Bikes, Cakes and Promises

A live action trio of films is what we'll be looking at this week. First is Kamikaze Girls, a live action film based on the light novel of the same name by Novala Takemoto. Then we'll go to Korea to look at the Korean film version of the manga Antique Bakery (by Fumi Yoshinaga). And lastly, a Chinese Chen Kaige film called The Promise (Wu ji).


Kamikaze Girls:

We'll start with this absolutely delightful story of the friendship between two unlikely teenage girls. The film reminded me a lot of Amelie in terms of style, and if you've seen this amazing French film, you'll understand what I mean. Momoko is an anti-social young girl obsessed with 18th century France, wishing she had been born in the Rococo-era instead of modern day Japan. Her love for the period has resulted in a deep love for Lolita fashion, and actress Kyoko Fukada is adorable in the doll-like outfits that she wears throughout the film. Ichigo, played by the excellent Anna Tsuchiya, is the complete opposite of her frilly dressed counter-part - a bōsōzoku, a yanki in a female motorcycle gang (although Ichigo herself rides a customized Honda Lead scooter). The two meet when Momoko attempts to sell her father's left over knock off clothing (from his time as a low-class gangster) to help support her Lolita clothing purchases, and Ichigo shows up to buy a jacket. Both girls are taken by each others eccentricities, and loner Momoko is dragged into a friendship by Ichigo's incessant appearances and outlandish attitude. The movie is great fun, and is a wonderful example of the deep friendship that can be formed between girls, even girls as inherently different as Momoko and Ichigo. It's hilarious, charming, and has just the right mix of bright cheer and morbidity. The film is available with sub titles from Viz Media in America.

Antique Bakery:

I talked about the anime version of this manga last year, and this Korean version keeps the main story points, but changes the location (to Korea), and the names of the characters (to Korean names). As I only reviewed the first episode before, here's a bit more on what the story is about (with new character names). Kim Jin Hyeok (Tachibana) opens up a fancy cake shop for mysterious reasons of his own, considering he hates eating sweets. He hires Min Seon Woo (Ono), an excellent, and gay, pastry chef, who also happens to be an old classmate of Jin Hyeok's. Seon Woo, known as the gay of Demonic Charm, has been fired from all his previous jobs for causing romantic arguments with his fellow employees. Soon they hire a promising young man named Yang Ki Beom (Eiji), a former champion boxer who can no longer fight due to a serious injury. To complete the group, Jin Hyeok's klutzy childhood friend and bodyguard Nam Soo Yeong (Chikage) arrives to help watch over his master and work in the cafe. The film hits the major story points, though Ki Beom is often pushed aside as a minor character while the film focuses on Jin Hyeok and Seon Woo. It's well acted (with at least one completely gorgeous guy) and well made, with the exception of an early opening musical sequence that is bizarre and seems out of place. Also, near the end, the story becomes a little confusing regarding a character from Jin Hyeok's past; I wasn't sure if I was watching two different characters with similar looking actors, or the same character which would make things a bit off. The movie (for the sake of time) cuts out a chunk of the story where the characters attempt to garner publicity for their shop, and other than the aforementioned confusing character and cutting off some of Ki Beom's development, it's the same boy's love story that you'll get from the anime and manga.

The Promise:

I was less pleased with The Promise. The story had a lot of potential, but it fell a little flat for me. I do wonder though if this had to do with the fact that the American release of the film had 25 minutes edited out of it for some reason. In The Promise a little girl named Qingcheng survives by stealing off the bodies of corpses in a battle field. She is caught by a boy of about the same age who accuses her of stealing, and makes her promise to be his slave before releasing her. However after she is released, she hits him on the head and runs away. While crossing across some water, she meets the goddess Manshen, who offers her a deal - she will never again starve, she will wear the most beautiful clothing and eat the best food, and countless men will fall in love with her...but she will never experience true love herself, for if she finds it, she will lose it. Qingcheng agrees, and the goddess informs her that this agreement cannot be broken until snow falls in the summer and time flows backward. Many years later a battle rages between the armies led by General Guangming and Duke Wuhuan. Qingcheng, now grown, is swept up in a war between the Duke and her King's men (which the General leads), as is the mysterious servant of the General, Kunlun. The past comes back to haunt them, as the mysteries of the people from the Land of Snow are revealed, and the goddess Manshen's prophecies start coming true. This is a story of love, sacrifice, mistaken identity, loyalty and betrayal. It sounds like an excellent set up for an incredible film, but it just isn't as good as one would hope. For a film from 2005, the special effects are a bit substandard in quality. Something as simple as falling cherry blossoms look incredibly rendered, never mind the super fast running Kunlun. Fortunately the amazing costumes and combat that we've come to expect from these kinds of films are there and look great. In the end, I still think it was an interesting story that was underdeveloped (or edited out, possibly); but at least the acting (Dong-gun Jang, the beautiful Cecilia Cheung, and the very handsome and talented Nicholas Tse) is great.

K-ON

K-On! is a simple, 12 episode (with a special) high school girls anime from Kyoto Animation (AIR, Lucky Star, Haruhi). A lot of people raved about this show, and it is a cute little thing, but there are other things to spend your time on. It is VERY cute, charming, and funny. I think it's a fantastic show for girls, and for guys who like this sort of show (like Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star, Sasami Magical Girls Club). There's nary a boy to be seen in this one; it's pretty much all girls, all the time. But don't expect a lot of fan service. There's some (the girls dress up in costumes on a couple occasions, and go to the beach twice), but it's not cluttered with pantie shots and the like (though there is the rare camera focusing on a boob shot of the more well-endowed characters). It's good, clean fun for the most part.

K-On! follows four (and later 5 with freshman Azusa) high school girls who form a Light Music Club at their school. The club is started by bass player Mio and drummer Ritsu, and keyboardist Tsumugi (Mugi) joins soon after. Desperately in search of another member, or else their club will be disbanded, the group eagerly welcomes straggler (and often times slacker) Yui into their fold, not knowing that she can't actually play any instruments. Miraculously Yui is rather adept at guitar, and the group bands together to find her her own instrument, and teach her how to play.

The show is less about the music and the band than it is about the girls' friendships, so don't watch it expecting Beck Mongolian Chop Squad for girls. There's no mysterious story here (like Haruhi), no romance (like AIR), no otaku humor (like Lucky Star). It's just a group of cute and rather silly girls goofing off, having tea and cakes, and occasionally playing some music. So, it's more like Azumanga Daioh with guitars. There's even a fantastically entertaining teacher who becomes their club advisor.

A lot of people seemed to have compared the show to Lucky Star, and for good reason, though I personally likened it more to Azumanga Daioh (with guitars, complete with a girl who likes cats, a rich smart girl, a loud tom boy, and a goofy teacher). Although, when I saw Lucky Star, my first impression was "Oh, it's like AD," so.... Take that how you will, I guess.

The show is well animated (wouldn't expect anything less from KyoAni), and the girls are irresistibly adorable (especially Mio and Mugi), though somewhat archetypal/cliche. I wouldn't rush out to watch it, but I wouldn't disregard it either. Jay-san has some good images/wallpapers from the show over in his K-ON post. The title of the show comes from the name of their club, the Light Music Club (which is more like light pop, not orchestrations).

Flowers of Evil

Flowers of Evil is a 7 volume manhwa from Korea. The most important thing to note about this series is that it features twin incest (twincest). So decide right now how much that bothers you before continuing.

Can you stomach it? I'm not asking if you like it, or agree with it, or think it's disgusting. It's central to the story, but that's not all that's there. And I'm talking incest like Angel Sanctuary, not Ouran High School Host Club. Can you push past that and just look at the story as a whole? If your answer is either "Yes, I can put up with it," or "Yes, I enjoy it," then continue reading. If not, then this is not going to be for you, end of story. See you next time.

Now let's get started.
This 7- volume manhwa by Lee Hyeon-Sook is pretty dark and twisted. Twins Se-Joon and Se-Wa are extremely close. For most of her life, Se-Wa has had no one but Se-Joon there for her, he's been her only friend, and he has spoiled and protected her all her life. As a result of their closeness, her preference of shutting herself away from all others, and the naivety that has developed as a result, Se-Wa cannot distinguish between sibling love and romantic love. She doesn't really understand what "love" means, and so she has fallen in love with her brother. Se-Wa thinks this is perfectly natural, but Se-Joon seems to have more mixed feelings. Se-Wa throws herself at him at every given opportunity, crawling into bed with him at night, hanging on him, and becomes exceedingly jealous as an upperclassman tries to date her brother. Se-Joon allows Se-Wa to do these things, but often doesn't instigate them himself, and is even a little embarrassed about it all. Where Se-Wa believe it's innocent and natural, Se-Joon seems to realize it isn't. He tries to push his sister away by dating another girl, and shoving the relationship in Se-Wa's face. This in turn drives Se-Wa toward a new man, a classmate from their old elementary school, Gi-Hoon. A move which doesn't thrill Se-Joon like it should.

The problem is that at the same time Se-Joon tries to push Se-Wa away, he's also doing things to drag her back in again. Even if she wanted to, he makes it near impossible for her to separate herself from him. He messes with her head on purpose, and it's driving her insane. It doesn't help that Gi-Hoon appears to have some secret, ulterior motives for befriending the twins once again (he hasn't seen or talked to them in years), and his true feelings remain unclear for most of the story. It's worth noting that nothing in this manhwa is really as it appears. The story is well-written, if a little confusing at times (the pacing of the few Korean books (and by few, I mean like, 3 or 4) I've read has always felt a little off to me, in terms of pacing and frame staging). It's good at keeping the suspense going, and at keeping you totally fooled up until the very end. It's also very sad, because the relationship between the twins is just so warped and troubling, and you desperately want for them (Se-Wa in particular) to grow and change on their own. So if you don't mind the incest themes (or actual acts of), the story there is touching, heartbreaking, and bittersweet.

The fact that the title for the story comes from Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal is not a nonsensical connection. Currently this has no English version, so if you're interested, you're going to have to dig it up online. The art is decent, but I've seen better; though these Korean artists really have a different artistic feel than their Japanese counterparts, which is nice. Good facial expressions for the most part. I should also note, that while this story does contain incest, it's not glorified in any way. These kids live a messed up life, and it doesn't end pretty.

Texhnolyze

I took notes for this one, but there's no telling if I'll be able to make sense of them. From the first episode I got the feeling I should take some sort of notes, otherwise when I went to review it, I wouldn't remember anything. Texhnolyze is one of those weird shows where the story is just all over the place. It's created by Chiaki J. Konaka and Yoshitoshi ABe (both from Serial Experiments Lain), so that should give you some ideas.

Texhnolyze (which can be pronounced Tech-no-lyze) follows Ichise, a prize fighter who loses an arm and a leg and gets texhnolyzed limbs (a sort of robotic prosthetic with a bit of a will of its own) to replace them. There's also a young girl named Ran who sees the future, a mysterious man named Yoshii sowing chaos within the city of Lux, Onishi the leader of the Organo group, Shinji the young leader of the Racan gang, and Doc the texhnolyze specialist (she is a serious FREAK; she gets off on installing and working on texhnolyze limbs). Onishi's Organo group, Shinji's Racan gang, and another more mysterious group called the Union, all fight for power in the city of Lux. They manage to maintain a delicate balance for the most part, Onishi's negotiating skills preventing a city wide war. After being texhnolyzed against his will, Ichise wanders aimlessly, interacting (mostly by accident) with the groups, until all hell breaks loose and he finds himself working for the Organo. When a mysterious man arrives in Lux looking to to rule the entire city, battle lines are drawn, and it's all Ichise can do to stay alive and protect those he cares about (Onishi and Ran specifically).

The first episode of the series consists of a boxing match, a shoot out, slicing off of limbs, a girl in a fox mask, and about 10 lines of dialog. The rest of the series is pretty light on dialog as well (though with considerably more than 10 lines of dialog), and with both dubbings standing about equal, it's down to your personal preferences of reading subtitles or listening in English. It's also accompanied by some fantastic music and the excellent use of sound effects.

Basically, if you've seen your 10th super moe school girl show of the year, then maybe it's time for something like Texhnolyze. I'd like to tell you that it's as much of a mind fuck as Serial Experiments Lain, but the story is pretty straight forward. There's some psychobabble nonsense around episode 10, and a lot of techno babble in the later half of the series, plus lots of stuff about destiny, human nature, and the heartbeat and will of a living city. But really, I got the impression several times that it was just being weird for the sake of being weird. Or maybe I just didn't "get" it. Visually it's excellent, and the show's presentation fits the tone very well, but it can sometimes overshadow the plot. And frankly, by the end, the show doesn't make any sense what-so-ever.

As main characters go, Ichise is a little plain. It takes 12 episodes before we start to find out anything about him. For the most part he just sort of goes with the flow of things, without making many of his own decisions, doing whatever he's told, and not showing just a whole lot of individuality besides a short temper, a lot of apathy, and a violent streak. Ran has a mostly visual presence, without many lines, though frankly I was a little unsure of her role. She's a seer, worshiped by the people of Gabe, but she's always wandering around Lux on her own. She claims to only see one of many possible futures, and it's mentioned several times in the show that she only sees one possibility. Yet somewhere down the line, her visions are taken as laws not to be broken, which is rather contradictory. Onishi however is pretty cool, and he's at the center of the story as much as Ichise is.

It is a really interesting show, and it's very well made (it's from Madhouse, and they do good work), though I think it tries to be too many things at once. It's just a little hard to follow, and not well explained. There are 22 episodes on 6 discs from Geneon. DVD extras include clean credits (and the ending from the final episode has some beautiful music, not to mention the excellent opening for the series), interviews with the creators, and alternate dialog outtakes (ie: English VAs goofing off).

Captive Hearts

Attention, Attention: This is a manga review.
Moving on....

I just spent several hours over the past couple days going through old picture CDs and my HS SR year memory book. I posted up about 70 photos from when my friends and I were in elementary and on through HS (and a tiny bit after). Several have already seen them, and we all had a good time reminiscing about "The Good Old Days." Most of my pictures contain the same 5-6 people over and over again (my closest friends through all my primary schooling), including a very good friend of ours who died a couple of years ago. So it was sort of a testament to him, as well. He's in 19 of the 70 pictures (and just off to the side in a few others). I know I enjoyed seeing his smile again, and it seems the others did too. We miss you, Nick.

Now that I've depressed everyone, lets get on to the review. I haven't looked at manga very much on here. Then again, most manga run on for years and years, so they're a little harder to review as a whole (as opposed to individual volumes, and if you thought my anime review backlog was bad, well...It would not be a good idea for me to start reviewing single manga volumes). Captive Hearts only ran 5 volumes though, and it's final volume came out just last week.

Captive Hearts is the first serialized manga from Matsuri Hino (Vampire Knight, Wanted, MeruPuri), published in America by Viz Media's Shojo Beat line. For those of you who have never read Hino-san's books, she has a talent for writing some seriously silly and ridiculous story lines. Her most recent, Vampire Knight, is about a private school attended by humans during the day, and vampires at night. Wanted is a one-shot about pirates. And MeruPuri is a story about a 12-year-old prince who ages 5 years whenever he is in the dark. I've read all of them (well, I'm reading VK since it's ongoing), and they're all equally silly. Vampire Knight is a bit of an exception, because it's Hino-san's first attempt at a more serious, dramatic story, but she still sneaks some very silly elements in there.

20-year-old university student Megumi Kuroishi has been living a life of luxury in the mansion that once belonged to his father's master and mistress (Yoshimi Kuroishi is a butler at the mansion), the Kogami family. 14 years ago the Kogami family traveled to China and disappeared. It was eventually determined that the family died of an illness in China, and the Kogamis left the mansion to their devoted butler and his family. Megumi is living his carefree life until one day, the young daughter of the Kogami family, Suzuka (now 17), suddenly returns home. The moment their eyes meet, Megumi is stricken with an intense desire to serve Suzuka and becomes entirely devoted to his "Princess." Unknown to Megumi, who had lived most of his life without the Kogami family around, the Kuroishi family is under a 100-generation curse to serve the Kogami family, body and soul. And since Megumi hasn't been exposed to the curse in many years, he is extremely sensitive to it and frequently launches into over-the-top man servant fits whenever his and Suzuka's eyes meet.

Somewhere along the way, Suzuka and Megumi fall in love, although it is unclear to Megumi if the feelings he feels are his own or from the curse. Seeing how tortured this makes Megumi (not to mention how troublesome the whole mess is), Suzuka vows to find a way to break the curse and free the Kuroishi family forever.

Things get truly ridiculous in this story. Even Hino-san makes mention of how extreme it can be, with side-bar comments like "is it really OK for me to write something this silly?" (That's not an exact quote; I couldn't find it again, but she says similar things several times in her columns.) I'm not sure if she's making excuses, or just making sure that people understand it's not meant to be taken seriously (it's not, by the way). Basically Megumi's "man servant fits" are off the deep end. When his eyes meet unexpectedly with Suzuka's, he transforms into a doting, devoted servant, willing to do anything at all for her; he sparkles, calls her princess, and gushes over her. He's always protective of her, and takes care of her, but the fits take it to an extreme, and they happen a lot.

A nice break from all the silliness is Suzuka's tragic, troubled back story. The story of the curse's origins (in the 3rd volume) is also a nice break and is rather more serious than its later effects on Megumi. A couple of the volumes also have some unrelated one-shot stories that Hino-san wrote for various things, all romance stories of course (some are very sweet, others are so-so). Captive Hearts is, after all, a romance, with a lot of comedy thrown in. If you can get past how ridiculous it is, the story is actually decent, and Megumi and Suzuka's relationship is very sweet. It's not great. The art is OK; it's clear this is an early work, but it shows a lot of potential (and indeed she has improved a great deal). Sometimes there are continuity issues, or panels are misdrawn. It's an average manga, but it's short, so it won't take a large time or monetary investment if it interests you.

Midori Days

I had been putting off watching this one for a while, worried that it would be just too bizarre, maybe a little stupid, and that I wouldn't like it. Well, it WAS bizarre, but it was also rather sweet and very funny. When you see something about Midori Days, you'll notice that it's about a high school boy who has a tiny girl for a hand. That is the driving force of the show. And, of course, I immediately thought, "How idiotic." And, you know, it kind of was. But the story is touching, in its way, and while nothing changes the fact that this adolescent boy is living his life with a real girl as one of his hands, if you just sort of ignore the absurdity of this, it's a very cute show.

The anime is based on an 8 volume manga series of the same name (which I hear wraps up the story a bit better than the anime does; it's the same, but it's handled better). Viz has licensed the manga in America. The anime is a short 13 episodes (which is good for having only 8 volumes of manga to follow), and is licensed by Media Blasters in the States.

In Midori Days, we watch the life of Seiji Sawamura, a high school student who is a bit of a delinquent. He's the toughest kid at school and gets into a lot of fights, but he doesn't bully the weaker students; rather he stands up for them against others. His right hand has been dubbed the Devil's Right Hand, and it packs a powerful punch. At seventeen years old, Seiji is longing for a girlfriend badly, but most are too intimidated by him, and he's not exactly the most socially able person around. In a moment of desperation, he announces out loud to himself that he will take any girl as long as he can have a girlfriend. When he wakes up the next morning, his desire has been (sort of) granted - a high school student named Midori Kasugano, who has been admiring and loving Seiji from afar (she goes to a different school that he does) has replaced his Devil's Right Hand.

At that point, just throw all notions of reality out the window and you'll enjoy the show. Midori eats, sleeps, moves and even gets sick, all independent of Seiji. Which doesn't make a lot of sense, nor is it ever explained in any way. But that's OK. Midori is so adorable you'll forget all about it. She is head over heels in love with Seiji, who unfortunately barely notices her, even though she's on his hand and with him 24/7. He still tries to find a girlfriend, even though he's got Midori, who cooks, cleans, takes notes for him in class, and does everything she can possibly do for him with her small body. Except, you know, those things. The show thankfully manages to avoid any sort of sexual adventures that this situation would be ideal for. There's some nudity and ecchi-ness, fan service (like when Seiji goes to a figure costume shop to find clothes for Midori), the kinds of things normal for this sort of show. But Midori is very shy and innocent, and aside from an initial peek when she first appears (as she's nude when she first appears on his hand), she makes sure Seiji doesn't see her naked, and assumably they find ways she doesn't have to see him naked either (at least not from the front). It could very easily turn into quite a raunchy series, but it doesn't. It's a sweet romantic comedy, as Midori showers Seiji with her love, and does her best to earn his love in return (which is quite a feat, as dense as Seiji is).

There's not much more I can say without giving away bigger plot points, so I'll leave it at that. You either want to watch a show like this, or you don't. Personally, I found it very charming, and I'm glad I decided not to ignore it.

Gunbuster

First a moment of remembrance: Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Billy Mays all left this world this past week (Fawcett and Jackson on the same day, even). A sad time for television and music lovers...or, well, everyone really. Please, no more! :(

Today it's two in one. Gainax's Gunbuster and Diebuster (or Gunbuster 2).

You'd hardly know the shows were meant to accompany each other at first glance. The original is serious and emotional (if cheesy and a little campy at times), but the second series is far more comedic and pretty perverted. The first is very old school, the second looks a lot like FLCL and Eureka Seven in terms of style and design. They're entirely different creatures. About the only things tying them together are the Buster music theme, the giant robots, and their fight against the space monsters. Though once you get to the ending of GB2, the two series are finally tied together, and quite nicely. There are some nice throwbacks to the original series throughout the show (and some clear inspirations from both Evangelion and FLCL), but they're far more in your face and obvious during the last episode. At that point you're left going "Ooooh sweet! Now it feels like Gunbuster all over again." They're definitely meant to be watched together. They did make "movie" versions of both, but all they really are is shortened versions of each series. And at just 6 episodes each, cutting them down cuts too much out (leaving out important things like, oh I don't know, character development).

They pack an awful lot into each series' 6 episodes, though I really think the original GB has more character development than DB. The story also flows better (though it's not any less confusing). In DB there are several time jumps that suddenly bring the characters into different situations without much explanation.

Gunbuster follows the journey of Noriko Takaya and Kazumi Amano, two Buster pilots trained under the watchful and caring eye of Coach Koichiro Ohta. Kazumi is the star pilot, Noriko is, well...clumsy is a decent term. Yet it is the two of them that are picked by Coach Ohta to leave their training school (they're high school aged) and join the Exelion crew in space to fight the space monsters. The two of them (and Noriko specifically) are being groomed to pilot the advanced Buster machine known as Gunbuster (a combined, two person super robot). Kazumi is out to prove herself, Noriko is out both to prove herself and to get revenge for the death of her father (a ship captain killed several years ago by space monsters; Coach Ohta is the only surviving member of that crew), and Ohta is out to groom them to save the human race. Like any anime directed by Hideaki Anno, the characters of Gunbuster are tortured and must overcome their self-doubt in order to save their friends. The show is good, if a little cheesy (it's from 1988), drawn well, written well, and put together well. The final episode is in black and white for some reason, with some stock and static images, so I was left wondering if they ran out of money or time at that point, or if it was a style choice.

There's a lot of "we're traveling at light speed so the people on Earth will age X amount of time while we're in LS," which has always bothered me. It's not something I understand. I mean, you're just going really really fast though basic space. So I don't understand how that makes you jump forward in time. I mean, if I'm in a car going 70 miles an hour, and someone is walking to the same destination at 3 miles an hour, I'll get there first, but the same amount of real time would have passed for both of us. Or is it just the fact that they're traveling at LS that does it? Science just doesn't agree with my brain, I guess.

In Diebuster (GB2) there's a whole new set of characters. The story takes place thousands of years later. A robotic girl named Nono, obsessed with becoming a Buster pilot, runs away from home and eventually comes across a Topless named Lal'C. Though unable to pilot a Buster because she is not a Topless (she can't be, as she's a robot), Nono follows Lal'C and becomes a member of the Fraternity - a group of teenage Topless who pilot Buster machines and their backup members and crew. The group fights off the space monsters, working to uncover exactly why they exist and what their true purpose in the universe is as the human race once again faces extinction. It's hard to describe what a "Topless" is exactly. It seems to be influenced by FLCL, in that their powers emanate from their foreheads. It's some sort of psychic energy, I think, that allows them to control a Buster machine until their expiration date (when their powers cease functioning all together). Nono takes it very literally in one episode, thinking that it means she has to BE topless, and removes her shirt to fight. Unlike their Gunbuster counterparts, the Buster machines in DB are more than mere robots - they are sentient beings that occasionally disobey the orders of their pilots, and only awaken to pilots whom are ready.

When you know that Hideaki Anno (director of Evangelion) directed Gunbuster and Kazuya Tsurumaki (assistant director for Evangelion, director of FLCL, director of the recent Evangelion film remakes) directed Diebuster, the inspirations and references are obvious. Gunbuster came 7 years before Eva, but you can see some of the ideas for the popular show already beginning to form. And the FLCL style is all over Diebuster.

Both series come on 3 discs, and neither of them have English voice overs, so be ready to read the subtitles. 6 episodes on 3 discs is less of a problem for the original series than the more recent one. If that's they way there were broken apart on the original VHS, I can see how it would be easier to just leave them that way. But there's little excuse for a show from 2004/06 to come that way (unless it's some sort of legal or marketing issue). Both are licensed by Bandai in the US. Diebuster also has a manga, though it's currently only available in Japan. DVD extras included for the original GB: interviews with cast and crew, promotional animations, and Science Lessons (a series of short omake that discuss the science and mythology of the series). The DB DVDs also had some interviews with the show creators and a trailer for the movies.

Well, I'll be watching Texhnolyze next. Hopefully I can get through that before I have to go on vacation. I also recently ordered the second half of Black Lagoon and also AIR TV, so I may review those in the coming weeks.

Image: (Left) Gunbuster, Coach Ohta, Kazumi, (Center) Noriko, Nono, (Right) Dix-Neuf, Lal'C and Tycho.