Guyver – The Bioboosted Armor
強殖装甲ガイバ
2005
26 episodes

This is the first Anime Tv series I have decided to write about so enjoy.

secretive multinational Chronos Corporation has been experimenting with bioweapons. Their main product so far has been Zoanoids, bestial creatures who can disguise themselves as humans, but the height of their development efforts are three Guyver Units, living suits of armor which bond with a subject and give him fantastic fighting capabilities, ones good enough to stand up to even the toughest Zoanoids.

Guyver, whose source manga was originally serialized starting in 1985, is one of the earlier anime/manga examples of both concepts. It was popular enough to spawn a 1986 anime movie, a 12-episode OVA series that ran in 1989-1990 and 1992, and a pair of cheesy live-action American adaptations most notable for starring Mark Hamill.

These series generally take one of two basic approaches: either the hero is a good guy looking for direction or a delinquent with mad fighting skills but a heart of gold. Guyver opts for the former, and adds to it typical elements like the accidental encounter with the armor, the evil multinational corporation out to recover it (and keep their secrets) at any cost, the best friend who’s privy to his secret, the fellow student who knows more about the situation than he lets on, and the oblivious love interest, who in Sho’s (main character) case is Mizuki, the younger sister of his best friend Tetsuro.

On the Bad Guy side we have the standard “regional director in danger of losing his job/life if the special equipment can’t be recovered” configuration, with the “big boss” ultimately stepping in, although the one minor surprise here is that he becomes directly involved so early. Guyver was itself the inspiration for other anime series about individuals in powered armor battling monsters disguised as humans, as many parallels can be drawn between it and Bubblegum Crisis, among many others. It will appeal to action junkies and fans of earlier incarnations, but probably will not find an audience beyond those groups.

Whisper of the Heart (english
耳をすませば

OK lets get one thing straight first, I enjoy anime, especially the works of Studio Ghibli. Most people are a little hesitant to watch animated films as most people think they are just for kids. Most animated films are, but I think some of the best films along with some of the funniest films are films that are animated.

For one of Miyazaki’s rarer works, this still shows him to be the undisputed animator in the entire world! It contains no violence, no action, no profanity. I wouldn’t really call it a love story. True there are elements of an elementary school ‘crush’ but the story is more about finding one’s place in life. The main character struggles to define a future for herself, while at the same time she finds a boy who has his all planned out ahead. There are so many things to enjoy about this film, from Shizuku’s rendition of Country Roads to the beautiful surroundings she finds herself in.

Afro Samurai
アフロサムライ

Afro Samurai will stay in my collection, a samurai saga that has more than a touch of being made just right for die-hard fans of blood-drenched anime. The story is basically his father is killed by a man called “Justice”, this leads him on a journey of vengeance. Yes quite a cliché story, some science fiction to a degree, or at least futuristic in scope, mixing feudal Japan with crafty cyborgs and robots and other technology thrown in. It’s not anything exactly masterpiece-like, and after a few episodes it does come close to being a little tiresome in seeing Afro, who has little-to-no personality on his quest to achieve something higher.

Overall then, not for everyone’s tastes but in targeting its audience it is as ruthlessly efficient as Afro Samurai himself. Stylish, bloody, brooding and with an overall air of effortless cool, it is a fine series that I enjoyed. Put it this way, if you like the sound of it then you will almost certainly like it – it is that good at what it does.

The plot of the film has a high school senior named Makoto Konno going through life blissfully hanging out with friends, and trying to cope with the pressures of being a high schooler.

On a day when everything is going wrong Makoto suddenly discovers that she has somehow become able to leap through time. Suddenly able to relive great days or correct past mistakes she thinks she has somehow managed to to find a way to make her wishes (and those of her friends) come true.

Unfortunately it soon becomes clear that some of the changes have consequences that she never intended.(I dare not say too much more since the revealing too much will clue you in too early as to whats going on in the film, perhaps taking a bit of the edge off the wonder. Trust me you’ll thank me once you see the film yourself).