Guaporense and Zotis Review Animation

Season 1, Episodes 1-14 contain the first story arc revolving around the character Youko Nakajima, a high school student who later becomes Queen Kei. Season 2, Episodes 15-33, expands on the world in a broader scope and focuses on other characters as well as Youko. Youko still remains a central character, but is no longer the main focal point. Season 1 is a complete story arc, but Season 2 ends somewhat abruptly in the middle of events. I didn't realise that there was a third season, so I was actually surprised when it suddenly ended in the middle of things. Now I'll have to get my hands on the final three chapters. I bought both seasons bran new on Blu Ray. Season 1 was $85, and Season 2 was $95. I've been poking my head around on eBay to see if I can get the third season, and so far I have only found individual DVD's or the complete series for less than I payed for Season 1.

The animation is based on a series of light novels by the same name. The story is based on Chinese mythology, and there are many similarities with Western fairy tales too, such as talking animals. High schooler Youko Nakajima and her two friends, Yuka and Asano, are transported to this mystical land where they suffer hardships due to language and cultural barriers as well as political intreague and monsters known as Yoma (another word for Demons or monsters in other series such as Claymore). In the second story arc another girl from Japan is transported to this world and serves for 90 years as a servant to an imortal noble woman. Immortality is granted to all rulers and their servants in this world. There are also gods walking among mortals, and a higher supreme God, Tentei. Another central character in the second story arc is a princess who's father was corrupt and overthrown. The princess lived a lavish lifestyle and was very ignorant, and gradually after many hardships comes to realise the error of her ways. There are many character criticisms, and especially a lot of attention paid to criticising ignorance. One of the most tolerant characters, Rakushun, is a talking human sized rat who can also transoform into a human form. He helps Youko and the princess, Shoukei, gain greater perspectives on life. But it's interesting how the creators project their own personal views through their characters. For example, Rakushun does not believe that gods exist, but in subtle ways he questions himself internally over the course of the series. I think there is a criticism of the Christian view of God in the way that the gods of this world are more directly involved with affairs of state. It reminds me of the way people often say, "If God exists then why is the world so corrupt?" So the gods of this world elect rulers and punish them for being corrupt. It's a very human perspective, because there are just as many "Why do the gods allow evil?" Questions raised.


This series captivates and entertains me so much that I was willing to fork out that much money. Probably the strongest element is the story. The characters are very strong with well developed personalities and flaws. The mythology sometimes goes into so much detail that it's confusing and hard to remember everything, but the depth of the mythology is fascinating. The animation quality and drawing style are great. It's not the best I've seen in terms of animation quality, but well above what's typical for mainstream animation. Most mainstream animations suffer from limited drawing angles and character movements. The Twelve Kingdoms has a lot of very interesting perspective angles, character motions, scenery, and motions.

Overall it is a very unique animation. The excellent artwork, deep characters, life insights, fantastic mythology, and charm make for a truly memorable animation. I consider this a must see for animation fans.

This one is a series I didn't appreciate fully the first time I watched it.

66) Journey to the Stars

Reason for watching: Went to DC the other day and watched this movie about the universe because I was bored but it ended up too little for the price.



This is a short animated documentary without a plot or character driven narrative. Instead it is an educational short film explaining how the universe was constituted and how stars work. I found parts of the film interesting but other parts appeared to insult the viewers intellect a little bit. The voice of Whoopi Goldberg was a bit annoying as well.

The computer animation was very good all around and it fits the subject really well. Computer animation works better for depicting inanimate objects like galaxies and stars rather than humans/humanlike characters. Overall the art was excellent and fit the subject depicted very well. The art tries go for photographic realism and succeeds in that respect, which is a problem when depicting humans (exp: the Final Fantasy movie).

67) Demon City Shinjuku (1988)



The period from 1983 to 2000 can be perhaps regarded as the golden age for animated cinema. The reason is that at the period Japanese animation became dominated by OVA's which are direct to video films, produced by the thousands in the late 1980's and 1990's.

After 2000 OVA's declined vertiginously as late night animation flourished as the main medium for adult animation. Thing is, OVA's are shorter than late night TV shows and hence have bigger budget per minute and better direction. Today the bulk of animation produced in the world consists of late night anime series, which have poor direction and animation quality. In that sense animation as cinema declined in the past 15 years although now plots and writing got more complex in return. An example is Serial Experiments Lain, from 1998 is a early example of late night anime series, has terrible animation but great direction (exceptional in that sense). And there is the fact that larger number of theatrical anime films are made today versus the 1990's and 1980's. But overall, there was a substantial declined in the total number of anime films, counting OVA's as films.

One typical example of great OVA from the 1980's is Demon City Shinjuku. It's the adaptation of a novel and I found it very impressive in terms of art and animation. The plot is pretty conventional but the animation and art is very impressive. In fact, it shows how great animation made directly for video release was in the late 80's, looking more impressive IMO than the animation of a Disney blockbuster from the same time. The direction is also great, from the same guy who made Ninja Scroll.

Also it is a good example of horror animation. While there are few horror anime, some can be great although I am seldom scared by it. Madoka is also classified as horror but its more of a tragedy than horror.

68) The Seven Deadly Sins (2015)



Reason for watching: A top selling 2015 manga plus well regarded among industry professionals. I have the impression that in Japan popular culture is more closely adherent to the opinions of the "elite" than in the West: top selling manga usually shows up in the top manga lists from industry professionals while in the US movie critics and filmgoers have completely different tastes.

Now for a generic shounen action series. Shounen action is the single most popular form of narrative in Japan and also in the world considering that most of the blockbuster films made these days are variations of Shounen action. Here we have a typical example of the genre: featuring super human characters, including a main character that holds enormous hidden powers and is not quite human, just like Goku. Also the main character is supposed to be around 35 but looks 12, well, in a sense he represents us manga fans who are children from the inside. Anyway, the show had good pacing and interesting characters and was a fun ride overall although inferior to many other manga/shows I have read/watched.

The animation is pretty impressive for a TV show. However, the shift from OVAs to TV has indeed drastic negative impact on the quality of the animation: demon city Shinjuku despite having been made nearly 30 years earlier has way better animation than The Seven Deadly Sins. Still for TV standards its quite great.

I got two episodes into that Guap and couldn't watch anymore. I found the characters to be annoying at times, and the story wasn't doing it for me. To be fair I did only watch two episodes and it could get better, but nothing really hooked me about it and I was thinking about watching other stuff while watching it. Maybe I'll give it a fair try one day, but I don't think it will be for a while.

__________________

I watched it mostly because the talking pig was cute:

Demon City Shinjuku is great. I wouldn't call it Horror though, but it is ultra-violent.

Well, compared to Genocyber its pretty light on the violence.

69) Genocyber (1994)



Reason for watching: It is at the top of the most gory anime list. Also, the name sounds cool and Z has it on his list of anime.

Review: Well, while watching it I felt a strong sense of deja vu. Reason is that I actually watched Genocyber back in 1997 when I was 8 years old, yes, I clearly remember certain scenes and while watching it I felt the same atmosphere as before. Genocyber is the essence of anime in the sense that it is exactly what Western animation would never try to be: undiluted violence, extreme goryness and a powerful and hauting atmosphere.

I myself tend to feel that manga possess certain spiritual qualities that most movies lack. When I watch Genocyber this becomes clear. Genocyber is essentially the essence of that feeling that is unique to Japanese cultural products. Its like a more concentrated version of Nausicaa in that sense, although it lacks Miyazaki's artistic genius it makes up with sheer brutality. I don't think I ever experienced a work of fiction which the same level of brutality ad Genocyber. The reason is that in Genocyber everybody is "bad" and is killing each other like animals, there are no main characters or leads that possess some sort of moral superiority for the viewer to identify with, what is presented is pure carnage, almost continuous and that this carnage is ultimately the product of men's selfish desires.

Genocyber is also a great success in terms of direction. It is very well directed given its not a big budget movie but a small budget OVA although it's animation is of superior quality compared to most TV animation, which is typical of OVAs. Still the direction is typical of Japanese stuff from the period (late 80s and early 90s), reminding me a bit of films like Tetsuo the Iron Man and manga like Parasyte. Like those articles, this is a quintessential work and essential for those who are serious about animation.

Example of brutality?

The main character of Genocyber is the blonde girl.

Did you see all five OVA's, or just the first one?

Also check out Angel Cop. I can't remember if you've seen it yet.

All 5. I liked the 2nd arc the most.

Watched it in 2014. Put it into my top 100 animations.

Elaine is the girl's name. I liked the first story arc the most. When I saw it for the first time I shed a couple tears when the boy's spirit departed. I still shed a tear at that scene a couple of years later when I watched it again. I didn't shed a tear the third watch, but it still hits me deep in the heart. It's so interesting that such a violent anime could also be so emotional and have such meaningful content.

Hmm... what else should I recommend to you...

Fight Iczer
Galforce (I think you've seen at least one, but you should see the rest of them if you haven't)
Armor Hunter Mellowlink (set in the Votoms universe)
Iria: Zeiram the Animation (not sure if you've seen it, but a must see for sure)
Curse of Kazuo
A Wind Named Amnesia (essential)
The Dark Myth
Dagger of Kamui (essential)
Blood Reign: Curse of the Yoma (essential)
Bio Hunter
Baoh (essential)
Wicked City (not sure if you've seen it, but another ultra violent and essential)
The Cockpit (I think you've seen it, I consider it essential)
Big Wars (essential)
Lensman: Secret of the Lens (a star wars knock off, but also the movie Titan AE completely ripped off parts of it)

I have watched Baoh, Iria and the Curse of Kazuo. I plan ti watch now in terms of OVA's Gallforce and Detonator Orgun as well as Wicked City at some point. I remain relatively ignorant of the world of the OVA's.

70) M. D. Geist.(1986)



Reason for watching: It's M.D. Geist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Review: Now, that's some manly stuff. This is heavy metal in the form of a cartoon. Indeed, it's extremely direct, discarding any pretension of being concerned with exposition and complex character development. Instead all information you need is communicated through actions to the viewer's subconscious. It's a glorious film in many ways and a testament to the glory of 1980's animation. In terms of live action films the one closest to this would be The Road Warrior and also obvious influences from western films like Terminator and Blade Runner. However, in this case the main character is much, much, much more badass. So badass that his coolness transcends morality and standard hero tropes.

After 30 years, it appears that Japanese animation evolved into a quite distinct direction. Less manly and more cute, less westernized and more Japanese. Super violent manly stuff like M.D. Geist is something that is becoming more and more rare in animation, now most animation looks increasingly more like Moe Geist:

I consider M.D. Geist essential anime. And I think OVA's are generally more important and higher quality than series. Even the better series like Claymore are iconic but not very well animated or as deep and meaningful. So I'm not usually impressed when people watch a lot of series and consider themselves anime buffs. Quality is way more important than quantity.

OVA's indeed have better quality of direction and animation than series on average (for the same reason as theatrical movies). In terms of writing, series have the advantage of being longer allowing for greater character development.

Most anime buffs only watch the new stuff and the new stuff is mostly series. OVAs were popular in the 1980's and 1990's but since Evangelion they began to lose popularity and the industry shifted to late night series.

I actually watched M.D. Geist back in 1997 when it aired on Brazilian TV (it aired in the same block as Genocyber on friday night's around 8 PM, a small channel decided to air it at the same time as the mainstream soap operas air in the bigger channels, since otaku don't like soup operas in general it made sense). When re-watching it I noticed I remembered little of it (like with Genocyber, only some scenes were burned in my memory).

71) Detonator Orgun (1991)



Reason for Watching: It aired on the same block as M.D. Geist and Genocyber in the Brazilian TV.

Review: Another one of those OVAs that aired on Brazilian TV, like M.D. Geist I could recall some elements of it from those days.

But this one is more like Gunbuster B: it's plot however contains a lot of elements of transhumanism besides evil aliens and stuff. Overall, though, it's animation is superior to Gunbuster but it lacks in terms of direction and overall quality (well, in that sense Gunbuster is not expected to be surpassed easily). And the ending was extremely silly, even by anime standards, some elements really made me cringe during the ending and the plot appears to be rather nonsensical: why the aliens are attacking? In Gunbuster they had a very lame excuse for it but it sufficed (because humans are considered a threat by the "universe" and the aliens would be the universe's immune system response to the plague of humanity).

I liked the way it depicted space ships and cities and other mechanical things (specially the mecha), everything looked very nice and streamlined. However, the character designs were not very good, the main character looked really weird with his oval face.

Here are some more recs from the 80's:

Megacity 23
Goodnight Althea
Goku: Midnight Eye
Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01
Battle Royal High School
Lily C.A.T.
Grey: Digital Target
Harmagedon
Roots Search


This one is on my to-watch list: Hades Project Zeorymer

90's Recs:
Roujin Z
Silent Mobius I&II
Gasaraki (series, I haven't gotten around to finishing it though)
AD Police Files (the manga is way better though)
8 Man After
Darkside Blues (essential)
Big Wars
Psycho Diver: Soul Siren
Bounty Dog (I can't remember if I've seen it, but it looks pretty good)


This one looks cool, but I have not seen it: Genesis Survivor Gaiarth

Ninja Gaiden OVA is also pretty decent:



Also check out the Devilman OVA's. I didn't like the series, but the OVA's were good, especially Amon: Apocalypse of Devilman.

Devilman: The Birth (1987)



Devilman: Demon Bird Sirene (1990)



Amon: Apocalypse of Devilman (2000)

After all the OVA's I've watched, and how superior they are to mainstream series, I just scoff at people who "watch more anime" than me because they really don't know jack squat about good anime.

Like when we had the animation MoFo list, and some people were saying they watch a decent amount of anime. They have no idea...