Angel's Anime Rating Guide

A few days ago, I stumbled into Hazbin Hotel ... Hazbin Hotel is the story of Charlie, the princess of Hell, as she pursues her seemingly impossible goal of rehabilitating demons to peacefully reduce overpopulation in her kingdom. She opens a hotel in hopes that patients will be "checking out" into Heaven. While most of Hell mocks her goal, her devoted partner Vaggie, and their first test subject, adult film-star Angel Dust, stick by her side. When a powerful entity known as the "Radio Demon" reaches out to Charlie to assist in her endeavors, her crazy dream is given a chance to become a reality.

While researching a handful of Dr. Seuss titles in my collection, I came across a live action trailer for Dr. Seuss' Butter Battle Book . I had to share... The Butter Battle Book, Dr. Seuss's classic cautionary tale, introduces us to the important lesson of respecting differences. The Yooks and Zooks share a love of buttered bread, but animosity brews between the two groups because they prefer to enjoy the tasty treat differently.

Sometime ago, I noticed a post on the AnimeNation forum regarding an animated commercial --  Xi Avant ... Xi Avant, director Kenji Kamiyama’s (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society) three-and-a-half-minute short film is set in Spain and other locales in the near future, and features the NTT Docomo mobile phone network's next-generation Xi service.

Over the weekend, I saw the animated short, Scavengers on Cartoon Network ... According to Creator's Vice ... Stranded on an strange planet, two surviving crew members of a colonial starship perform a series of bizarre rituals using alien flora and fauna in Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettner's short film, Scavengers. Each step in the mysterious ritual prompts more questions than the last, from... What are they doing?... to... How did they learn all this stuff?... and ending with... Will I ever understand this crazy world?

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.

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.

This Apprentice is NOT the reality TV show with THAT guy, but, an animated short of the same name made by animation studio, White Radish ... From days of long ago... Galen of Uxbridge, a young sorcerer in training comes to the door of Zima, a cunning sorceress eager for power, who's hell-bent on offering sacrifices to the Demon Bonglin. He's eager to learn, but when "Blinkie" the goat just won't do anymore, she offers HIM as a sacrifice. But, he won't go down without a fight. Features an original score by Vanilla Almond Creme.

Recently, while poking around the AnimeNation news board, I came across a post for a new CG anime music video called Love Like Aliens ... Creator/director Rashad Haughton's original CG anime short film Love Like Aliens is now online. The short was animated by Shirogumi (Norageki, Friends: Mononoke Shima no Naki) with production design by Studio 4°C and features character design by world renowned graphic designer Sorayama Hajime.

Join three cute girls as they fight monsters in order to get their hands on the Item ... "Behold the floating fortress of the Mighty Q'Thulu risen again from its slumber beneath the waves. Yeah... Let's kick some non-euclidean butt."... From the studios of White Radish comes a night in the life of three cute girls from all walks of life. As they face the forces of an unspeakable horror... Join Mecha, Jinx, and Bunni as they fight the unholy monstrosities in the twisted castle of the long-dead thing from ancient stars in order to get their hands on the Item... What is the Item? That's a surprise. With music by Vanilla Almond Creme.

Sometime in the late-90s, I picked up the Satanika promotional music video on VHS... The popular Verotik comic character Satanika comes to life in full Japanese animation. Produced by Mad House Studios. ("X". Ninja Scroll, Wicked City) this beautiful anime pilot features story boards by the renowned Rintaro and character designs by Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Also included are interviews with the series creator Glenn Danzig and Mad House staff Rintaro, Takuji Endoh and Mad House producer Masao Maruyarna. Plus a tour inside Mad House Studios. Japanese anime fans and Satanika fans alike will all want to own this fantastic and powerful video.

Sometime ago, when the Lincoln "Luxury at Lightspeed" ad campaign was in full force, one of the ads featured a 30-second clip from Shiny Toy Guns rendition of Major Tom (Coming Home) . Youtube came through for me, yet again, and I was able to track down a roughly 4-minute version of the song, but, the video, such as it was, left a lot to be desired. Even, so, I added the video to the archive.

According to Anime News Network ... The Tokyo Metropolitan Government's " Welcome to Tokyo " tourism promotion website has launched. The site features a map of Tokyo tourist spots, a quiz game about Tokyo sightseeing spots, and an original short anime titled " Honey Tokyo ." The streaming anime short film is viewable in high and standard quality in Japanese language with subtitles in English, Chinese, Korean, German, Italian, Spanish, and French.

During this year's Oscar ceremony, I happened to notice an nominee for an animated short called The Lady and the Reaper ... The Lady and the Reaper (La dama y la muerte) is a 3D imaging animated short film created by Javier Recio Gracia and produced by Kandoor Moon. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and won the Goya Award for Best Animated Short of 2009.

Late in December of last year, I happened to wander into one of my favorite anime hangouts and came across a post for Alma , by award-winning animation director, Rodrigo Blaas ... According to Wikipedia ... Alma is Rodrigo Blaas' first short film as a director. Originally from Spain, Rodrigo Blaas has worked in animation for more than ten years, in Spain and in the United States.

Some time ago, I happened to see a music video on Cartoon Network featuring Betty Boop and music by Soul Coughing called " Rolling " from their " El Oso " album. I had meant to add this item to the archive, but, I waited too long and it disappeared from Cartoon Network before I could catch it. Once again YouTube  came to the rescue...

During this year's Oscar ceremony, I happened to notice a nominee for an animated short called Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty ... According to Wikipedia ... Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty is a six-minute-long CG/flash animated socially satirical black comedy short film, directed by Nicky Phelan and produced by Darragh O'Connell of Brown Bag Films in 2008. It was written by Kathleen O'Rourke. The plot centres on Granny O'Grimm, a seemingly sweet old lady, who loses the plotline as she tells her own version of Sleeping Beauty to her terrified granddaughter.

Recent discussions concerning the future of the anime industry and the industry's evolution into an online-only distribution model have prompted me to look into converting various file formats into a DVD format. I cobbled together some software and hardware in an effort to conduct an experiment to test the viability of transferring movie files on my computer to a DVD that will play in my older-model DVD player. The first candidate for my first foray into DVD authoring was a 2-minute-23-second teaser trailer for something titled: Babylon 5: Conflicts of Loyalty .