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News Report Archive - January 2011 |  |
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News Report Archive - January 2011 | |
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Sometimes you really do experience deja vu all over again. This week's entry, Touch 3: Don't Pass Me By, has the distinction of having the same plot device that motivated Aim For The Ace!, the film I last reviewed! Sports shows have their own cliches, of course, and I was quite surprised that while Touch 3 carries on the torch of the stereotypical "devil coach" storyline, it winds up being nearly as enjoyable as the first film in the series.
It's not as if the classic Victorian gothic thing were anything new, but anime does have a corner on the market. Combine it with the aesthetic of Lewis Carroll and add touches from other various popular anime, and you've got the first half of Pandora Hearts, the recent release from NIS America. It may be a victory of style over substance, but read on to find out if it might be worth wading through for you.
It's not often that the fourth movie in a series winds up being the best. Sometimes you do OK, like Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. But then again, the fourth Star Wars film was The Phantom Menace...you know what I'm saying, right? Anyway, Touch 4: Miss Lonely Yesterday is easily my favorite of the films so far. It does what most anime are afraid to do -- mature their characters, have them grow distant from one another, rethink their high school age selves. Touch 4 goes for broke, however, by virtually abandoning the baseball plotlines for which it is famous, and I think that annoyed a number of the show's fans. For me, it shows a certain courage. Read on to find out why I'm a champion of this portion of the continuing Touch saga.