Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz OVA Review

Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz is a three part OVA following to the events that happened to the original series a year later. Aside from being the continuation of the TV series, it also revealed details regarding the past of the Gundam pilots and the true objective behind Operation Meteor.

After Colony 196, a year after the battle between the colonies and Earth, now called, the Eve Wars (due to the fact that it happened in December), the colonies and Earth created an organization called, Earth Sphere Unified Nation (ESUN) and the one protecting the peace is an organization called, Preventers led by Lady Une. Seeing that the Gundams have no use, they decided to destroy it less Altron.

But this peace would be slightly halted thanks to colony L3 X-18999, led by Mariemaia Krushienada, Trieze’s daughter who stages a rebellion against ESUN and kidnaps its Vice Foreign Minister, Relena Darlian who is on a diplomatic mission on the said colony. Because of this, the Gundam pilots investigates and learns that her grandfather, Dekim Barton is behind all of this and plans to go with the original Operation Meteor, in which they will drop one colony to Earth and let the Gundams run wild with the ensuing chaos.

Can the Gundam pilots stop Dekim considering that Wufei is now against them? That is for us to find out.

On to the review, if you watched the original series prior to watching this OVA, one of the obvious changes you see is the redesigns on the five main Gundams. To be honest, I find it confusing at first since it doesn’t make sense in the first place. I mean, you decided to upgrade your MS just for the sake of destroying it? It turns out they have thought of it, decided to retcon these designs (via each character flashback), and made it so yeah, problem solved.

Now to the redesigns, I really love most of it. Deathscythe Hell’s design is more demonic and reminisced Batman’s character design when jumping on the dark. Sandrock’s cloak added the “dessert-feel” in it. Altron’s redesign made it a bit more dragonic and as for Wing ZERO, it made it more angelic. The only redesign that I dislike is HeavyArms due to the bad coloring of the suit. But hey, the half-clown mask is a really good touch.

As for the story, it reminded me a lot of the last arc of the anime in which involves Millardo becoming the new symbol of the colonies in which they decided to invade Earth with him leading the group and the Gundam pilots and their allies will stop him. In this OVA, we have two Millardo’s, in the form of Wufei and Mariemaia.

Wufei here is the “Millardo” in this OVA in terms of his beliefs. Both of them have somewhat lost faith with the people of Earth and decided to fight them. As for Mariemaia, she is the Millardo in terms of being a puppet to one guy. This aspect of the OVA that bored me since that the last part of the original series is for me, one of the bad parts of the entire series. Just like the last part of the original series, the fights make up for it.

Heck, the best part of the series is the fight between Wing Gundam ZERO Custom and Altron Gundam Custom! It was intense, the tension build in the earlier episodes made this fight really fun to watch, that is why it is so good. As for the other fights, it was good, especially the last fight at the end of the OVA, especially when Zechs and Noin are back again and fought side by side with the Gundam pilots which cause the author to gush a bit.

The flashback scenes of each Gundam pilots add up to the character development of each pilot. Each flashback defines each character and why they acted like that in the main series. No wonder Heero is a bit cold towards Relena in the earlier episodes and no wonder Trowa is quite a shut in, in the earlier episodes prior to his amnesia!

Overall, the OVA is quite a good treat to Gundam Wing fans due to the redesigned Gundams (especially Wing ZERO), the fights and the trademarked strong political struggle that the series is known for. Like I said earlier, my only disappointment in this OVA is the plot itself since it felt like recycled from the last story arc with a few minor changes to make it different from the said arc.

Naruto X Uniqlo OVA Review

Naruto is a manga series that has his own anime created by Masashi Kishimoto while Uniqlo is a shirt company. This year, they have released special Naruto shirts and along with it, a special OVA with Aqua Timez singing the soundtrack! Is the OVA good even if it last for more than 6 minutes (by more than, its less than 7 minutes)?

The plot of the OVA is about Naruto vs. Sasuke in the Shippuden anime while were at it so that it won’t spoil a lot of fans, they decided that the most part of the OVA will be dedicated with flashbacks! Boo! I want to see Sasuke kick Naruto’s ass! To be honest, I find it kinda lame. The flashback scene actually helps if you haven’t watched Naruto for a long time and you are not aware on what happened with Naruto and Sasuke after all these years but since I keep on track with the series by reading the manga, I am not interested with it.

If I find the OVA kinda lame, then why I talk about it? That is because we have the first shots of Kabuto, with Orochimaru’s attributes with Madara in his new mask. To those who are wondering why he wear a new mask, that is because he grabbed Nagato’s Rinnengan and placed it on his eye. As for the animation, same with the quality with the later opening sequences in the anime.

Overall, if you are just interested in seeing the anime version of Kabuto being possessed by Orochimaru (it’s quite a mouthful, I will use Kabutochimaru!) and Madara with his new mask, watch but if hate flashbacks, just see the screencaps on top but if you want to listen Aqua Timez’ song for this OVA while seeing Naruto flashbacks, watch.

The Ika Invasion Begins! Shinryaku! Ika Musume Anime Review

Shinryaku! Ika Musume (trans. Invasion! Squid Girl) is a comedy anime based on the manga with the same by Masahiro Anbe. The said anime is produced by Diomedea and aired in Japan during the Fall 2010 anime season. Based on most reviews, it has the same Keroro vibe, but is it like Keroro, or something different? Here’s the review to find out if it is!

Ika Musume is your average squid girl but because of humans polluting the sea, she vows revenge on all humans because of their crimes! And so, to start her campaign to invade the surface, she tries to invade beach house, Lemon owned by the Aizawa siblings… but ends up working for them because she broke a wall of their beach house! And so, can Ika invade the surface while she tries to pay the damages she did? Or like that frog, Keroro will end up in utter failure?

On to the review, from all the Fall 2010 titles I watched, this is probably the funniest. Sure, some might say that The World God Only Knows is the funniest but I haven’t watched it due to the lack of disk space (As of press time, I haven’t finished Durarara!!! yet), so yeah, let’s focus on Ika Musume and Ika Musume alone. Anyways, each episode has three stand-alone segments that will bring sure laughs.

Each stand-alone segment is fun in their own way, such as the 1st part of the segment of the sixth episode that featured a Kamen Rider; parody thanks to Noh Kamen Rider (will review this segment soon for the heck of it). The only problem with this structure is that, these segments can work well as stand-alone episodes also, since they are three individual segments, it felt like they left some running plot points “hanging” since some parts that are introduced in the episode felt hanging since they decided to jump into the next segment and left some questions unanswered. But hey, these segments gave a few good laughs so let’s ignore it. The only time they ignore this structure is in the first episode and the last two segments of the last episode in which finally, they gave Ika the character development she truly needs.

As for the characters, firs the Aizawa siblings, since I will make a full-blown segment about her, Takeru is just that kid who likes to tag along with Ika and play with her so yeah, nothing special. Eiko looks similar to Minori of Toradora! fame, but she is different from her. Unlike her who has this very nice aura around her, she is strong-headed girl and is constantly annoyed by Ika and that is why I like her character but because of it, it made another sibling stand out, and that is Chizuru. To be honest, I find her not a special character at first, until the third part of the first episode aired; I was amazed on how awesome she is, along with how intimidating she is! And for that, she is my favorite character in the series.

As for the minor characters such as Cindy and those MIT guys, Sanae, Nagisa and Gorou, only a few of them made an impact in the series and if I would list their “achievements” in this show, Sanae is probably on top and so, I will talk about her. She is basically “that girl who is obsessed with Ika’s extreme cuteness.” And so, she will do everything for her to be noticed, even dress up as a giant shrimp for the sake of her own joy as an obsessed fan. I love watching Sanae doing those idiotic (yet fun!) ways on how to impress Ika! Another important group of character is Cindy and the MIT guys, they are just a bunch of obsessed guys who wants to see an alien and thinks Ika as an opportunity to finally have a decent alien (technically, alien means some guy who is not here, and therefore, Ika is an alien) to investigate!

Now for Ika, she is similar to Keroro in every aspect. Seriously, change assembling Gundam model kits with shrimp, also remove the frog, add a cute girl with squid attributes we have Ika! As for her personality, she is too clueless with the human world that she finds inflatable sharks scary along with umbrellas being good weapons to fight against humans! This side of Ika is one of the reasons why she is enjoyable to watch. For the 12 episodes this show has, they are running with this pattern most of the time which involved Ika’s curiosity with the things human does and the objects they had, such as thinking that anything that comes out from the 3D are real!

Because of this, it is pretty rare we saw any character growth on Ika. The only time I saw her growth as a squid person is when she first made her first human friend in the form of Kiyomi and when she lost her powers and meets another girl who is hinted to be similar to her. Both in those segments, Ika became your not just your average moe character into some character that is worth seeing at not just for the laughs.

Overall, Ika Musume is good series to watch if you want the some good laughs in short time while you are enjoying the same “failed invader” humor perfected by those crazy invading frogs coming the planet Pekopon. If there are problems with the series, probably how the episodes are structured (two segments in an episode are okay in an anime but three? Not sure…), but hey, they made it up with good laughs.

As for the animation, I have no problems with it and since I enjoyed this show this much; I can’t wait for the Mini-Ika Musume extras (which were enjoyable in the series) and the upcoming second season! If the second season will finally give us a good answer about the plot point left hanging in the finale of the first season and still never lost its laugher, bring it on, squid girl, try to invade the surface with all your might!

Shoot to Thrill. Marvel Anime: Iron Man Review

The first part of Madhouse Studios and Marvel’s four-part joint collaboration, Iron Man is a twelve episode series based on the comic books with the same name. The series is written by Warren Ellis with Yuzo Sato directing it. Is this series good start to the Marvel Anime series? Just read the review to find out!

In this series, Tony Stark decides to create an Arc Reactor in Japan and along with, decides to plan his retirement by creating a new Iron Man armor called, Dio. But during his stay in Japan, Dio goes out of control and ends up with the sinister organization called Zodiac. Because of this, Tony decides to return to his old gold and red suit and kick Zodiac robot butt as Iron Man!

On to the review, to answer the question that I asked earlier, is it a good start with the four part Marvel Anime series? The answer is no. Iron Man fails what fans expected in the trailer. To those who remembered the trailer, Iron Man’s armor is more eye candy 2D, but the actual product is this. We have a badly CGI Iron Man suit with bad transitions between traditional and CGI! Seriously, the CGI suit reminded me of the latest Iron Man cartoon in which Tony is a teenager!

The suit was disappointing for starters but what’s more is the story. At first, it follows more of the traditional monster of the week route, a route followed by Japan in its superhero shows since the big Henshin Hero boom that gave us Kamen Rider and Goranger and other Ishinomori heroes. To begin with, I find it fun to watch but the problem is how will this formula last in the short span of time? This is when Sakurai and Yinsen came into picture.

Similar to the Yinsen we know from the other incarnations, he is the one who saved Tony’s life by creating an artificial pace maker available in the terrorist camp where Tony was held captive. The only difference with this Yinsen is that he lived and decided to take revenge on Tony because of his company who, even after Tony halted the weapons production still does under the table transactions without Tony knowing and after realizing that the Iron Man armor is also a weapon.

I love this version of Yinsen! He is the perfect rival to Tony because he was involved with the early days of the Mark 1 Iron Man suit. What makes this version of Yinsen fun to watch is that he is operating Dio and the big revelation on his introduction in this series gave a good impression of a master vs. student scene in this series plus the episode where he was over the top is too epic not to miss! He is something that this show needs; a deeper plot with Tony having a bit of conflict with the ideals his “mentor” thought him now that he is a changed man.

As for Sakurai, he is a member of the Japanese military, and later operated an armor based on the Iron Man suit called, Ramon Zero. He is the perfect opposite to Tony’s laid-back attitude. Stiff, disciplined, something that is not Tony and I love it! Sakurai is the one that gave the proper balance in this series and I would like to see him much longer in this series. Even if he is disciplined as a soldier, there is one point of the series where he stands out, the finale in which he defied orders for the sake of his friend, Tony.

To the two girls in the series, Nanami Ota and Chika Tanaka, Nanami is just your average reporter girl, strong willed and goes where the action is; in short, I have nothing to talk to about this girl since she is the classic strong female protagonist. Dr. Tanaka serves as Tony’s Pepper in Japan, both as his secretary and love interest.

Chika is one of my favorite characters in this series and I am disappointed on how she ended up here. I mean seriously, turn her into a member of Zodiac at the end of the series with no concrete explanation?! Sure, it was hinted that she is a member of Zodiac because she is having blackouts during the course of the show but with no proper explanation?! What the heck was that!

Even with that forced heel face turn so that Tony will have a tragic end in this series. Chika’s last scene in the series gave a proper conclusion to her character; she loves Tony so much that she is willing to sacrifice her own cyborg body just to save his work, the Arc Reactor, which is his Tony’s dream for Japan, free clean energy.

Minister Kuroda is surprisingly, Zodiac’s mastermind and it turned out that he became a member of Zodiac because of his love for Japan… weird. He wants to return Japan to its former glory before the Americans decided to nuke Japan back in WWII. From the very beginning, I always suspect that he is one fishy character, and I was right. As for his motivation, I find it weird. I mean, Japan is successful right now and want to turn it into a military nation and use its resources to conquer the world? For starters, I find it a weak motivation to conquer the world.

As for the animation, I find it mediocre. The 2D animation is standard Madhouse but the CGI animation felt weak. I mean, it kinda looked like a bad mix of Photoshop’s bevel effects and a bit of chrome in it! Because of it, it stands out from the 2D animation and didn’t properly gel well with the 2D animation of the series. Madhouse has this reputation of having films and some shows having a good mix between CGI and traditional but Iron Man never lived with that reputation. I started to wonder, has Madhouse gone made in budgeting the CGI? If so, they should just go all out with traditional! Also, there are some 2D frames of Iron Man that the 2D version of the suit looked a bit fat. The only time that I can say that the animation is top notched is at the final episode of the series.

As for the fights, it felt a bit bulky in my opinion. To be honest, most of the Zodiac vs. Iron Man fights felt a little slow for me even if the Iron Man armor is quite an advance piece of technology. The holograms seen in the in suit scenes looks good and adds the proper tech touch with the series, something that the Iron Man films are known for.

As for the Iron Man vs. similar Iron Man suit battles, it felt like what Toshiki Inoue, one of the screen writers of the show is known for, his Rider vs. Rider fights in which the lead cause of it is misunderstanding between two characters or fight of their own beliefs. Thank God, he never decided to use a dead girlfriend as an excuse to fight each other! As for the animation, still the same with the Zodiac robot fights except it is more intense and place more emphasis on the aerial fights, which I liked. Too bad, the CGI animation is not that good.

Overall, Iron Man was a mediocre start for the Marvel Anime franchise. What makes it mediocre is the animation and that there are problems in terms of the story, which includes some unexplained events and the sudden transition from episodic to series with a running plot which felt weak for me, in my honest opinion. As for the characters, they tried as much as possible that the characters found in the comic book as close as their counterpart and the original characters as close as the spirit of the comics with Japan’s own personal touch.

Asides from those problems, the series tried to be flashy with the CGI… and it failed horribly. Seriously, they should just stick with traditional if their budget can’t sustain CGI for a couple of episodes! At the end of the day, I started to wonder, why Iron Man? To be honest, I prefer other Marvel titles to kick off the series.

Was it because the popularity of the movies? Maybe but I prefer if they decided to go with the more popular characters such as Captain America or Spider-Man. Oh, Spider-Man already has a series with Toei… and it’s live-action and its quite popular which caused them to do a collaboration with Marvel for three more years which gave Sentai its trademark robot per each series! Never mind the last Marvel character that I said.