>DVD Review: New villains and twists in "Soul Eater"

>The third box set of “Soul Eater” brings in some more villains to twist the story into a visually exciting thriller.

This series has a bad habit of rehashing much of the same shonen formulas, by adding in more opponents. From the start, the new goth-dressing woman and her band of misfits seem to have nothing to do with the ultra-powerful demon god which was introduced in the previous story arc.

So the series struggles to tie the connection to these new villains, led by a woman in a black dress named Arachnophobia. However, the series has always maintained an spectacular collection of powerful fight sequences. Everything is packed in Episodes 27 to 39. There’s a brawler who fights with chainsaws on his limbs and a midget who can transform into a rolling gorilla.

Among other things, Death the Kid takes center stage in an incredible battle on a flying train. That’s right: he fights in an epic battle on a train which almost resembles the one in the old classic, “Galaxy Express 999.” This sequence is one of the best in the entire series.

Although the plot seems to make almost no sense as it plods along, there are plenty of clear stories to tell. Arachnophobia is seeking to spread madness throughout the world so that everyone will be her slave. Crona, the purple-haired boy who once tried to kill Maka and Soul, is now their friend and classmate. However, the boy’s mother, Medusa, uses him for other fiendish purposes in this show.

I still have issues with how the story is structured. The focus on “Soul Eater” tends to zero in more on the battles than on the actual story, which wasn’t that interesting to begin with. Thankfully, “Soul Eater” characterizes its run with some of the most impressive battles to ever grace a shonen series. And if anyone needs their fix of wanton violence and humongous fights, this show packs it all.

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>DVD Box set review – Epic gang wars never die out

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In an earlier review, I criticized “Baccano!” for a plot which didn’t make sense. However, I had only seen the first volume. After watching all 16 episodes, I really enjoyed this series as a whole.

The “Baccano!” box set released in December showcases the best qualities of 2000s anime–epic battles, splattering blood, dense storylines and incredible drama.

You probably won’t understand the story of “Baccano!” from the first episodes. It looks like a mish-mash of random battles, mindless violence and unfinished storylines. However, the plot is quickly set into place in episode seven on the second DVD.

A group of alchemists meet a man named Maiza Avada aboard the Advenna Avis in 1711. He summons a demon to produce an elixir, giving all the passengers complete immortality. However, everyone also has the ability to devour other immortals to gain their knowledge.

The shrewd Szilard Quates plots to devour Maiza, but his plan is thwarted when the other people warn Maiza. He escapes by jumping overboard, only to reappear in urban America in the 1930s.

This anime is about far more than just defeating an immortal overlord. Characters such as Czeslaw Meyer suffer horrific torture from his immortal guardian. Eva Geonard is searching for her lost brother, who was captured by the Geonard family of immortals.

Meanwhile, the Camorra gang’s new recruit, Firo Pinocacchio, bumps into a mysterious woman named Ennis, who is working for Szilard. Szilard’s cooking up a new elixir which keeps people from aging.

To make matters even more confusing, a ruthless gang war ensues on a train known as the Flying Pussycat. The Russo family assassins, led by Ladd Russo, plan to kill all the members of the Laforet family. On top of this, a Rail Tracer is killing passengers on the train.

If all this sounds too much to handle, don’t worry. It all wraps up nicely at around episode 14. There’s plenty of gang wars, but the series isn’t all about gangs.

“Baccano!” is all about the everlasting bonds the characters make as they regenerate throughout the series. Characters such as Isaac Dian and Miria Harvent spread their goodwill to everyone by stealing money from the gangsters and giving the money away to the public. Firo helps Ennis socialize with his friends.

Even newcomers such as the mute Chanel LaForet learn to escape from their gang affiliations by loving other people. “Baccano!” might features some of the bloodiest battles in anime history, but it has a big heart. This series is about the unbreakable love between friends, even as people kill them numerous times.

Although you could say this is an evil series about a deal with the devil, this series keeps the hocus pocus witchcraft to a minimum. Instead, “Baccano!” delivers a dazzling story about unforgettable acquaintances and friendships within some ruthless gang wars in 1930s New York. This is an absolute must-see series that everyone has to watch at least once.

Image courtesy of seaslugteam.com

>Box set – Fantastic Children

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One of the series that flew under the radar of anime fanatics four years ago was “Fantastic Children”. Despite the simplistic, Tezuka-style drawings, this series is very intelligent and packed with scary mysteries to be solved. A box set of this series came out recently this year in March.

The series starts with a paranoid narrator rambling about the dreaded Befort children. They are searching for Tina, the girl who can help them at their home planet, Greecia.

However, the Belfort children are really seven gray-haired scientists who reincarnate into children every few years. They want to convince Tina to return to Greecia, their home planet. Apparently, she is the ultimate weapon for Greecia, but escapes to Earth to keep herself from getting involved with the countries at war. To keep away from the reincarnating Belfort children, Tina reincarnates every 10-20 years into a different person so that no one can ever find her. From the 1700s to the early 1900s, Tina remains elusive as a fugitive.

In the 1900s, Tina is now a young girl, named Helga, wearing a blue skirt and pink blouse. She is an orphan who doesn’t want any association with guys either. Toma sees her lying on a statue at his secret island. Although she doesn’t speak to him, he likes the girl, and he eventually saves her from the orphanage where she is mistreated. However, he has no idea that Helga have some association with Tina, and that these Befort children have robots, karate skills and fancy weaponry that Toma can’t handle.

Although the opening episodes are definitely a confusing mix of separate scenes between a detective, the Belfort children and Toma and Tina, this series is incredible. I have never seen a more fluidly animated series in my life. Although the characters are drawn rather simplistically, they move very smoothly. The digital animation is also implemented well. However, the story is the true highlight of the series. This series is about provocative mysteries, such as dark mythic creatures, ghosts and family members who disappear to join a group of gray-haired children wearing black cloaks. On top of this, there are orphanages with bodyguards who imprison Tina, secret agent organizations experimenting on people and, of course, the reincarnating Belfort children. And there are even flying robots.

Trust me–it sounds like the worst seasons of “The X-Files”, but this series is the best mix of Miyazaki children and Hitchcock horror that I have ever seen. Although this series is for kids, the spooky music and shocking revelations clearly distinguish this for older audiences. This is one of those series that really doesn’t sound like it would work, but it does work. In fact, it is one of the best series I have ever seen.

Images courtesy of aniweblog.org and hirvine.com

>Early review – Blood+ offers both compelling storyline and plenty of blood

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There are many impressive anime out now, but “Blood+” could possibly be the most impressive and dramatic series to date this year.

The animation studio behind the production, Production I.G., really pushed the limits of anime with “Blood+”. The story involves a high-school girl, Saya, an anemic who has no memory of her own past. She lives with her father and her two adopted siblings. However, things turn for the worse on a night when Saya runs back to the school at night to get her athletics uniform. A humongous monster grabs his teacher and kills him. Trapped in a science laboratory, Saya is saved by Hagi, who feeds her some of his blood through a kiss. When Saya’s brother goes out to tell her that her uniform is still a home, the beast attacks Riku and is about to kill him when Saya goes berzerk. Cutting her finger to release her blood on her sword, she chops the monster in half.

To make matters worse, the U.S. army and organization known as Cinq de Fleches sends an army regiment to their position. Haji manages to carry them to safety to the top of another building. Soon enough, Saya’s foster father explains that she is actually a warrior who was laid to rest in a cave after the Vietnam War, when she fell into a hibernation cycle. George was ordered after the war to guard Saya and kill her if she went into a killing rage as she did in the war. After she awoke, George adopted her, seeing that she was no longer a threat. She also adopted two other boys, Kai and Riku.

After another battle with a chiropteran, where Hagi saves her again, George is wounded and is taken to an army hospital. Meanwhile, George’s friend in the army, David, also reveals that she is the only one capable of killing the monsters with her blood. Whenever a monster is hurt with blood from Saya sword, it becomes paralyzed. As a member of the Red Shield, David asks her to join their fight to save the world against the monsters. Things turn bad after George is kidnapped by Cinq de Fleches, and Saya has no choice but to join her guardian, Kai, and David to find George in a secret U.S. army base.

And when you think things can’t get any worse, Cinq de Fleches injects George with Delta 67, the drug that turns people into chiropterans. In a brutal scene, George, wounded and kneeling in a pool of his own blood, begins to transform into a chiropteran. Saya cannot bear to kill him with her sword, but George told her that there was no other way. In a heartbreaking scene, Saya cuts herself and lets her blood flow down into George’s wounds to paralyze him for good. Although her father died, Saya decides to join the Red Shield in their epic battle against Cinq de Felches.

Even though I’ve only seen about two volumes of this box set, it is clear that “Blood+” is one of the best anime I have ever seen this year. Technically, the series is a sequel to the 30-minute film “Blood: The Last Vampire”, but this series certainly stands alone as an incredible piece of work. The music is also composed by Hans Zimmer, best known for his music in the epic film “Gladiator.” Despite the bloody violence in this series, there are tender moments as well, as Saya and her brothers struggle to spend time together as a family.

The box set of the first 25 episodes of this series is not cheap–it costs more than $100. However, the story, action and drama conveyed in this series is worth every penny. On an unfortunate note, from what I’ve seen on the first two discs, there are no extras, and I really didn’t like the English dub. Still, based on the subtitled version, this is one of the best series of 2008, and I cannot wait until the part two box set is released.

>DVD box set – Bebop finally comes out in a box

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Good news–Bandai Visual finally released a box set of “Cowboy Bebop!”

Although I loved watching Bebop five or six years ago on the Cartoon Network, I still can’t figure out why Bandai took that long to release a box set of all the DVDs in the series. I understand that Bandai wanted to make viewers shell out all their cash to buy the DVDs individually. However, they didn’t deserve to make me wait four or five years just for this series in an inexpensive box set! I’m a college student. Bandai deserves to send me, as well as other college students, an apology for forcing me to wait this long.

Still, anime fans have every reason to be fortunate that Bebop finally came out in one box set, because Bebop is one of the best, if not the best, anime series of all time. The series starts with two bounty hunters, Spike and Jet, searching for criminals to turn in to the police. Faye Valentine, Ed, and the Corgi dog Ein later join the group. Even though they struggle to earn enough money to buy food for everyone, they have plenty of fun just catching the criminals.

And each character has their own demons in the past. Jet quit the police force after he lost his arm to a killer who is still on the run. Faye almost died fifty years ago in an interplanetary space accident, and awoke from a cryogenic frozen slumber with no memory. Most of all, Spike was a former member of the Red Dragon syndicate, a crime gang which terrorizes high-ranking government officials. He had quit his job as an assassin, but his grudge with his former partner, Viscious, still continues to haunt him.

This series is an excellent mixture of drama, action, comedy and romance. Most of all, this series is about freedom from a past of violence and destruction. And all of this is finally in one compact DVD box. Any anime fan who hasn’t seen this anime yet should get this box now. The person definitely won’t regret it.