Simoun Anime Review

Simoun
Shimun
Anime Works-Media Blasters
Complete Collection - 5 discs
650 mins. - 26 episodes
$19.99 (2012)
$49.99 (2009)
$19.99 (2008) Vol. 2-5/ea.
$19.95 (2007) Vol. 1
ISBN 631595092974
Japanese Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Junji Nishimura
Studio - Studio Deen

Synopsis: In the land of Simulacrum all children are born female and journey to the Spring on their seventeenth birthdays to choose a permanent sex.  Some remain female and some become male.  An ancient technology based on helical motors is used in Simulacrum for advanced flying machines.  These include large flying airships and smaller craft called 'Simouns'.  Special girls are chosen as priestesses, called sibyllae, to pilot the Simouns which respond to the emotions of the pilots.  Each craft is piloted by two girls who kiss each other and then kiss a glowing green ball on their Simoun to start it.

First the girls kiss each other

The Simouns are impossibly fast and maneuverable compared to other mechanical craft.  The pilots can trace magical glyphs in the air which release powerful waves of energy.  These glyphs are called Ri Majons.  Simulacrum has prospered with the power of the helical motors and neighboring lands are jealous.  These nations have declared war and attack Simulacrum in order to discover the secret of the motors.

Then they kiss the green ball in the Simoun

Now the young priestesses who pilot the Simouns must use their sacred knowledge to destroy the lives of the enemy soldiers.  If they do not then Simulacrum will fall and everyone they love will suffer.  The girls rail against the cruel fate of turning their devotions into murderous weapons.  They come face to face with the despicable enemy and find them to be hopeless men.  These foreign nations' technology pollutes the planet and their bodies in order to compete with Simulacrum.

An airship carrier - notice the massive helical motor powering it

What is the secret behind the helical motors and the Spring?  The most powerful of the glyphs is the Emerald Ri Majon which has never been completed successfully and most are afraid of what will happen it when it is. The sibylla question their beliefs and the Simouns as they are both used as tools for war.  Will they live to make a choice at the Spring or be swallowed by war?

A swarm of enemy airships using propellers

Pros: Nice character designs, very pretty girls who kiss each other numerous times, plot is full of wartime drama, the relationships between the girls are complex, offbeat and not cookie-cutter, good ending

The beautiful Neviril - greatest sybillae of Chor Tempest

Cons: Excruciatingly slow-paced, music was very bland (sort of like classical, but not very elegant), mechanical designs are weird, the CG (computer generated) elements (like the Simouns and airships) were crude, the backgrounds were all static drawings, a lot of pan-and-scan, a very young girl paired with an older girl, sick of hearing everyone call 'Neviril!' 'Neviril!' over and over again

These men all used to be girls

Mike Tells It Straight: This title is labeled 'yuri' which is female-on-female love, but it's all very tame.  Sure, the girls kiss many times and a few profess their love for each other, but I wouldn't call it 'lesbian'.  I think the promotional visuals for this series are misleading as the girls are shown in passionate embraces and this rarely happens.  The story is more concerned with their political exploitation as tools of war and coming of age.

The Simouns trace magical trails as they perform a Ri Majon

The premise and overall look of Simoun is rather unique.  It has an all-female voice cast, even for the male characters which makes then sound like they were all once female.  I loved the character designs and thought Neviril was fairly stunning.  The characterizations were really well done and we get a wonderful ending for most of the girls.

A side shot of the Simouns used by Chor Tempest

I found a lot of things lacking in the show however and give it a low recommendation because of them.  It felt boring despite all of the wartime happenings and battles.  I guess it was focused on the relationships between the girls, but I almost stopped watching at several points (particularly when Neviril was moping about).  Only until the last third of the series did my interest renew as the mystery of the Spring got deeper.  The opening/ending themes were bland and so was the entire soundtrack.  I may not be able to appreciate lively accordion music.

The sybilla of Chor Tempest (from left) - Floe, Kaim, Mamina, Paraietta, Neviril,
Alty, Morinas, Roatreamon (not pictured - Aer, Dominura, and Rimone)

The visuals, especially the backgrounds and mechanical designs, were poor.  Every outdoor shot of sky, forest, or ground looked like a rough colored pencil drawing which the camera panned through to feebly simulate movement.  The CGI were crude and unsophisticated.  The Simoun and airship designs were unique, but plain awful.  Heinous-looking stuff.

An enemy Simoun, wait, I thought only Simulacrum had helical technology!?

Despite being ambivalent towards the visuals and plot I would say Simoun shows a lot of effort and risk-taking.  It's a decent show, but I wouldn't come to it with the wrong expectations of a sordid yuri lovefest.  If you're looking for fan-service, girl-on-girl action then look elsewhere.  This show has solid characters and a thought-provoking (although slow-paced) story.

A promo shot of Neviril and Aer kissing - this doesn't show up in the anime

TO BUY and Recommendations:

TO Anime Review

TO
Funimation
Complete Collection - 1 disc
85 mins. - 2 episodes
$29.98 (2011) Blu-Ray/DVD combo
ISBN 704400095009
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Fumihiko Sori
Studio - Oxybot

Synopsis: Two science fiction stories:

Elliptical Orbit - A classified ship named the Flying Dutchman returns from a 15-year deep space exploration  and docks with an orbital space catapult (which fires cargo containers to the moon colony).  The captain of the Dutchman is a young woman who was involved with the commander of the space station before she gave up her life to lead the mission.  She was in cryostasis for 13 years and has only aged two years to the commander's 15.  Her mission was successful and she brings back a rare, valuable fuel source called 'proton'.  It has the potential to solve the Earth's energy crisis, but it's value is incalculable and factions on Earth want it for themselves.  A commando team descends on the station making it a battleground for the future survival of the planet.  Can the crew of the space station and Flying Dutchman repel trained killers to safeguard the future of the human race?

The Flying Dutchman returns to Earth and docks with the orbital space station

Symbiotic Planet - On a far off planet in deep space two opposing factions from Earth have built outposts.  They attempt a cooperative effort in order to build a colony for harvesting resources and terraforming the planet.  Grudges from Earth run deep and tensions between the two factions, one Eurasian and the other American-Euro, begin to boil over.  Caught in the middle are two would-be lovers, Ion and Alina, each from opposing sides.  They meet in secret and admire the incredible life forms on the planet.  Symbiotic relationships between organisms are prolific on this particular world.  The colonies sit on a continent completely covered by a fast-growing white fungus.  When it infiltrates a lab inside the American-Euro outpost during a peace talk with the Eurasians, the lives of all the humans on the planet are threatened.

The crew of the Flying Dutchman

Pros: Cool intro CG (computer-generated) graphics, space vehicles were designed well, some interesting science-fiction,

The Dutchman's captain is still young while her old flame...got old

Cons: Character animation is all computer-generated and looks pretty fake, CG acting is stiff and emotionless, drama is lifeless, weak music

These dangerous commandos want the proton!

Mike Tells It Straight:  First off, TO is not a full-length movie which was a surprise.  We get action in Elliptical Orbit and a lesson on human nature in Symbiotic Planet.  The pair of science-fiction stories are pretty solid, but the anime falls flat in several ways and ends up being pretty bland.  The anime is based on a manga called 2001 Nights by Yukinobu Hoshino.  This manga features stories about humankind's exploration of space and the potential pitfalls which  could be faced.  I've heard it's fairly interesting and hope to check it out someday.

A planet filled with symbiotic relationships

The animation appears to be 100% CGI, but not particularly high quality stuff.  It looks a lot like Vexille or Appleseed Ex Machina.  The character's movements and facial expressions are terrible.  The acting is stiff and emotionless.  Since the stories are short and feature entirely different casts it was impossible to care about any of the characters.

Ion is a headstrong scientist in love with a Eurasian translator

The stories themselves are only mildly interesting like an episode of Star Trek or something.  Overall TO seems like an expensive exercise in failure since it's all standalone stories and doesn't gain any momentum.  I don't recommend picking it up unless you really, really like bland science-fiction stories.

Her boss and Alina are caught on the base during a spore outbreak

TO BUY and Recommendations:

Redline Anime Movie Review

Redline
Manga Entertainment
Movie - 102 min. - 1 disc
$19.99 (2012) Blu-ray
$14.98 (2012)
ISBN 013132229294
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Takeshi Koike
Studio - Madhouse

Synopsis: The "Redline" is the top race in the universe - held every five years at a different secret location around the galaxy.  Racing in it is the ultimate goal for every wannabe racer and the winner gets incalculable prestige.  "Sweet JP" nearly wins a race called the "Yellowline", but loses at the last minute due to mechanical failure and misses qualifying for the Redline.  The failure was actually caused by Frisbee, his best friend and mechanic, who sabotaged JP's car.  Seems Frisbee and JP got into some trouble for fixing races and did some time.  They got out and had to fix another race to make some money, but JP loses himself within sight of the checkered flag during the Yellowline.  He would have won if not for Frisbee's intervention.

JP barrels toward the finish in the Yellowline with Sonoshee on his heels

Winning the Yellowline would have been a death sentence for both of them at the hands of the interstellar gangsters who paid them to throw the race.  Sonoshee McLaren wins the Yellowline and qualifies for the Redline.  JP recovers in a hospital bed and gets a visit from Frisbee holding a suitcase full of cash.  Just then a mob of press bust into the room with a startling revelation!

JP kicks in the nitro for the final stretch

Seems the current Redline is being held in Roboworld - a heavily militarized empire ruled by cyborgs.  The leader of Roboworld wants nothing to do with the race and forbids it from happening anywhere in his star systems.  Any caught participating will be executed and he mobilizes a military force to stop the race.  It's being held on a neutral planet filled with galactic refugees.  Two of the Redline qualifiers bailed out of the race to avoid enmity from Roboworld and making room for JP.  He's now in the Redline!

Sonoshee pushes herself to the limit to win!

The racers descend on the planet (top left to right, then bottom left to right):

• Machine Head Tetsujin in his God Wing - A massive robotic racer who is literally part of his racing machine.  He's the reigning champion from the last Redline and a formidable opponent
• Sonoshee McLaren in the Crab Sonoshee - she's a beautiful racer with pink hair and an amphibious vehicle. She's been racing for a long time and her father gave her a special fuel on her 7th birthday - a steamlight capsule.  She wears it around her neck.  
• Lynchman & Johnny Boya in the Lynchcar - bounty hunting duo from planet Alsatia also known as The Mad Brothers.  They're gunning for payback from Machine Head for beating them in the last Redline.  Johnny Boya looks a little bit like Beavis (from Beavis and Butthead).  Lynch!!!
• Trava & Shinkai in their Speedmaster - former members of the Roboworld military the race is personal for them.  Captain "Little" Deyzuna holds a special grudge against them for leaving him in the military. 
• Super Boins in their Boincar - they are Boiboi and Bosbos, two ultra-hot super-women from the planet Supergrass.  They're from the royal family and race for Princess Supergrass, heir to the magical superpowers of their planet.
• Gori-Rider in the Gorillatank - member of the Space Gorilla Police for Area-4.  Considered a dirty policeman and really named Hamesh Frini.  Smeared in the tabloids for having an affair with his race companion, Ms. Yang-Sue
• Miki & Todoroki in the Semimaru - duo from Earth and winners of the Blueline.  They missed the Yellowline race because of being arrested by Gori-Rider.  They want payback against the big ape!
• Sweet JP in his TransAm 20000 - He and Frisbee grew up in the slums and idolized the racers they watched.  JP became a phenomenal driver and Frisbee an awesome mechanic, but racing is an expensive sport.  They had to fix races to make money to keep racing.  

Frisbee tests the new engine for JP's car before the race

The President of Roboworld charges Colonel Volton with repelling the invaders.  Volton rallies his officers - Big Deyzuna, Dr. Sabose, and Little Deyzuna (whose special power gives him incredible strength the more he cries).  Can the racers avoid the flying bullets, missiles, and death rays of Roboworld?  Will Frisbee double-cross JP again?  Can JP's skill stand up to the deadly competition in the Redline?  Will the beautiful Sonoshee even give JP the time of day?  Who is the dreaded Funky Boy!?

The President of Roboworld gives "Little" Deyzuna a pep talk  before battle

Pros: Exhilarating and kinetic race scenes, great techno soundtrack, interesting character designs (especially the crazy looking aliens), tons of attitude and dripping with badass, beautiful girls - Sonoshee is hot, very brief nudity, nice final message in the ending

The Super Boins in a pre-race interview - they're also pop stars and make cute faces

Cons: Very simple plot without much depth, animation style uses a lot of blacks and is gritty, story jumps around almost like a music video, defies the laws of physics (those poor drivers would be jelly at the apparent speeds they're traveling)

JP meets Sonoshee for the first time and she tells him about
the steamlight capsule her father gave her when she was 7

Mike Tells It Straight: Redline is pure kinetic energy and non-stop action from start to finish.  The story is simple, but looks cool!  The animation style is reminiscent of underground comic books - gritty, heavy use of blacks and slick lines.  I kept thinking Heavy Metal magazine from the '80s as I watched it.  Great character designs and everyone is just dripping badass attitude.  Each character is hip with a neat backstory.

Machine Head Tetsujin is the returning champion from the last Redline

The soundtrack was energetic techno with some good songs although they get recycled a few times.  JP and Sonoshee are likable characters.  Downside is Redline's oversimplified plot - don't expect any deep meanings, witty dialogue, or crafty plot devices in this movie.  It's just about a guy in a race and a beautiful girl who is trying to beat him!  For such a straightforward plot it can actually get a bit confusing with the multitude of characters and fast-paced action.

Lynchman and Johnny Boya are psychotic bounty hunters

I liked Redline quite a bit and think it has crossover appeal to non-anime fans.  Entertaining and fun without the burdens of a complicated storyline.  Lots of cool science fiction and weird aliens to keep you distracted.  It's an easy watch and less of a time commitment than a ten hour anime series.  Had a classic style and feel despite the futuristic theme.  This movie is pure escapism and  looks like an underground comic book come to life.  Check this out if you want something upbeat and mindless.  

JP will win at any cost!

TO BUY and Recommendations:

Kimera Anime Review

Kimera
ADV Films
Movie - 48 mins. - 1 disc
$19.98 (2007) w/Blood Reign: Curse of the Yoma
$19.98 (2002)
ISBN 702727026829
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Kazu Yokota
Studio - TOHO

Synopsis: A strange craft crash lands on Earth and a lone hunter finds the crash site.  The craft appears to be empty and a fearsome creature attacks the man sucking out his life essence.  Two men, Osamu and Jay, are cereal salesmen and returning to their corporate headquarters when they come across what appears to be the site of an accident.  An Air Force security detail has cordoned off the area when they are attacked by an unknown hostile force.  Osamu stumbles into a transport and sees a figure inside a containment pod.  The figure awakens and Osamu is drawn in by its powerful sexual aura.  He falls instantly in love, but this creature is not ordinary.  Its appearance is androgynous and otherworldly.

A lone hunter in the forest is the first to find a crashed spacecraft

Jay manages to get Osamu away from the creature just in time to escape the carnage at the crash scene.  They return to headquarters, but Osamu is obsessed with the creature.  Their employer is a huge corporate conglomerate (cereal is just one of the many brands they produce) and it seems the company is somehow involved in the disturbance.  They learn the creature is named Kimera (pronounced kee-meh-raw) and the last hope of a dying, vampiric race to repopulate its planet.

Osamu stumbles upon a strange figure in a containment capsule

Osamu doesn't care, he's in love with the creature and wants to protect it at all costs.  Two powerful vampires appear to battle it out and claim Kimera for their own - Ginzu is a disfigured, tentacled monster and Kianu (not that Keanu) is a noble warrior.  Osamu is caught in the middle, but can Kimera truly be a threat to the human race?

Osamu is enthralled by the androgynous creature

Pros: Decent animation quality (for a mid-90s production), alternate take on vampires (as aliens), a few good action scenes, awkwardly funny at times (totally unintentional), one decent soundtrack song (based on  a classical piece)

Kianu vows to free Kimera and out of the clutches of Ginzu

Cons: Seriously bad dub, bit confusing since Kimera is androgynous, alien space vampires, creepy sex scene where two random dudes try to fool around with Kimera

This handsome devil is Ginzu

Mike Tells It Straight: Kimera is a messy attempt at a science fiction vampire story mixed with a heaping dose of androgynous erotica.  The dub script and acting are some of the worst you'll find in a domestically released anime.  Not to say the story isn't equally bad.  Osamu and Jay are cereal salesman who get caught up in a plot which threatens human life on Earth.  Seriously?  It was far-fetched even for anime.

Personnel at the corporation keep turning up like this

The anime is based on a manga by a well known artist (Kazuma Kodaka) who specializes in yaoi - male-on-male romance stories.  Kimera was supposed to originally be male, but was portrayed as being female in the American dub version.  A key fact hidden from Western viewers to avoid any potential censorship.  The story was too short and underdeveloped for it to make much of a difference in my opinion.

Kimera is one horny creature

I'll say Kimera is noteworthy for being a yaoi anime from the '90s, but its American release is badly sterilized (kind of like the alien vampires).  It's left being a cliche science fiction vampire movie with some erotica thrown in.  Many other yaoi titles have been released since and this short feature is better left forgotten in the dollar bins.

TO BUY and Recommendations:

Kite Uncut Special Edition Anime Review

Kite Uncut Special Editon
A Kite
Anime Works-Media Blasters
Movie - 1 disc
45 mins. Edited Version
60 mins. Uncut Version (w/hentai)
$24.99 (2012) Blu-ray
$29.99 (2009) w/Kite: Liberator
$19.99 (2009) Remastered
$29.99 (2008) w/Mezzo Forte Uncut
$24.99 (2008) w/Mezzo Forte
$29.95 (2006) w/t-shirt
$24.95 (2006)
$34.95 (2004) Uncut Speical Edition w/t-shirt
$29.95 (2004) Uncut Special Edition
$29.95 (2002) Director's Cut (Uncut)
$24.95 (1999)
ISBN 631595008227
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Yasuomi Umetsu
Studio - Green Bunny/ARMS

Sawa looks like your average schoolgirl who never blinks

Synopsis: An innocent-looking teenage schoolgirl is really a deadly assassin.  Her name is Sawa and she uses a signature gun with exploding bullet shells.  She kills at the command of her guardian, Akai, a corrupt police detective who runs an assassin business on the side.  He often investigates the crime scenes of Sawa's assassinations and hides any evidence.  His partner is Kanie, an ugly man with bug-eyes and a nasty looking facial scar.

Akai is a corrupt cop and Sawa's "guardian"

Kanie uses an assassin named Oburi who is the same age as Sawa.  The two meet and quickly form a bond based on their similarly traumatic young lives.  Sawa's parents were murdered and Akai was the investigating detective.  He took her in and gave her a pair of earrings filled with blood from each of her parents.  He trained her to be a killer and turned her into his sex slave.  The two older men are truly evil.

Sawa uses a special gun with explosive bullets

Can Sawa and Oburi escape their damaged existence or are they beyond hope?  They are both frighteningly good assassins, but can they outsmart two sly old foxes to win their freedom?  Who killed Sawa's parents?  Is she too desensitized after years of emotional and physical trauma to resist her psychological captors?

Oburi is another young assassin who uses the same type of gun

Pros: Extreme action scenes, hardcore sex scenes (in the uncut versions), Sawa is very hot, her and Oburi make a great pair, neo-noir stylings complete with correspondingly jazzy soundtrack, haunting and mature

Sawa takes on some bodyguards in a botched assassination attempt

Cons: Thin plot, Akai and Kanie are truly disgusting, underage graphic sex scenes (in the uncut versions), bittersweet ending, the sex scenes could be offensive or the lack of sex scenes could be offensive (depending on what you're looking for)

Sawa falls for Oburi's pretty boy good looks

Mike Tells It Straight: Kite is an anime cult classic combining the two extremes of gory violence and explicit sex.  Sawa is a schoolgirl assassin with a traumatic past.  She is exploited mentally and sexually by her "guardian" Akai in this brief psychological thriller.  She meets fellow young assassin Oburi and the two start to fall in love as kindred spirits.  They are caged birds trying to gain their freedom with both their lives at stake.  It's a bittersweet love story filled with violent action.  This is what the edited version delivers to you.

Yep, they're in love

The real and uncut version of Kite is much darker and features incredibly graphic sex scenes between Akai and Sawa.  Quite a few versions have been released with various amounts of editing.  The remastered edition and anything not labeled uncut all have the various sex scenes removed.  These edited versions have a brief shot of Sawa topless and only hint at the sexual abuse she suffers at the hands of Akai.  The uncut versions have much more explicit scenes where Sawa has sex with both Akai and Kanie.  The original version has scenes of Akai molesting an extremely underage Sawa (also basketball girl briefly appears with Akai and Kanai).  Needless to say these scenes were very controversial and caused the various edited versions.  Not to mention Sawa is a 'college student' in the American version, but she's wearing a high school uniform so you do the math.

Only Superman can stop bullets with his hands

I originally watched Kite many years ago and it caught me completely off guard.  What is interesting about this feature is Green Bunny, the hentai animation studio, co-produced it.  First off, hentai is Japanese animated porn and Green Bunny has created a few noteworthy titles (Midnight Panther, G-Taste, Words Worth).  The animation quality of the sex scenes was surprisingly good - much better than your average hentai.  It was shockingly explicit with many scenes of visible penetration.  What starts out as a teenage assassin story suddenly segues into porn before a violent conclusion.   

She kept her socks on

The sex scenes seem to mask the fact Kite's plot is not very good.  I watched the edited version and had more time to consider the story without the distraction of the full-penetration scenes with Sawa.  The action scenes aren't particularly imaginative and the characters are lackluster.  I think the uncut version with the sex scenes puts Kite on another violently creepy and erotic level.  A major plot point is omitted in the edited version when Oburi is forced to watch at gunpoint while Sawa has sex.  It definitely pushed the envelope and deserves cult classic status.   

You won't see this scene in the edited version (btw, that's basketball girl)

Don't watch Kite if the underage sexual exploitation is offensive (and it is just plain graphicly offensive).  Watch the edited version if you don't want to see the hardcore sex scenes, but like the girls-with-guns genre and violently gory action scenes.  Get the uncut or director's cut version if you want to see the hardcore sex the way the show was originally intended.  Since there are so many different releases be particularly aware of the length of what you are buying.  The edited version is 45 minutes and the unedited is 60 minutes.  Umetsu and Green Bunny/ARMS followed up Kite with a similar feature called Mezzo Forte and eventually a sequel called Kite Liberator.  I've also heard Kite will be an American major motion picture with Samuel L. Jackson attached as of this blog post.  We'll see if it gets released and how different the story will be.  I guarantee the sex scene will be left out ;)

TO BUY and Recommendations: