FLCL: The Complete Series [Blu-ray]

A Review of the Blu-ray Disc Presentation
FLCL, or Fooly Cooly is standard definition digital animation. As such, you'll never see a true HD presentation for this wonderful show. This Blu-ray Disc is an upscale of the SD material.

What's the benefit then to owning this show on BD instead of DVD? Artifacts. I own the original SyncPoint DVDs. Despite only having two episodes per disc and being derived from a digital master, those DVDs are ridden with very visible and distracting macroblocking and mosquito noise. It's a matter of how old the discs are and how inefficient the MPEG-2 codec is.

This BD presentation of FLCL is not perfect. It's been sharpened a bit, so the line work stands out a bit more than I think it's supposed to. The colors are also more saturated than they were on the DVDs and I found it a bit distracting. Aliasing is present, but that's unavoidable with SD material. The aliasing is far worse on the DVDs.

Despite being an imperfect upscale of SD source material, the BD for...
Your head is empty!
Anime can be pretty weird -- just look at series like "Paranoia Agent" and "Boogiepop Phantom." Really weird, sometimes impossible to totally understand.

But for sheer strangeness and kookiness, the winner has got to be "Fooly Cooly (FLCL)." Even as it pokes fun at typical anime, it tells the surrealist story of a very odd coming-of-age, complete with strange plots, oddball characters, and robots sprouting out of a young boy's head.

Naota is a young boy living what he sees as an oppressively dull existance, in a quiet city dominated by the Medical Mechanica building. The closest thing to excitement is fending off the advances of his brother's troubled girlfriend Mamimi.

Then sudenly a girl on a Vespa runs him over, resuscitates him with a smooch, and then bashes him over the head with a bass guitar. That evening, Naota finds that instead of a bump, he has a horn growing out of his head, and no idea what it is or how to get rid of it.

Despite...
The Blu Ray is a GOOD UPSCALE
I own the new Blu ver. Its sitting in front of me. I also own the US DVD from the first time it was put out on shelves on this side of the pacific. The difference is minimal but on some of the area shots or even the background shots, like the first scene of the bridge or building shots, things look a lot better, which I can't really figure out, but everything else is just a slight improvement as one would think it should be since it is an upscale. The new cover art though is what really makes it for me though. The packaging is amazing and it looks like some one in funi's graphic arts department had been working on this for a while, one might even think before they had it. I am such a huge fan of the series that all the before mentioned was enough for me to re-buy.

If you already own the series though and it didn't change your life as a teenager or lead to you finding your unified theory on life, then its debatable if the $20-30 for the Blu is worth it. Its good but I would...
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Yu Yu Hakusho: Season Two (Classic) [Blu-ray]

The Dark Tournament on blu-ray
After watching Season One on blu-ray, it was a no-brainer to revisist Season Two with another frame-by-frame remaster and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English and 2.0 Japanese dubbing, both of which are excellent in their own rights. Speaking of dubbing, the English version has indeed been redubbed to address the characer Suzuki *ahem* sorry, the beautiful Suzuki, by the Japanese pronunciation. This time around the episodes are split as such:

Disc 1: Episodes 29-38
Disc 2: Episodes 39-47
Disc 3: Episodes 48-56
--(plus additional trailers and textless opening/closing music videos)

The Dark Tournament is in full swing this season and Yusuke's team members all show amazing new abilities and powers. From the Dragon of the Darkness Flame to the resurfacing of Yoko Kurama, this season ups the ante and brings the heat.
This is the stuff legends are made of...
Yu Yu Hakusho: Season Two picks off in the middle of the first Dark Tournament match (Rinku vs. Kuwabara) to the first match of the finals with Team Toguro (Kurama vs. Karasu). Episodes 29 - 56 are included in this box set.

29. Flowers of Blood
30. Dragon of the Darkness Flame
31. Stumbling Warrior
32. Knife-Edge Death Match
33. A Day in Waiting
34. Percentage of Victory
35. Glimpse Beneath the Mask
36. Ambition Destroyed: A Trial of Light
37. Master of Disguise
38. Kurama's Stand
39. Crushing Revenge
40. Jin, the Wind Master
41. Reverse Decisions
42. A Matter of Love and Death
43. The Masked Fighter Revealed
44. Yusuke's Final Test
45. Hiei Battles On
46. Many Faces, Many Forms
47. Legendary Bandit: Yoko Returns
48. The Cape of No Return
49. Genkai's Strength
50. Suzuka's Challenge
51. Arch-Rivals
52. The Death of Genkai
53. Overcoming Grief
54. The...
Good but not Great
Yu Yu Hakusho is a classic series of which I've been a fan of since I was a little girl, and a long series at that. So, I was ecstatic to find the complete series. I won't review the series here (there's a wiki page for it and plenty of online reviews for the show itself), just the box set.

Packaging:
Overall, I would have preferred a single box set, but considering the series length, the four sets take up very little self space. Each season is two thinpaks (each containing two discs) in a slim, thin box. Honestly, I wish the box covers were a bit thicker and sturdier, these will tear and show wear quite easily I'm afraid. Each season has a different character theme for the box and thinpaks, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, etc, and character themes for set of menus on the dvd's. Every inch of the box sets are covered in nice art, from beautiful line art on the inside of the thinpaks to colorful group artwork on the covers; the only undecorated space is the dvd's...
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Samurai Champloo: The Complete Series [Blu-ray]

DVD or Blu-ray?
This show has been reviewed in detailed lots of times so if you want a review of the content then you should look at the various reviews for the dvd version as the content of the 26 episodes is in fact the same. I'll concentrate on the blu-ray vs. dvd debate that is brewing up.

Now, I've been told that this show will never actually be in true hd because of the various CG(computer graphic) elements that were done in SD. In order for us to see this show in true hd they would have to go back and redo all of the CG elements that were originally done in SD. A lot of earlier shows have this problem, such as Cowboy Bebop which when this comes out in blu-ray will probably be an upscale as well. Thus, this is probably the best we will ever get. Older animation that was hand drawn was done completely on film which in fact has an infinite resolution. Computer graphics are limited to the actual resolution at which they were created at, but they can be upscaled such as in this tv show...
Not your typical samurai anime!
Mugen is a cocky, rebellious, bandy-legged fighter who incorporates break-dancing techniques into his unorthodox fighting style. Jin is more your typically calm and stoic samurai (or ronin, to be more precise), steeped in martial tradition, who finds satisfaction in the perfect execution of his warrior craft. Mugen and Jin aren't friends - in fact, they are contentious and want to test their skills against each other - yet they find themselves joining forces, thanks to Fuu, an insistent and kinda quirky waitress who inveigles the two into helping her search for the Samurai Who Smells Like Sunflowers. For 26 episodes, the discordant trio undergo many adventures, some serious, some hilarious, some just plain out weird. The only constants are the bickerings amongst the three, the scrounging for food, and the intrusion of modern day sensibilities. Oh, and the rampant butt kicking as done by Mugen and Jin.

On the heels of his popular Cowboy Bebop anime series, Shinichiro...
Quietly Among the Best
If there ever was an anime series that will leave you saying "that was outstanding," this is it.

There are so many components to this story that make it so.

The artwork is gorgeous; the backdrops themselves seem to be characters in the story.

The music, which is a mash-up of house, hip-hop, blues and jazz, adds so much depth to each episode that you may feel compelled to buy one of the series' four soundtracks just as I did.

And then, there's the story itself: two rogue warriors - one who can barely control his emotions [Mugen] and another who is nearly emotionless -- the cipher (seemingly) without a soul [Jin] -- attempt to help a befuddled teenage girl [Fu] in her quest to find the "samurai who smells like sunflowers."

Yes, similar stories have been told in many different formats for generations, but this version seems so fresh. During the 26 episode arc, you will find yourself caring about the main characters and trying to...
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Claymore: The Complete Series [Blu-ray]

Fianlly, Claymore Gets the Box Set Treatment it Deserves
I'll come right out and confess it; there is much to be excited about when an anime company like FUNimation decides to release a beloved franchise in a single complete collection box set. Not only does it save the buyer money but it makes a given property much more accessible to viewers who would otherwise be reluctant to track down half a dozen volumes to enjoy the show in it's entirety. Enter Claymore the Complete Series, a property of which I've long been campaigning for a complete box set release. The show, which is really unlike any other anime series out there, has been released to the North American market thus far in a pace that could only be described as "trickling" as in six, 4-episode releases that each ran 95 minutes. I've got them all but won't lie about waiting impatiently for each release to come out so that the story could continue.

Coming in at a total runtime of 650 minutes, Claymore The Complete Series release contains all 26 episodes across 6 discs...
Mature Anime with Sweeping Vision
Claymore is a series for the more serious anime watcher; I think that should be stated first and foremost. There is no jarring change from the plot with ultimately wasteful filler meant to make you laugh nor is there any comedy involved in the series. It is a very good series to start an adult on if you have a friend who is interested in anime and wants both the plot aspect and the violence that comes from the more mature fare. It is the blending of these two factors, along with the fantastic artistic style of this series that makes it so successful in appealing to both the male and female audience.

Claymore does not start gradually, but it builds to a maturity of storyline that should be envied by other animes that attempt to blend the typical violence of a storyline revolving around combating demons, monsters, or other evil forces and balance it with serious dialogue and characters. Claymore is not a cliché series in any way.

The story starts out...
Can't wait for the blu-ray...
I watched this entire series on DVD via Netflix, and absolutely loved it. I held off on actually buying it, though, with the hopes that a blu-ray version would stroll along. And whattaya know, here it is. The animation quality on this series is already fantastic, and I can't wait to see it in HD (though, as always, it's questionable just how much cel animation can be enlivened by high definition).

A couple of general notes about the series:

1. It's ultra-violent and not very hopeful, so otaku parents, be aware before you show your kids (though I will say it could be quite empowering for young girls).

2. If you enjoy this, try Berserk. The story and characters are way different, but the dark medieval fantasy environment is the same (still need that on blu-ray, though...).

3. Funimation, as always, does an excellent job with the english dub, but the original japanese is still superior.

4. If you've finished watching all the anime...
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Ponyo (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Delightful imagery, boundless joy, innocent love - even a lighter effort by Miyazaki is still an occasion to celebrate
Ponyo is a young fish-girl who loves to explore, but her father, a great wizard of the sea, fears the chaos her untamed powers could unleash upon the world. He's right to worry, since she, like every young undomesticated child, is an elemental force of nature who has little respect for the boundaries that grownups take so seriously. She escapes and meets up with a young boy whose imagination at least is a match for her magical powers - and it is love at first sight. Not romantic love but something more innocent and pure - like the youthful love of nature.

It starts out strong - and contains some of Miyazaki's most delightful and exuberant imagery, as when Ponyo runs blissfully upon the backs of her sisters who are at once giant fish and enormous waves. The story itself as it develops has gaps, moments that don't all add up, and unexplained elements. As another reviewer mentioned, for example, the test that Fujimoto and the sea goddess devise for Sosuke is somewhat...
Blu-ray: A magnificent Blu-ray release that misses perfection due to the lack of the lossless Japanese audio track
In 2008, Studio Ghibli released their latest Hayao Miyazaki film "Ponyo" (aka "Gake no Ue no Ponyo") in Japan and followed with a U.S. release in August 2009. The film which is Miyazaki's eighth film for Studio Ghibli has amassed several awards including the Japanese Academy Prize for Animation of the Year. The film which is budgeted around $34 million dollars made over $199 million worldwide. Where his 1988 film "My Neighbor Totoro" was Miyazaki's tale for older children, this time around for "Ponyo" he wanted to create a film for young children and was inspired from Hans Christian Anderson's "The Little Mermaid".

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Magical, beautiful and everything that you can expect from Hayao Miyazaki. I was completely in awe when I watched this film. In this day and age, we tend to put so much into CG animated films and rarely do we see hand drawn quality animation anymore. I'm so glad that Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli continues to show this creative style through...
A Fish Out of Water
Miyazaki's films are refreshing for their even pacing and tempered characters. A far cry from the neurosis of Disney characters where everyone is shouting and riding on high octane. Ponyo is almost completely silent in its first 10 or 15 minutes, and even when the dialoug begins it has more of a sobering effect. If you pair that with the gorgeous hand drawn characters and hand painted backgrounds you suddenly remember what animation felt like twenty-plus years ago.

The story of Ponyo is truly Disney-esque on the surface - but only on the surface. A boy, Sosuke, finds a "goldfish" trapped in a jar and frees her. He also gives her the name Ponyo. It doesn't take very long for Ponyo to develop a pet-like affinity for Sosuke, leading her to the decision that she wants to be a human. It's really that simple. The rest is Miyazaki's masterful aptitude for making the plot less important than his signature slice-of life sequences of how people relate to each other and their...
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