The Highlights
Character Designs: An interesting mix of the West meets East.
Story: Not bad, but not great.
Presentation: Madhouse unleashed on WOWOW.

As of this review’s publication, there is no tangible form of an animated Tokyo Tribe 1, so disregard the “2″ at the end of the title. This anime is self-contained production about various Japanese gangs that have a very strong sense of territory and are even willing to kill to maintain it. Western influenced gangsta rap sets the mood, and the bright, neon colors paint the visuals. With Madhouse at the reigns of production, Tokyo Tribe 2 is an ambitious show that oozes attitude.

For a moment, forget about the common staples of greatness like a compelling story and strong character development. What makes Tokyo Tribe 2 amazing is its manic presentation. In Death Note, Madhouse has managed to make something as benign as writing names on a piece of paper look mindblowing, so imagine what it can do with topics such as megalomania, murder, prostitution and rape.

The story of Tokyo Tribe 2 follows the parallel stories of two best friends turned enemies. The “antagonist” is a harsh realist who has experienced the brutality of the streets firsthand. The protagonist is a coolheaded leader type who wants everyone to get along, and here lies one of my two biggest gripes of the show: it feels too clean. Sure, the show digs deep into the very underbelly of human society, but by the end, the show has too many convenient revelations, and it stretches the notion of gangsters a bit too far.

My second gripe is more of a double-edged sword. The action for the show is quite exciting to watch, but the writers have a tendency to become retarded during the fights. After a character knocks out an opponent, he does not follow the unwritten manual of how to survive in any situation, ever, and sits around talking to other characters giving the said opponent the time to recover. This would have been forgivable if it were a rare occurrence, but such slips happen too frequently to be overlooked.

Despite some rough edges, Tokyo Tribe 2 is a competent anime about Japanese gangsters. It’s fun, at times shocking, and actually creative. The show provides a good amount of style and substance if you can ignore the fact that the latter tastes a bit funny.

The Rating: 7

Reviewed by: Shadowmage

Synopsis: When Hyuga Ami’s brother is killed by a gang of ruthless bullies, she swears to see that justice is done. But, when the police prove useless she takes the matter into her own hands hunting down the boys responsible for her brothers death. Losing an arm along the way, Ami makes friends with an autoshop owner who makes her a machine gun attachment to replace her arm. With her new weapon she goes after the leader of the bullies, the son of a yakuza-ninja boss.

The Highlights
Characters: Sadistic? Bloodthirsty? You know it!
Violence: Over the top gore like its seldom been done before.
Ninja action: Surprisingly well choreographed fight scenes.
Drill bra: That’s right… drill bra…

Created in the same spirit as Versus and Battlefield Baseball, The Machine Girl is an over the top action horror kill fest that doesn’t take itself all that seriously. When a body part is cut off, it doesn’t start to bleed, blood sprays out violently and in abundant amounts. How much blood does the human body contain anyways?

The story starts off well enough; a young boy bullied by a gangster’s son eventually gets pushed too far and fights back, only to be killed in the process, and his older sister sets out to get revenge. Was the story in any way believable? No, when you go into a movie knowing that the girl has a machine gun for an arm you basically throw believability out the window to start with. What follows is a roller coaster of melodrama, gore, and machine gun rounds. Every character in the movie, aside from the good guys, are sadistic and on the side of the evil ninja yakuza boss.

The fight scenes are fairly well choreographed and whole lotta fun to watch. The main draw of the movie is all the unique weapons that you probably haven’t seen, and will probably never see again. The most bizarre being the aforementioned drill bra. The different weapons make every fight exciting as you don’t really know what to expect next.

I’ll admit, I am a fan of these types of movies, but even I was skeptical of The Machine Girl. However, it managed to entertain all the way through, never letting up on the gas and never letting up on the violence. Most of the action is so ridiculously over the top that its hard to stop laughing at times, but hey, entertainment is entertainment, and this movie delivered. If you liked Battlefield Baseball and Versus, or if you’re just an advocate of killer undergarments, give The Machine Girl a shot.

The Rating: 7

Reviewed by: DarkKanti

Synopsis: Earlier that day Chris was just another high school graduate. However, his life is abruptly flipped on its side when he is forcefully taken from Earth to mystical world of the Byston Well. In mere moments he is thrown into battle at the trust of a runaway tribe of slaves. Chris’s destiny has been sealed, and now he must lead a pilgrimage for freedom, aided by the mystical wings of light, the Garzey’s Wing.

The Highlights
Plot: Can’t hold its own weight.
Pacing: Things fly by without much explanation.
Characters: Flat.
Violence: A nice distraction from an otherwise pitiful anime.

If there is one thing director Tomino Yoshiyuki can do, it’s telling a good story. Though, if there is one thing he can’t do, it’s telling the said story in a neat and concise manner. His best works are long, slowly paced, and thoroughly developed. Movies like Char’s Counterattack and Be Invoked work so well because they are tied into much larger, and greater worlds. Now, considering Garzey’s Wing’s short length of three episodes, it is pretty easy to guess what it turns out to be. Like other short, isolated works by Tomino (say Gundam F-91) this OVA is a rushed, underdeveloped half-story on crutches. However, unlike Gundam F-91, it is also an incoherent mess that falls apart at the seams.

If one simply read a synopsis of Garzey’s Wing, it doesn’t seem half bad. It’s a tad unoriginal, but it’s a rather solid entry into the fantasy genre… which it would have been, had it not been for some of the worst pacing in any anime. The first five minutes throws the audience right into the action with not much more than a mention of what’s going on. While an abrupt beginning was also characteristic of Dunbine (an earlier show to feature Byston Well), it managed to slow down quickly enough to mold a unique world. In the case of this OVA, the speed is so fast that I could swear anywhere between 3 and 7 episodes were jammed into one. Worse, for all that is going on, there is no room for anything, so there’s no reflection, no development, and no resolution.

With the story going at breakneck speeds, plot and character development is left unable to catch up with a runaway tale. It is hard to understand any of the characters. No time is used to develop them since so much is needed to advance the plot forward. This makes the motives and the resulting decisions feel jarring almost all over.

Besides the inclusion of Feraio, the world presented in this OVA bears little resemblance to the Byston Well of the original ‘80s series. The lack of similarities just makes the incompleteness of the story a real pain. There is no safety net of knowledge, which ultimately leaves the details of the titular “Wings,” the mystical “Bahju Tree,” and that giant duck unexplained. The whole 90-minute experience ends up being as if it were all for nothing. However, in all the time wasted, there is no shortage of, well, good action and violence, which is intricate and bloody enough to make Garzey’s Wing, at the very least, watchable for the intense action junky.

With a story that cannot be told in a mere hour and a half, Garzey’s Wing would have benefited from being a 26 episode TV series or simply a longer OVA. Heck, in and of itself, the world of Byston Well would make a pretty kick ass RPG. Given a little more time, the show could have formed at least some sense of coherence. But alas, what’s done is done. Leave this anime alone; it’s something best left to be forgotten in a sea of lost memories.

The Rating: 3

Reviewed by: Kavik Ryx

Synopsis: An angel eater has broken out in Heaven and it is able to consume angels for goddesses, rendering them into shock. It is up to Lind and the rest of the goddesses, including Belldandy, to protect those in danger, unaware of a devious trap that awaits them.

The Highlights
Plot: A grittier take from the stale fluffy romance series.
Fight scenes: Now there’s something new to the franchise.
Lind: A breath of fresh air to the cast.

While watching Tatakau Tsubasa, I learnt something: an introduction of a new character can actually make a sequel of a dull romance series more intriguing and enjoyable to watch. Tatakau Tsubasa did just that and has successfully made me enjoy an hour of some heart-pounding action while preserving the sense of fluffy love that the Ah! My Goddess franchise is well-known for.

Tatakau Tsubasa is something I never thought would work within an hour. In the span of two episodes, the show manages to distinguish itself from its predecessors by infusing some shounen-style action sequences and some dark elements to spice things up. Also, the show takes away most of the stereotypical gags that thrive off fan service. In the end, we have an exhibition of something fresh and bold while keeping intact the familiar romance that we come to love between Belldandy and Keiichi.

The most notable fact about Tatakau Tsubasa is that it turns its attention towards the goddess Lind. The show finally swerves its limelight onto Lind, who has only been a side character in all of the previous Ah! My Goddess series. What’s more, her identity and background is further explored to show a less pretty side of herself (and the series). Her character development away from her passive demeanor is something I really enjoyed in Tatakau Tsubasa, but also something bad I see in the show. This sort of development is something that should be incorporated to many more characters in the franchise, since I find a lot of them two-dimensional.

Like the prequel Flights of Fancy, Tatakau Tsubasa features two enlightening theme songs by J-pop duo Jyukai. Featuring on Flights of Fancy with “Koibito Doushi”, they now offer delightful songs “Ai no Hoshi” and “Hanamuke no Melody”. This is one good way to start and end an already refreshing show.

I was not too fond of the prequel Sorezore no Tsubasa because it was dull and hardly broke new ground. This is why I was surprised by Tatakau Tsubasa. I was elated when I saw that this franchise was finally taking a risk, and it paid off jubilantly. This is very similar to the case of what Tsubasa Tokyo Revolution did for the series Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE. Both instances illustrate how taking risks and trying something new can pay off and for Tatakau Tsubasa, it did tremendously… in less than an hour.

The Rating: 7

Reviewed by: AC

Synopsis: Kurenai Shinkurou is a dispute mediator. As a young boy, he suffered trauma in an incident that left him orphaned and homeless. Now at 16 years of age, he lives in a run down apartment, settling disputes for a mysterious woman named Juzawa Benika. When Benika approaches Shinkurou asking him to protect a young girl named Kuhouin Murasaki, Shinkurou accepts. From that day on, he slowly gets closer to a dark world, wrought with conspiracy and plagued by a dark secret kept by the Kuhouin family.

The Highlights
Filler: Actually enjoyable.
Characters: Sub-characters fleshed out excellently.
Voice Acting: Wow.
Murasaki: Someone lock her up; she’s too cute.

I’ll say it right now, and I’ll say it forever: Kurenai is not about lolis. I’m sick and tired of blogs showing a scene where 7 year old Murasaki is changing and claiming the show is about lolis. It’s not what the show is about.

What the show is about, though, is a fascinating tale of two social misfits and the beautiful relationship between them. Murasaki and Shinkurou are both, in essence, social rejects. Murasaki is a sheltered girl who has never seen the light of day (almost literally), and Shinkurou is an orphan living alone, often struggling to be interested in the things his peers are fascinated by.

While the show is theirs, the various side characters are all reasonably fleshed out and have their own personalities and motives. Renjou, Murasaki’s father and “antagonist” of the series, is especially interesting. He suffers an extreme conflict of interest which plays out in interesting ways. Other characters, such as Shinkurou’s eccentric neighbors, serve as comedic fodder and also have their own quirks which add to the general lively spirit of the series.

Watching Murasaki learn about the outside world may be one of the most interesting things I’ve seen in anime in a long time. It’s not because it’s especially innovative or because it’s especially interesting, but because of the near flawless execution. Even though this is piece of fiction with larger-than-life circumstances, I could still relate with Murasaki’s journey of discovery on a personal level.

Speaking of Murasaki, she’s absolutely adorable. The casting is flawless for her character, and as a seasoned Visual Novel veteran and voice actor stalker, I tend to be a bit more critical of voice work than the average anime fan. The rest of the acting in Kurenai is also extremely impressive, but the range of emotions Murasaki’s VA shows is absolutely astounding, from childish joy to complete submission and despair. Murasaki is undoubtedly one of the most colorful anime characters in recent memory. She’s both a mature woman with a sophisticated upbringing and a mere 7 year old child. Due to her upbringing, she lives in a world outside of this one, but she attempts to fit into normal, pedestrian life.

Muramatsu Ken, who worked on Sketchbook ~full color’S~, delivers his talent once again for the music of Kurenai. He does quite a fabulous job with his soft, jazzy piano sounds, but sometimes, his upbeat, light style doesn’t quite match the darker atmosphere of the show. The overall OST is reasonably enjoyable and serves to convey the mood well, 98 percent of the time.

If there is a flaw that needs to be mentioned, it’s undoubtedly the ending. Personally, I didn’t like it; I would have liked to see something a bit less clichéd, especially for a series that had so much potential. Also, I would certainly love to see a second season of the show produced since the light novel series is still ongoing. Overall, Kurenai is a charming anime; at times unbelievable, at times down-to-earth, and always, a masterful blend of drama and slice-of-life.

The Rating: 8

Reviewed by: Akira