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Anime Review: Corpse Princess (Shikabane Hime) – Part One: Aka
From looking at the cover of Corpse Princess, you can easily tell one thing: this anime is about badass girl who is seriously pissed off. At further look, you’ll also notice that it’s produced by Gainax, and thus can infer that it likely contains crazy over-the-top action and a unique art style. Blend these into a fairly decent fantasy story and you’ve got Corpse Princess. The first season of the Corpse Princess series delivers a good plot with plenty of action, and despite its negative qualities, it’s an enjoyable watch.
When her and her family were murdered, Makina Hoshimura became a Shikabane-Hime – a being whose purpose is to seek out and destroy Shikabane. A Shikabane is the risen corpse of a person who died with great regret in their mind. They are monsters with an uncontrollable hatred of all things living. They wreak havoc in humans’daily lives and are responsible for many strange and horrifying rumors. Shikabane-Hime, such as Makina, are tasked with killing 108 Shikabane. If they fulfill this contract, they are granted passage into heaven. Makina, however, has a different incentive – she seeks revenge on those that murdered her family.
Anime Review: Highschool of the Dead
Highschool of the Dead is the most overrated show of this entire season. While it does have a satisfying beginning and conclusion, a few exhilarating fight scenes and a dark atmosphere, the overabundance of fanservice, painfully slow mid-point, and a lot of poorly acted scenes really do a lot of damage to what could have been a fun show about the zombie apocalypse. It also doesn’t help that the show suffers from an identity crisis, as it tries to be both a horrifying story of survival and an over-the-top testosterone fest, resulting in a show that fails at being scary or thrilling.
HOTD follows Takashi Komuro, a high school sophomore who is depressed over losing his girl friend Rei Miyamoto to his best friend Hisashi Igou. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have time to mourn over his loss, as the zombie apocalypse begins for no adequately explained reason (It’s a show about zombies! Who cares?). In the midst of an attack on his high school, he groups up with various survivors, such as Rei, Hisashi, Kouta Hirano, a gun otaku, Saeko Busujima, a psychotic kendo master, Shizuka Marikawa, the useless nurse, and Saya Takagi, the arrogant, if intelligent, student council president and escape the high school. The rest of the show has the survivors trying to survive in a zombie-infested Japan.
Anime Review: Strike Witches – Complete 1st Season
I first heard about Strike Witches at New York Anime Festival 2008. I was on the line to get Rie Tanaka’s autograph and I was asking people what they were getting signed. One particular person showed me a postcard with this character on it. When I asked who that was, he responded “You’ve never heard of Strike Witches? It’s a show about a bunch of girls that fly around and fight aliens. Oh, and they don’t wear pants.”
Yes, that’s right. Strike Witches is a show about a bunch of cute girls that grow animal ears & tails, fly around with big guns, and battle aliens in a post-World War II era. They do not wear pants and the show takes no shame in constantly reminding you of this. After reading that, chances are you think one of two things: (A) this is the stupidest and creepiest idea for a show ever, or (B) this is an AMAZING idea for a show. If you’re in group B, read on…
Anime Review: Str.A.In. – Strategic Armored Infantry
I must admit, I (sadly) haven’t been exposed much to the mecha genre of anime. Neon Genesis Evangelion and Macross Frontier are pretty much the extent of what I’ve seen in terms of mecha. Having greatly enjoyed them both, I’m very willing to try out new mecha series. Unfortunately, the big names like Robotech and Gundam are way too long for me to get into at this point. However, there are some shorter mecha series out there for me to enjoy. Str.A.In. – Strategic Armored Infantry (original title Soukou no Strain) has helped to alleviate my “lack of mecha exposure” a bit. At only 13 episodes, it’s a short series that delivers quite well.
The story involves two factions: the Union and the Deague. Long ago, a war broke out between these two factions. The war has been going on for so long that people have forgotten its cause. The main character in this story is Sara. Long ago, her brother left her for the military and she made a promise that she would follow in his footsteps. Years later, she joins the military as well, but soon finds out that her brother has become a traitor, and has joined the Deague. Sara is wrecked by this, and must work to find out the mysteries behind her brother’s betrayal while dealing with her own personal issues. The story is a little weak, and can get confusing at times. Pacing issues are present, as some scenes tend to drag on a bit, which unfortunately takes away from the overall enjoyment of the series.
In contrast, the visuals are very impressive. All of the mecha battles are done in CG, so naturally, the animation is flawless during those scenes. The mecha themselves are very detailed, and I could tell the producers spent a lot of time making the battles look nice. During non-battle scenes, the animation quality is pretty much on par with that of other anime from its time.
Overall, Str.A.In. is a decent series you can breeze through. The story and pacing do have issues, but the visuals & animation quality during the mecha battle scenes help make up for it. It’s only 13 episodes, and a series box set is available from FUNimation. Despite its flaws, it’s worth checking out.
Str.A.In. – Strategic Armored Infantry is currently on sale and is licensed and distributed by Funimation Entertainment. Official series information is available at its official site.
ENJOYMENT – A nice fun story with good visuals
RECOMMENDATION LEVEL – Would recommend
REWATCH VALUE – Probably not
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