's Christmas Eve in Tokyo. Three homeless people - alcoholic Gin, drag queen Hana, and teenage runaway Miyuki - discover an abandoned baby in a pile of garbage. Rather than turn the infant over to the police, the trio decide instead to find the baby's parents themselves. Following the only clue they have, a locker key, the three godfathers embark on a surprising journey of danger, humor and excitement. And in the process, they revisit their own haunted pasts and learn to face their future. Produced by the world-renowned animation studio Mad House (X, Vampire Hunter D, Ninja Scroll), TOKYO GODFATHERS is the third feature-length anime from cutting-edge director Satoshi Kon, two-time winner at the Fanta-Asia Film Festival (Best Asian Film, Perfect Blue, 1997; Best Animation Film, Millennium Actress, 2001) and 2004 Annie nominee for Best Director & Best Writer (Millennium Actress). Tokyo Godfathers  follow

I picked up the first volume of  Cross Ange ... Volume 1 Betrayed by her brother. Stripped of her birthright. Declared an abomination. For the girl once known as Princess Angelise Ikaruga Misurugi, the nightmare has just begun in Cross Ange: Rondo of Angels and Dragons. Because not having the ability to use magic makes her less than human in the eyes of the law, and now she's been exiled to certain death as a slave soldier in a war against draconic invaders! But the people and land that cast her out have made a lethal error. The girl now known as Ange is no longer an innocent Princess being lead to rape and slaughter. She's learned the hidden truth about the world she thought she knew. She's discovered that she's willing to kill in order to survive. And they've given her a weapon. The studio behind GUNDAM, ESCAFLOWNE, and COWBOY BEBOP unleashes a stunning new epic in animation as giant robots, a Princess, and dragons engage in the ultimate duel to the death

This weekend, I went to the Wizard World Comic Con in Philadelphia. I decided to order tickets in advance online. This year, I would be going with five other people: Tony, Anthony, Amanda, Paige and a last-minute guest. Alex was supposed to come with us, but, he cancelled at the last minute, so, we asked Paige if she could find someone. Paige, feeling the pressure to NOT end up with her mother coming with her, convinced a friend to come along instead. Highlights of this year's Comic Con in Philadelphia include: Chris Hemsworth, THOR, Chris Evans, CAPTAIN AMERICA, Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, BACK TO THE FUTURE John Cena, Seth Rollins, WWE Stanley Tucci, Dr. Abraham Erskine - CAPTAIN AMERICA, Billy Boyd, Peregrin Pippin Took - LORD OF THE RINGS, There were, of course, many, many other people of note in attendance and a whole list of panels and other events included in the cost of admission and a great many paid events that we could go to if that was the sort of th

I picked up Robotics;Notes ... Volume 1 Kai and Aki dream of building a giant fighting robot based on a super-popular anime, but that's going to be impossible if they don't get more members into their school's Robot Research Club. They'll take anyone they can talk - or force - into joining them, including an eccentric robotics champion with a secret identity and a l33t video-game designer who's spent one too many late nights online. Finally, their goal looks like it's within reach. But when a sentient AI program tells Kai about mysterious documents hidden on the internet, things start to get strange for everyone. As the club members track down the secret messages, they realize that the information might be far bigger - and more dangerous - than they expected. Volume 2 Kaito, Akiho, and the rest of the Robot Research Club have finally completed their dream of building a giant robot, only to discover they've still got a ton of work to do. As they draw

I picked up Rage Of Bahamut Genesis ... Meet Favaro Leone, professional bounty hunter and casual scoundrel. When he’s not crossing swords with his arch nemesis and former best friend, Kaisar Lidford, he can be found at the local tavern spinning tall tales to anyone who will listen. After a one-winged demoness overhears his drunken boasts, she wrangles him into an unbreakable contract that will force him to make good on the promise he made. With nothing but a destination in mind, the pair set out on their grand adventure - completely unaware of the dark forces working to fulfill an ancient prophecy that will bring about the end of the world. That is, unless a charming rogue, a clueless demon, a disgraced knight, and a tiny zombie can band together to change the course of history. Visually arresting and fun from start to finish, Rage of Bahamut is a can’t-miss title for any action-fantasy fan. According to a post on the AnimeNation News blog from 2013: Japanese game developer C

Sometime ago, I heard of a fan effort to produce a feature film set in the Star Trek universe. I let the thought drift away for a while. Then, recently, the project came back to the forefront after a lawsuit against the fan production came to light. Recently, I had a look at Prelude To Axanar ... According to IMDB ... Prelude to Axanar is an independent Star Trek project that tells the story of Captain Kirk's hero, Garth of Izar, during the war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. It is shot as a documentary and is the back story for the forthcoming feature 'Axanar'. Prelude to Axanar received $ 101,000 in a successful Kickstarter campaign and the finished film helped the Axanar team raise $ 638,000 in their second Kickstarter for the upcoming feature film. I've seen  Prelude To Axanar  and it is really quite impressive. Most of the film is in the form of a documentary with interviews from some of the survivors of the Battle of Axanar. Between th

Over the weekend, Mom and I saw Zootopia ... In a city of anthropomorphic animals, a rookie bunny cop and a cynical con artist fox must work together to uncover a conspiracy. We saw previews for Zootopia a few months ago and it looked like something we would want to see on the big screen. We picked out a reasonably quiet weekend and got to the theater early. But, much to our dismay, our favorite seats had already been snatched by another family that came even earlier than us. Even with this setback, we still had a good time. Judy Hopps really stole Mom's heart and the rapport between her and Nick Wilde was just fantastic. Zootopia does have a twist in the story that we didn't expect, but, we were very pleased with the end result. Overall, even though we didn't have our usual seats, we still had a really good time. I would give Zootopia a 4 our of 5. The Zootopia soundtrack CD has 22 tracks and I liked just the one track, Try Everything with Shakira  for a total o

I picked up Animation Runner Kuromi ... Volume 1 Kuromi just landed her dream job at a famous animation studio, and boy is she in for a rude awakening! It's up to her to finish a hot new cartoon, or fans everywhere will be let down. Will Kuromi's love of cartoons clean up this horrible mess...or make an even bigger one? Volume 2 From Akitaroh Daichi, the director of Fruits Basket, Kodocha, and Now and Then, Here and There. Kuromi is back, and more determined than ever to make it in the anime business. But all hell breaks loose when the boss quits smoking just when the workload bursts out of control. Can Kuromi overcome this almost insurmountable obstacle? Animation Runner Kuromi is an amusing peek into the world of animation production. Animation Runner Kuromi is an older title that bears the signs of its relative age, but, this title does still hold up reasonably well. There is, of course, no blood or gore and no naughty bits to speak of. I gave  Animation Runner Kuro