Fan favorite anime series Rurouni Kenshin is a top seller for a very good reason. It seamlessly combines the very best of what makes anime great and then throws in a history lesson in such a backhanded manner that you don't even realize you're learning a thing or two.
Action, romance and historical intrigue all combine in such a way as to make the series an edge-of-your-seat nail-biter. Except that it's funny. Rurouni Kenshin doesn't take itself seriously and that makes it charming in a way that other anime of this genre cannot match. Read More...
With a script penned by Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo and art direction by Satoshi Kon (Tokyo Godfathers), Roujin Z is a lost anime classic that deserves a wider audience. With it's highly relevant themes regarding the care of the elderly, government conspiracies and cover-ups, technology run amok, as well as it's lighthearted treatment, powerful female protagonist and the brisk pace set by director Hiroyuki Kitakubo (Blood: The Last Vampire), it's an absolute stunner of an anime film and well worth adding to your collection. And, it's funny as hell. Read More...
This is the first time that I've heard of Yotoden: Wrath of the Ninja, until the re-release of the original series in DVD, which surprisingly comes with the movie. Despite many opinions that are floating around regarding Yotoden, I have to say I enjoyed it quite a bit.
It reminded me of the old days when I sat in front of my TV watching the VHS version of 'Fists of the North Star'. They have similar violence levels (at least, as far as my memory serves me these days), gushing fountains of red blood (no, my TV was not black and white) from the smallest paper cuts and all. Even if the thing that died was not human, blood would be replaced in equal quantities of ghostly goo or evil black (or some color other than red) demon plasma. Read More...
Below: Cel paintings from Yotoden (special thanks to anime-link.com).
This movie is simply legendary among animation circles. Although widely overlooked and mostly forgotten, Rock and Rule stands as a testament to the perseverance to make a truly great animated movie at a time when an animated movie of any type was difficult (or nearly impossible) to make. When this film was created, Japanese "anime" was herky-jerky TV-quality not much better than Speed Racer. If anything, the Japanese took this film to heart and realized that there was a potential revolution afoot and proceeded to slowly upscale their production efforts until we have the kind of uber-cool stuff we're getting now. Read More...
Nartuto: Clash of Ninja 2 builds on the success of the first game (reviewed a few months previously), but with many more characters to play (23 characters available now versus the first version which only had 8), and a much longer and more challenging story mode. The cel-shaded look is even sharper and more cartoon-like this time around, it really feels like playing an episode of the actual show.
Other good news for this version is that the fighting system is vastly improved. More special moves are available for each character, which lends itself to more exciting head-to-head competition between players. Read More...
Here's a cool idea. Learn to draw manga, and learn to draw Kana, and learn to read and write Japanese! Manga University's latest series of book uses original manga artwork to teach students how to read, write and pronounce the Japanese hiragana and katakana alphabets, also known as "kana." Read More...
Okay; this book isn't for everyone. In fact, there may be some here who will actively hate this book, because it takes a hard look at how pop-culture, particularly how the manga and anime revolutions have influenced the entire culture of post-WWII Japan. Read More...
Oscar winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto crafted the soundtrack to this groundbreaking film and it's simply one of the most amazing OST's ever, anime movie or otherwise. Using an odd combination of instrumentation, at times it sounds Middle-Eastern, other times, European. Read More...
This is a very well done fan made anime music video! Hare Hare Yukai is the ending theme to the Japanese anime series the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya:
I want to send a special thanks to the kind folks at jbox.com. I put off getting a new calendar until the last minute this year, and jbox.com was nice enough to rush ship my Domo-Kun themed calendar. They had no idea that I was publisher of Anime.com, yet they treated me like royalty. Thanks!
