Let’s round up last week’s reviews. Naruto. That’s it, you can go home now. It’s not my fault, honest! Late Naruto filler is enough to put anyone off anime for life. I’m just glad that it dimmed my enthusiasm for only a week. Actually, Naruto Unleashed: Series 8 Part 2 wasn’t as bad as I was expecting after the previous instalment. It’s still got nothing to do with the main storyline, and there are still moments that made me want eat the disc, but even this late in the filler mountain, there was something of entertainment value to be had. See just what it was by clicking the link.

You know I wasn’t going to leave you with just that. This last week, I have also been indulging my fascination with the live action entertainment that Japan produces. If your passion for anime has primed you for something a little more three-dimensional (that’s human beings 3D and not Avatar, stupid spectacles 3D), then check out my reviews for Love Exposure and Lala Pipo. Just the ticket for Valentine’s Day, in a slightly warped and twisted sort of way…






Manga Entertainment Released Naruto: Season 8 Part 2 last Monday, while Love Exposure was released by Third Window Films in January. They also release Lala Pipo today.

Posted by Jitendar Canth

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Gundam Free For All

The big Gundam event has begun in preparation for the simultaneous worldwide release of Gundam Unicorn on Blu-ray. From now until the end of April, several classic Gundam series will be available for streaming from various sites in both dub and sub flavour. It’s your big chance for UK viewers to see what all this giant robot stuff is about, and the first two series to be streamed have been launched. Go to the Anime News Network right now, and you’ll be able to see Zeta Gundam, while Crunchyroll have started streaming the original Mobile Suit Gundam. Now these are big series, and with shows like Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny, Gundam Wing and more to be added to the mix, only the seriously unemployed and unoccupied will have the time to catch them all. But Bandai haven’t been remiss in providing information. If you visit this website, then you’ll find information about all of the shows, and a handy schedule to find out where and when they will be streamed.

Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2 Comes To US DVD

Probably the least unexpected news of the week, but Bandai, in their usual roundabout way, pretty much confirmed what every already knew, that the second season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya will be dubbed and released in the US in due course. Given that the first series saw a UK release last year, it may be taken as read that Beez will also eventually release the second. Now the big question is just how Season 2 will be released, especially given the Endless Eight episodes in the middle of the run. For those who were under a rock somewhere, for eight episodes, Haruhi Suzumiya went all Groundhog Day. If we get single volume releases as in the first series, we may end up with two discs with just variations on a single episode. Haruhi is Bandai’s flagship title, and they will probably want to wring as much from it as possible, but I really do hope that they go straight to boxset with this one. News from Anime News Network.

The first review of the week was Aquarion: Volume 3. I’m still nonplussed by this show, which has somehow got me appreciating giant animated robots, a genre that up till now I have taken pains to avoid. But Aquarion has been a whole lot of fun, a quality that makes up for a plethora of failings, and you can’t whine about giant robots and tired old clichés when you have a whopping great grin on your face. I had a whopping great grin on my face when I watched this disc. See how broad it was by clicking on my review.

It was time to go retro next, as Hayao Miyazaki season gets into full swing. Ocean Waves is the latest release from Ghibli in the UK, and it will soon be followed up with Hayao Miyazaki’s latest, Ponyo. There’s no better time to cash in, which is why we now get Sherlock Hound: The Complete Series. Sherlock Hound is the last television series that Miyazaki worked on, back in the mid eighties. It definitely appeals to the retro crowd who grew up on Dogtanian, Willy Fog, and Mysterious Cities of Gold. In this adaptation, the world of Sherlock Holmes gets a distinctly canine makeover, and there are some delightful Miyazaki touches to appreciate.

I rounded off the week with the next instalment of CLAMP’s opus, X: The Series – Volume 4. This is shaping up to be quite the gripping confrontation between good and evil, with the Dragons of Earth challenging the Dragons of Heaven for the fate of the world. It’s full of fate, destiny and portentous moments, the sort of epic that you think should be directed by Peter Jackson, but this goes one better, and is directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri of Ninja Scroll fame. The first 3 volumes were about putting the various pieces on the board, volume 4 sees an early attempt at checkmate. I promise not to use a lame chess metaphor in my review…
















Manga Entertainment release Sherlock Hound: The Complete Series as an HMV exclusive. MVM release both Aquarion: Volume 3, and X: The Series – Volume 4. And all three titles come out today.

Posted by Jitendar Canth

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Slayers Revolution Has Been Dubbed

For those of you who have been watching the Slayers releases from MVM, you will no doubt be aware that MVM also have the rights to the latest series, Slayers Revolution, and Slayers Evolution-R. You will also be aware that following the breakneck monthly release of the three older series, there appears to be a Slayers drought on the horizon. That is of course because it takes time for these shows to be dubbed and mastered for a Western DVD release. According to Anime News Network (because we in the UK are still barred from Funimation's Video Portal), Funimation have now completed dubbing the Revolution Series, and have put the first four episodes up on their streaming site in preparation for a March DVD release. MVM usually wait until a series has been released in its entirety before releasing it themselves, so expect Slayers Revolution in the second half of 2010, or the beginning of next year.

The Bexley Anime and Manga Festival Finale has Changed

It’s just a week or so before BAM kicks off in southeast London, but the schedule is still fluid it seems. It looks as if the 5cm per Second and K20 double bill has been nixed because of licensing concerns, but in its place, March 1st will see an early showing of Mamoru Hosoda’s Summer Wars at Bluewater, before it gets a wider release this summer. All the Cineworld showings have been booked solid, but there’s extra room at Bluewater, meaning more people will get to see this acclaimed movie. And remember, it’s free! Check the BAM Facebook page for details on how to book.

I was going to say that there are only two reviews this week, but then I took a look at just what I have reviewed. That’s a total of 29 episodes! Back in the day of 4-episode volumes, that would have equated to seven reviews. Seven reviews in one week would have been a bumper harvest indeed. The first three reviews rolled into one this week comprise D. Gray-Man: Series 1 Part 1. This is a new series debuting from Manga in 2010, and it’s another long running adventure series in the same vein as Naruto and Bleach. D. Gray-Man is a spooky, supernatural action adventure, where a band of exorcists fight the forces of evil, demonic chimera created by the Millennium Earl to wipe out humanity. Our Harry Potter-esque hero is the orphan raised by an exorcist Allen Walker, whose left hand is a weapon that defeats the demons, and whose cursed eye can spot them as they skulk amongst humanity.

This would have been four single volume reviews, but a Baccano!: The Complete Series boxset gets a review all to itself. I sometimes feel that my sojourn in the medium of anime is like being adrift in a sea of mediocrity, casting a line out in the hope of hooking more than just a mere minnow. Thankfully, the anime we get to see in the UK has been distilled somewhat from the crude oil that the US gets, it’s rare that we get a dud of a series here, although I still can’t explain how Samurai Deeper Kyo made it. The anime we get is the equivalent of cod, bass, barracuda, and the occasional dolphin friendly tuna. But once in a while, you get something awesome, you get a leviathan, you get a proper sea monster, you get the sort of show that you just have to crow about, the Ghost in the Shell, the Cowboy Bebop. Baccano! is Moby Dick! It’s the best anime show to come out of Japan in years. Unfortunately it hasn’t made it to the UK, I had to import. Even more unfortunately, it isn’t the sort of show that is easily described in the space of a paragraph. I urge you to go read my review, and then go and place the order. It’s that good!











Manga Entertainment will release D. Gray-Man: Series 1 Part 1 on the 22nd of February. Funimation released Baccano!: The Complete Series as 2009 breathed its last and it’s available from all reputable importers.

Posted by Jitendar Canth

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