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News Report Archive - June |  |
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News Report Archive - June | |
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As the anime version of InuYasha finally came to a close recently, I was reminded of Rumiko Takahashi and her original smash hit, Urusei Yatsura. The tale of Lum, Ataru, and their bizarre interstellar love/hate story has inspired a generation of manga-ka, not to mention an entire genre within the anime kingdom. I returned this week to a movie I watched at a comic book convention way back in 1988 with no translation...the first UY film, Only You. How does it stand up 27 years after its creation? Read the review to find out...
It's hard to review any sort of anthology series. Does a weak episode of The Twilight Zone take the whole series down? How do you even rate such a thing? Then what do you do with a two-episode anthology with one strong outing and one that skirts awful? That's the situation with Twilight Q, which features one episode directed by Mamoru Oshii (whose work on Urusei Yatsura: Only You I critiqued last week). Read the review to find out which part to find and which one you might choose to avoid.
The world of anime hasn't had enough conversations about ethics. Granted, the live-action world creates plenty of boundary-pushing material that makes most anime look tame. But just because you can do something, does that mean you should? I'm going to explore this for the next few weeks via my reviews and columns. The first title that brings this issue to mind? Golden Boy, a mid-'90s OVA series that is often hysterically funny...and perverted from start to finish. Does having a kind-hearted lead make a difference? My review finds me trying to straddle the fence...whether I succeeded or not is up to you.
My dive into the world of anime ethics continues this week with my review of Death Note. This 2006-2007 series is not only incredibly popular, it earns its reputation as a solid thriller. It has a "just one more" quality that makes it easy to watch the whole thing in a couple of sittings. However, the show also brings up serious ethical issues that it in no way seeks to address. Is it immoral for a show to be amoral, especially when the target audience is teenagers? Read the review and find out what I decided.