chibiyusa's TV shows > TV reviews by chibiyusa

Season One Review (Rant)

Posted : 4 months, 3 weeks ago on 9 July 2008 11:31 (A review of Black Lagoon)

A word of caution, this show probably isn't for you if you can't stand guns, coarse language, and general violence. So don't bother checking it out if you are queasy about that stuff or you know you will get offended.

Anyway, Rokura Okajima was just your normal boring white collar worker until he was kidnapped by the Lagoon Company. Blah, blah, blah, he realized his true calling in life and became a member of the Lagoon Company, a company that specializes in delivering goods across the seas of Southeast Asia, regardless of the law. You see pirates these days aren't dudes with peg legs and eye patches no, they are mofos who go around shooting people in a torpedo boat. Sounds like fun.


(Revy, with her two guns)

If you were to only watch the Opening and Ending credits one might get the false impression that it's all about Revy (pictured above) since both credit sequences are almost entirely devoted to her except for that random shot of the guys that's only on for a few seconds in the Opener. But that's just a trap to lure in (un)suspecting viewers in. Probably.

(the guys as seen seemingly randomly for a few seconds in the Opening credits)

And just to prove this show is really badass there are nuns with guns, crazy spanish maids with guns (aka killer robot maid from the future), and people with guns in general. I think the only person who doesn't actually use a gun was the Chinese lady who specialized with knives. There was an Irish(?) guy at some point but instead of getting drunk all the time he was always high so it might be inaccurate in that respect. And it also has Nazis, and not just normal Nazis but Neo-Nazis. Additionally it has appearances of just about every single major criminal organization, especially the Russians. Oh and terrorists.

If you get a chance to watch this with the English dub, please do since it's more insulting. The Japanese dub is okay but it just doesn't cut it for this type of show.

In real life, this stuff is rather frightening, even more so since there's a part of you that realizes that it probably is happening. But somehow this show portrays the life of the criminal underworld in a both glamorous and unglamorous way that is balanced such that it's entertaining. I mean everyone smokes like chimneys but this has no effect on their stamina and lots of this stuff is highly controversial, but anyway from what I've seen from the first season, this is a pretty intense show. Kinda like The Transporter meets Cowboy Bebop or something like that. Not really but eh...

(from left to right: Benny the Mechanic, Rock the ex-Businessman from Japan, Revy the Two Hands, and Dutch the Boss)

Now I can't wait for the second season which promises (vampire) child soldiers. Fun. Fun. Fun.

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Pink Triangles

Posted : 8 months, 4 weeks ago on 7 March 2008 05:42 (A review of A Love to Hide)

For some apparent reason I thought this would be a happy movie. I mean it was gay and it had French people so I assumed it'd be happy. I kinda skipped the part where it mentioned it was during a Nazi-Germany occupied France.

It's kind of a foursome thing going on in this movie. You have Jean, then you have Jean's childhood friend, Sara, who's not only hopelessly in love with him but a Jew who just had her whole family murdered in front of her. Then you have Jean's lover Phillip, and of course Jean's jealous brother Jacques who is the black sheep of the family. Jacques makes a living stealing from the houses of arrested Jews but one thing leads to another and tensions build and before you know it, one bad thing happens after another, kinda like a dominoe effect. Every tragic event was a like a direct hit to the heart. POW! POW!
Every time I think it can't get worse, the movie surprises me. It was so heart-wrenchingly depressing that I yelled alot at inanimate objects.

All in all this was an amazing movie. Imagine my surprise to learn it was made for TV. A movie of this caliber could have convinced me it was made for a theatrical release. I can't even remember the last time I saw a made for TV movie this good, let alone a foreign made for TV movie.
Sure most people know about the "Jewish" holocaust, but hey, it wasn't just Jews.


Not recommend for the feeble-minded. But if you want to cry and feel depressed about the frailty and cruelty of human nature then go for it.

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Kinda like the circus on crack

Posted : 9 months, 3 weeks ago on 12 February 2008 09:53 (A review of Kaleido Star)

My friend recommend this to me and I avoided it for the longest time because it kinda looked retarded tpo me. But once i got over the whole ridiculousness of all the aerodynamics involved (I mean seriously, with breasts that large you'd think it'd be a hindrance not to wrap them or something) it's really not that bad despite the predictable plots and at times lackluster animation it was rather addicting and full of heart.

The main character, Sora, is trying to make it to be part of Kaleido Stage. It's kinda like Cirque du Soleil but more eic. And surprise surprise she makes it! yeeey... The rest of the episodes seem to follow a dreadfully predictable plot that for the most part starts with one episode and ends within that episode. I suppose if you wanted to know how it was like to live as a hard core circus performer it's kinda like that.
The animation is amazing when it counts but oftentimes they would use some scenes over and over again. And when it doesn't count the animation isn't that great. But it's really not as bad as I make it out to be. I mentioned that the plot is predictable and it is. In the main cast of characters there really isn't a "bad guy" since by the end everyone is all chill with each other again. I mean seriously, if you didn't see that coming what's wrong with you? But the characters were charming and it was an enjoyable watch otherwise. Sora can get a bit annoying but the serious wouldn't work I suppose unless she has all that predictable growth as a performer and person type thing going on. Despite the fact that it tied up the ends in this season rather well there's always room for more and episodes as Sora and the gang continues to grow. I can't wait until I watch the next season.

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Wonderful!

Posted : 10 months, 2 weeks ago on 22 January 2008 08:30 (A review of Wonderfalls)

I figured I needed to watch a canceled tv show because that way I wouldn't have to devote really long periods of time to watch it on TV as it airs then watch commercials and blah blah they are too long so Wonderfalls sounded like it fit the bill.

Now I'm regretting that choice a bit. It was surprisingly actually good, it would have been perfect if it sucked but since I enjoyed it so much it only made me more dismayed when I knew full well there'd be no more episodes.

It's about a girl named Jaye Tyler and for all intents and purposes she can easily be a very accomplished person but she chooses to work in retail and live in a trailer park. And inanimate objects with animal faces talk to her. They tell her to do things that appear to help the others around her. Hijinks ensue and Jaye learns life lessons blah blah and becomes a better person.

At times it is a little over the top and it has many faults but you tend you look those over when it's canceled. But the main characters are lovable and while most of the characters in each episode are only seen in that one episode the recurring cast make up for it. It's slightly episodic (since most of the characters are standalone characters only there for one episode) but it has a somewhat underlying story arc that carries on in most episodes and has some resolution by the end of the 13 episodes but you just know that they could (and should!) make a second season, or possibly more. But I realize that I like alot of tv shows. But I often find I can't commit or the story just jumps the shark, so perhaps Wonderfalls was perfect in it's cancellation. Kinda like the smooshed face of wax lion that talks to Jaye.
I'd rate it higher but I just can't since I didn't really receive as much satisfaction as I wanted by the end of the series.

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Fullmetal Alchemist review

Posted : 1 year, 3 months ago on 17 August 2007 11:15 (A review of Fullmetal Alchemist)

This show really surprised me. I saw the first episode or two and dismissed as sub-par shounen crap but at the insistence of friends I pushed through and watched the rest of the series...

All I can say is wow. Somewhere around half-way in the first season something changed and I became hooked. I suppose it's all the liberties they took with the manga and that was just fine with me because I've read some of the manga and unless it gets good after volume five I really like the anime adapation a hell of alot more. Especially near the end where it gets intense and they throw a curve ball and pretty much gave the middle finger to everything else they've been saying.

The only thing that really bothered me was okay I get it. HE'S REALLY SHORT. HIS BROTHER FITS THE IMAGE BETTER. And to tell the truth the whole philosophical message was a little much at times.

But otherwise I enjoyed this series immensely. Especially since I thought it was utter crap for the longest time because seriously... His LITTLE brother is a humongous suit of armor?

Plus I've been loving everything Studio BONES has been putting out. Except the movie. Yeah. That sucked.

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Fun shounen show

Posted : 1 year, 3 months ago on 17 August 2007 11:03 (A review of Naruto)

A typical shounen fighting show yet one that's surprisingly really popular and it's not that hard to see why. It's rather addicting and fun for the first few episodes yet as the plot "thickens" it loses it's inital charm and bears it's true colors of being a long-running series that'll go on as long as they can milk it.

It's not that bad of a show but it's not that great of one either. There's alot of better shounen shows out there.

Naruto is an aspiring ninja with a troubled past. He just wants to be the next fucking Hokage. Yet no one believes and him because quite frankly he's annoying as hell. Sasuke serves the purpose as the your angsty bishie with a brother complex and Sakura seems to be there just for the sake of having a female. I followed the series for a while because in all honesty I thought Rock Lee was amazing. But once the manga came to a point where it said "END OF PART ONE!" I just stopped and gave up.

edit: Any redeeming comments about Naruto I mentioned are hereby null and void. Any show that manages to garner the fandom that it has must inherently SUCK.

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Good memories from childhood

Posted : 1 year, 11 months ago on 28 December 2006 10:03 (A review of Sailor Moon)

I watched as a young child and loved it. But when I tried to rewatch it I was either bored to death or shocked at what they allowed to be shown to kids. I mean come on, guys turning into girls? I didn't get it back then and I don't quite get it now.

But I gotta give it props. It gave me a magical(?) childhood experience and I really did enjoy it back then. Ever now and then I did see something that reminded me of my childhood but for the most part it wasn't it.

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What shoujo should be

Posted : 1 year, 11 months ago on 28 December 2006 09:58 (A review of Rose of Versailles)

This is simply an amazing show that epitomizes all that shoujo should be. Everything in this show is fueled by character emotions and the like. And unlike most shows of the genre today it's not always fueled from the characters undying love for each other or something like that. This is a good thing.

So the story is basically there's a girl named Oscar. She was raised as a man because her father wanted sons to succeed the family name in the military, or something like that. So she protects the Queen from conspiracies and stuff like that for about half the show. Oh wait, did I forget to mention that the Queen was Marie Antoinette? Do you see where this is going... no? Well the story itself takes place in France, namely Versailles (where the royal family lived), for the most part, prior to the French Revolution. !!!! There are plenty of historical figures in this show and I found it quite amusing because historical figures in works of fiction are always funny. You don't need to know anything about French history to understand because the message still comes through, yet it adds a bit.

There's a lot of foreshadowing, sometimes to the point of absurdity, and drama, also sometimes to the point of absurdity. But it is after all prior to fall of French monarchy and it's a shoujo story after all.

I noticed a slight change about halfway through the series, I'm not sure if they changed the director or something, but the show does take a different tone than before, but perhaps that's too be expected since the first half can be summarized as "La La La (Fun?) in Versailles" and then the other half would be "Oh the suffering we have, REVOLUTION!!"

All in all, I enjoyed it immensely. I cannot recommend it anymore. I find laughable anyone can call themselves a lover of shoujo and not have watched this jewel.

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