Kamichu! Anime Review

Kamichu!
Kamisama de Chugakusei
Geneon (Pioneer)
Complete Collection - 4 discs
400 mins. - 16 episodes
$49.98 (2008)
$79.98 (2007)
$29.98 (2006) Vol. 1-4/ea.
$49.98 (2006) Vol. 1 w/Artbox
ISBN 013023295490
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Koji Masunari
Studio - Brain's Base

Synopsis: Yurie Hitotsubashi was your average middle school student until one morning she woke up and realized she was a god.  It's a strange feeling and she confides in her best friend, Mitsue, about the change.  Mitsue is a good friend and takes her seriously.  They decide to test out Yurie's newfound powers to see what will happen.  On the roof of the school Yurie summons her will and exclaims "Kamichu!"

The girls of Kamichu! - Matsuri, Yurie, and Mitsue

A massive storm hits the town and it's not just a coincidence.  Yurie's power is real and she is the only one who can calm the raging winds!  It's a difficult adjustment for a shy middle school student to become a deity, but Yurie has some great friends to help her:

• Mitsue - level-headed, wears glasses, Yurie's best friend
• Matsuri - runs a shrine with her little sister after her father retired, always trying to get more visitors to the shrine, her zeal for Yurie's newfound godhood is borderline obsessive, a great friend
• Miko - Matsuri's little sister, shy and very polite, has the ability to see spirits and deities, likes Yashima
• Kenji - classmate of Yurie's, only member of the calligraphy club, he practices on the school's roof often with his paper floating away on the breeze, Yurie has a massive crush on him
• Yashima - a minor deity who lives at Matsuri's shrine, he wants to be in a rock band and play guitar, often possesses Mitsue to perform on stage
• Shoukichi - Yurie's little brother (one grade below), likes Miko
• Tama - Yurie's cat, she has adventures
• Ino, Shika, Chou - three small spirits who are sent by the God Association to help Yurie

Yurie meets all sorts of little deities and spirits around her town

Gods and spirits are very common and represent almost everything - telephones, bicycles, poverty, email, rivers, buildings, battle ships and vinyl records to name a few.  They have their own organization called the God Association and Yurie is now a member.  She visits a special land where the gods dwell and have meetings.  The experiences are all new and somewhat frightening for the timid Yurie.

Yurie feels very out of place in the world of gods

She is assigned three tiny helpers to help with her new duties as a god.  When she uses her power her hair instantly grows very long and she usually falls asleep from the strain.  Her life becomes very complicated as she gains notoriety including calls from the President, investigating a cat uprising, dealing with a visit from the poverty god to her town, and attending the annual God Convention.

Yurie is assigned these little guys to help with her god duties

All the while Yurie must deal with typical middle school problems like trying to confess her love to the boy she likes, dealing with rivals for his affections, feeling like her friends are ignoring her, and trying to find her lost cat.  It's not easy being a god!

Miko, Matsuri, Yurie, and Mitsue palling around

Pros: Cute and well-rounded characters, cool/creative designs for all the spirits/deities (especially the little ones who help Yurie), great ending theme song/credits, very solid animation and backgrounds are awesome, whimsical, received an Excellence Prize at the 2005 Japan Media Arts Festival

Yurie turns into a cat while trying to find Tama

Cons: Very slow-paced and mellow without much really happening, a few episodes were duds (boring), subject of multiple gods/deities may not be popular with some Christian viewers (the anti-Christmas episode won't help either)

Hanging out at Mitsuri's shrine after school

Mike Tells It Straight: Kamichu! is a sweet and slow-paced little show with lots of adorable characters.  Yurie is modest and bashful, definitely not a dynamic heroine or god-like personality.  Her story contrasts the regular every day life of a teenage girl with a spiritual world filled with benign entities.  Yurie's friends and adventures are all very charming.  All the various deities have fun and imaginative designs.

Matsuri looks worried after Yurie uses her power and falls asleep

The animation is surprisingly good and backgrounds really shine.  I liked the music and the ending theme song/credits were great.  I guess the only drawback is the show's slow pace.  It was so mellow I got a little bored halfway through and stopped watching for a few weeks.  I picked it up again and finished it.  I wasn't expecting the series to end the way it did, but it was really nice.

Yurie talks to Yashima about being a god

Everything about Kamichu! was really cute and adorable.  Nice change of pace from cliched action and fan-service shows.  It reminded me a little of Studio Ghibli works for the whimsical quality, but didn't have any real danger or intrigue (or excitement).  Overall a good recommendation for exactly what you get.  

Cutest ending ever!

TO BUY and Recommendations:

Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror Anime Movie Review

Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror
Funimation
Movie - 100 minutes - 2 discs
$19.98 (2012)
$24.98 (2012) Blu-Ray/DVD Combo
ISBN 704400067426
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Shinsuke Sato
Studio - Production I.G

Synopsis: Haruka's mother passed away when she was very young and gave her a special hand mirror. It was cherished by Haruka for many years, but then put away and forgotten.  There is a tale where spirits collect forgotten and misplaced items from the human world and bring them to the spirit world.  Like most fairy tales this one has some truth to it.  Haruka's mirror was taken to this world.

Haruka visits her mother in the hospital

Now Haruka is sixteen and she is disappointed by her single father.  He always works late and never has time for her.  She thinks about the mirror her mother gave her, but can't find it.  She visits a small shrine where people leave offerings of eggs to the fox spirits who can return lost objects.  While there she witnesses an amazing phenomena.  A small creature picks up her keys and then disappears into the surrounding forest. She follows it and is transported to a magical world where little creatures have taken neglected objects from the human world.

Haruka makes an offering at an old shrine to find her lost mirror

The creature's name is Teo and humans are not allowed in his world.  He tries to get Haruka to leave, but she's bigger than him.  She asks him to help her find the mirror her mother gave her and he reluctantly agrees.  His world is a brightly colored junkpile filled with forgotten treasures.  The powerful and wicked Baron floats in a skyship above Oblivion Island, the name of the land where neglected items are collected.

Haruka comes face-to-face with Teo

The Baron has a nefarious plot to use Haruka's magic mirror to break into the human world and take more than just forgotten items.  He will stop at nothing to get the mirror!  Teo is uneasy teaming up with a human and unsure of is allegiance.  Haruka must protect him from bullies and navigate the strange landscape of his world.  She comes across Cotton, her favorite toy when she was a little girl, but forgotten along with the rest of the items on Oblivion Island.  Can Haruka recover her mirror or will she end up a mindless slave of The Baron?

Teo lives on the brightly-colored Oblivion Island made of forgotten items

Pros: Brightly colored and imaginative, computer animation is surprisingly competent, lots of exciting chase scenes and characters, some cool extras including trailers and featurettes

Haruka is reunited with Cotton, her long-lost lamb doll

Cons: Not for very young viewers (younger than five years old) because Haruka's mother has passed away and Cotton gets ripped in half by the evil Baron, not on par with a Toy Story or Monsters Inc.

The Baron's airship floats menacingly above Oblivion Island

Mike Tells It Straight: Oblivion Island is a full-CGI movie produced by Japanese anime studio Production I.G.  They're well-known for creating many hit anime works including Ghost in the Shell, Eden of the East, Blood the Last Vampire, xxxHolic, and many others.  I was a bit wary of a full-CGI movie from outside of the U.S. and didn't have very high expectations (check Netflix - there are a ton of them).

These three like to pick on Teo - until Haruka steps in!

Visually this movie was a pleasant surprise.  It was highly competent and had great design details.  The chase scenes were kinetic and exciting.  I liked the character designs and the humans looked human.  Production I.G did a great job on the graphics.  They're not in the same league as Pixar, but could face off against some of the other studios.

The Baron prepares to launch his nefarious plot

The story was very Japanese with fox spirits and a father who works long hours - Haruka was basically taking care of herself.  It was a lot darker than I had expected with the denizens of Oblivion Island wearing strange masks and several underground scenes with creepy crawlies.  The maturity level of the story was also rather high with Haruka's mother dying while she is still young.  This story is definitely not all-ages.  I would keep younger viewers away and suggest this for ages 5+.

Haruka and Teo go on an exciting thrill ride trying to stop the Baron

One particular scene where Cotton, Haruka's long-lost lamb doll who is alive on Oblivion Island, gets ripped in half would be quite traumatizing to a small child.  Imagine if your beloved stuffed animal could walk and talk, but then gets torn apart while still struggling against a creepy villain.  Pretty harsh stuff.  I would say Oblivion Island is a cross between Pokemon, 9, and a Miyazaki film.  It's an interesting movie, not a classic in my opinion, but worth checking out.

TO BUY and Recommendations:
 

xxxHolic Anime Review

xxxHolic
Funimation
Complete Collection - 4 discs
600 mins. - 24 episodes
$29.98 (2011) S.A.V.E.
$49.98 (2010)
$69.98 (2009)
$29.98 (2008) Vol. 1-6/ea.
$39.98 (2008) Vol. 1 Starter Set
ISBN 704400045486
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Tsutomu Mizushima
Studio - Production I.G

Synopsis: Watanuki is a regular high school student who happens to attract spirits against his will.  He considers this ability to be a horrible curse as creepy spirits constantly appear to him.  They are usually harmless, but some can be dangerous and most are very scary.  One day he ends up at a house after ducking some spirits and meets a strange, beautiful woman named Yuko.  She runs a wish-granting shop out of her home and offers to grant Watanuki's wish to be rid of his spirit-attraction power.  He accepts her offer, but the price is to work at his shop until she says his debt is paid.

Watanuki finds himself in Yuko's wish-granting shop

Now Watanuki cooks and cleans for Yuko at her shop every day.  His parents are no longer alive so he's used to taking care of himself.  He's actually a stellar, self-taught chef and makes amazingly complex dishes.  Yuko is a strange woman who acts immature, but is a powerful magician.  She is fond of drinking and lounging about the shop at all hours.  She has two young girls named Maru and Moro helping her.  They are very animated and run around repeating things people say.  They may not be human.

These two are Maru and Moro

Himawari is a girl in Watanuki's class and he has a massive crush on her.  She is his friend and a very nice person who is cheerfully oblivious to his true feelings.  A popular boy named Domeki becomes entwined in Watanuki's life because of his ability to repel spirits.  His family owns a shrine and he learned a great deal from his grandfather.  Yuko requests he helps Watanuki on supernatural errands because Domeki can defeat any spirits Watanuki attracts.  Despite this he considers Domeki to be his chief rival for Himawari's affection and dislikes him tremendously.

Himawari, Domeki, and Watanuki have lunch together - Watanuki is
spazzing out as usual

What are the secret wonders and dangers hidden in Yuko's shop?  Watanuki experiences many supernatural phenomena working for her (even though she is demanding and usually drunk).  He is constantly foiled by Domeki's presence around Himawari.  From pipe-foxes to spirit girls to hard-drinking Mokonas - it's never a dull moment and no  is too small to send Watanuki into a self-absorbed rant!

Yuko meets with a customer while Watanuki, Maru, and Moro eavesdrop

Pros: Great opening theme song (used throughout the entire series), cool ending theme songs and sequences (especially the one with Maru & Moro playing air guitar), excellent combination of humor and supernatural stories, characters play off of each other really well, Yuko is sexy

Watanuki befriends a pipe-fox from Yuko's shop.  It has magical powers

Cons: No definitive ending, characters have inconsistently long limbs and tiny heads throughout the series, Black Mokona is a little silly (and drinks too much!), Watanuki can be a bit over-the-top whiny and over-reacts to everything, those four dorky-looking little gnomes on flying surfboards who protect Zashiki-warashi

This is Mokona - hide your alcohol

Mike Tells It Straight: I was pleasantly surprised by xxxHolic (pronounced "holic") and found it to be an amusingly quirky show.  It's based on a manga (Japanese comic book) by a well-known, all-female artist group called CLAMP.  They've created quite a few manga series which have been adapted into anime over the years.  A few noteworthy titles are Chobits, X, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Magic Knight Rayearth, and Cardcaptor Sakura.  The manga for xxxHolic and Tsubasa have some crossover characters - Yuko and each features a Mokona - Black Mokona in this show and White Mokona in Tsubasa.  I haven't read the manga or seen Tsubasa so I can't say I noticed anything in xxxHolic related to the other.

Yuko enjoys a cocktail at the beach

xxxHolic had great music and I really liked the opening theme song - 19sai (translated 19 years old) by Shikao Suga.  The ending theme songs and sequences were good too.  The series was episodic with each episode having another 'caper' for Watanuki and gang to 'solve'.  The story didn't really progress in any linear fashion, but it was more about the character relationships strengthening as they spent more time together.

Domeki and Watanuki get caught up in a spirit parade

Watanuki, the main character of the series, definitely gets a love/hate reaction.  He's whiny, selfish and has silly over-the-top reactions to every imagined slight.  I've heard some say he's exactly what makes them tired of anime - the extreme body contortions with wavy arms, gushing tears to portray sadness, and goofy slapstick.  My only response is "welcome to anime comedy, get used to it".  If you can stand Watanuki then you'll dig the series.  I'll admit it took a few episodes for me to warm up to Watanuki's personality.  After a few episodes he grew on me and I started to chuckle at his antics.

Yuko downs another sake!

Yuko was an immediate hit - she's beautiful and mysterious.  A strong female lead.  The character designs were kinda weird with long, gangly appendages and tiny little heads.  Over the course of the series the appendages seemed to get longer and heads tinier.  It added to the weird and supernatural aspect of the show, but may have been a tad overdone.

Zashiki-warashi is a wind-spirit who inadvertently causes trouble
for Domeki and Watanuki

It was all about character relationships.  Watanuki really hated Domeki for being a third wheel with Himawari.  He freaks out constantly when the poor guy shows up and is downright mean.  It was one of the best parts of the show as straight-man Domeki brushes aside another insult from drama-queen Watanuki.  The series felt very modern gothic with an offbeat sexual energy.  I tagged this ecchi/fan-service, but only because of the buxom Yuko and the beach episode.

Domeki is a skilled archer who can also dispel spirits with chi

Overall a fun, quirky series with episodic, supernatural adventures.  Never really frightening (except maybe the last episode - which was actually quite the perfect ending to the series when I think about it), but exciting and creepy.  Be warned - it has lots of over-the-top anime comedy.  It's the first CLAMP series I've watched and I liked it (this one stays in the collection).  Looking forward to checking out more by the group.

Poor Yuko has a hangover - she drank too much again last night!

TO BUY and Recommendations: