The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye

I'm back from summer vacation so now I urgently need to catch up on some reviews! Enjoy!

With a talking tank (Bogie), Honaka travels the barren desserts making a living as a 'jack-of-all-trades' doing anything except murder. Nicknamed the sword dancer for her amazing quick draw skills she soon picks up the interest of Iks a mysterious man she found in the dessert. In this future world of robots, giant bugs and crazy powers Honoka almost seems ordinary. Until her bandanna falls off and we see she has a third eye. A third eye should make her part of 'The Third', the elite beings with brains like the internet, but Honoka's third eye is blue not red making her an outcast from every where. Quite where that takes the plot I'm not sure, but there is a lot of mecha fights and comedy!
Well that looks a lot like I hate the plot, but that's not true, I just can't think of any way to make the plot sound not freakishly weird.In fact in some parts it's really philosophical! Add that to the comedy romance and action - so even with the strange context the plot is good! The thing I really hate though is the cheesy narration. It's completely unnecessary for some random guy to be explaining Honoka's thoughts and feelings every 10 seconds!!! Whenever the narrator starts rambling on I feel like quitting on the show entirely which is a real shame!

The Castle of Cagliostro

This film is a timeless classic, over 30 years old and still very loved! It's part of the Lupin III franchise which I haven't actually seen any of, but I don't think that limited my enjoyment at all. It's very clear through out the film who every one is. Lupin III is a notorious thief, and with his friend Daisuke Jigen  they rob billions of dollars from the national casino. The celebrations are short lived though, because it's not long before Lupin realises that what they've stole is actually counterfeit money. That's when they feel the need to attack the Castle of Cagliostro. Not only is it the centre of the counterfeit money, they also have an imprisoned damsel and a hidden treasure. But with all those things to find Lupin gets himself into a lot of trouble!

A humorous action-packed adventure with just a sprinkle of romance, it's a brilliant mix of genres from Hayao Miyazaki. This is actually Miyazaki's first feature length production which just says something about what a brilliant man he is. The comedy is almost slapstick like, they even use cheesy sound effects! Probably because it's so old, but that doesn't make it not funny, it's not like it's tacky comedy! However, the romance is a lot cooler than the comedy, it's quite subtle and there's no reason to believe in it's sincerity, but watching Clarisse cling to the hope that Lupin brings is so sweet!! 

The art is dated but the quality is still good! Lupin's face resembles that of a monkey but Clarisse is every bit the beautiful dame! She has brilliant blue eye's that sparkle really well, I especially liked it when she was drugged and her eyes looked dead but when the drugs wore of a slow glimmer crept in to them. Brilliant. But what was really brilliant was all the contraptions. Miyazki's trademark steam powered boats and flying contraption and also in this film cogs. The amount of detail that went into the clock tower must have been tiring enough but to then have a whole fight scene on the moving cogs is the best thing in this film!!

Lupin III is a very well thought out character I think, although not originally conceived for this film, he has been portrayed as a man of many qualities. Despite being dubbed a playboy by his friend, his relationship with Clarisse stays very pure and caring. He may be superhuman in the things that he does but he is still quite clumsy and not all his plans work. This makes him very interesting, believable yet impossible at the same time!! And his friendship with Jigen is just brilliant!! They stay together even with Lupin's ridiculous plans!

Okay, I may have over-useed this word a bit, but this film is brilliant!! I can't think of a word more fitting. The fight scenes and car chases are not only well animated, but also super fun to watch. The plot has everything you could possibly include in a crime story without complicating it. And, well, it's Miyazaki!! That says it all really. I'm so glad I finally got round to watching this!!

Pie:

Playful Kiss

I did say I'd review this. Remember? When I reviewed the Taiwanese version "It started with a kiss..."! Well, now I have watched it and really, I can't see why this one's more popular... Obviously the plot is basically the same but things happen a lot quicker. Oh Ha Ni leaves a note in Baek Seung Jo's locker but is publicly humiliated when he returns the letter with corrections marked on. Her troubles only get worse when her new house falls down in a minor earthquake so her and her father are forced to stay under the protection of her father's friend who, as fate would have it, is Seung Jo's dad. But unlike It started with a kiss, the plot quickly progresses to when they enter University and we see a lot of Seung Jo's caring side (read It started with a kiss review for a more detailed summary). The nature of this drama is very believable, ignoring the scene when Oh Ha Ni's house falls down. It's a bit too believable really and decisively neutral. Where's the drama? The exaggerated reactions? The too sad/happy moments that make you scream at the computer? I'll tell you where, in the longer plot. They've made everything happen too fast so there's no tension, which is a shame because this show has so much to offer. Namely the acting.

Gantz

With nudity and gruesome deaths this anime is really not for the light-hearted. It's very hard-hitting in many ways. It's all about death aliens and boobs, in fact, it starts with two teens getting hit by a train while trying to save a drunk who had fallen into the track. Despite the fact that we clearly see their heads rolling, they didn't die. Instead they got whisked away by some creepy black blob into a room full of people who should have died. Next thing you know said creepy black blob (named Gantz) whisks every one away with the mission of blasting some kid aliens into pieces. Not too mention how messed the aliens are! That's your basic plot line. Just add boobs! Completely unnecessary boobs and perverted scenes that totally kill the anime for me. I swear, the girl (Kei Kishimoto) is just how Gantz makes money and I don't like that. But in the end, this show really isn't aimed at me.
The show should be renamed Kei Kishimoto and aliens, as that's all there is. The art is quite poor really. All the characters have such simple designs and the aliens just look stupid. The spring onion alien? Really? Have the producers really no better ideas than that? Since this is a violent anime though, there is lots of fight scenes of varying levels, the animation is quite sharp. The animation used for Gantz's transportation device is quite nifty, a bit like knitting a person.