Blog Archives

Berserk: Egg of the King (2012)

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Posted on September 10, 2012 by Deni

Berserk: Egg of the King (Golden Age Arc part 1) is screening at the Madman Reelanime Festival, 13-26 September. Check the website for screening times at a city near you.

Okay, I’m going to say this once and only once – be warned. If you’re already familiar with the original 1997 anime series then you’ll be aware that it is, possibly beyond all expectation, a surprisingly gripping story. If you’re not already a fan and just thought you’d check … (read more)

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Wolf Children (2012)

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Posted on September 6, 2012 by Deni

Wolf Children screens nationwide at Reelanime, 13th – 26th of September. Check the website for session times.

You could probably be forgiven for wondering whether you’re watching a secret project of Hayao Miyazaki’s in Mamoru Hosoda’s new animated feature film Wolf Children. His sweet-bordering-on-saccharine domestic fable about two siblings gifted with the tendency to turn into wolves shares many a standard “Ghiblism” – the quaint rural setting to which the family escapes the stress of urban life; the … (read more)

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Initial D Fourth Stage – Collection One (2004)

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Posted on June 5, 2012 by Tom

Oh, hi there. You probably came here to read a review for Initial D Fourth Stage, but before you get to it maybe you should begin by reading the review for the first stage. It’s okay, I’ll be here fine-tuning my ’93 Ford station wagon into a beastly road racer. That’s my girl, purr for me, purr. … (read more)

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Chronicle of My Mother (2011)

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Posted on May 29, 2012 by Elizabeth Kerr
Chronicle of my Mother

Familial duty and responsibility to one’s parents makes Chronicle of My Mother a film that will resonate with Asian audiences far more than for the rest of us. And yes, the title is going to make most people think they’re about to see a Japanese version of Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother, but the two films have little in common other than the titular parental unit. In Harada Masato’s (Inugami) lyrical and poetic meditation on family, … (read more)

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Initial D First Stage – Collection One (1998)

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Posted on May 25, 2012 by Tom

Despite being a fan of anime, from its late-nineties breakthrough into the mainstream, with Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop, I never got into Intitial D on its early release. With the change in rights from Tokyopop to Funimation, the Initial D series is being released and in some cases re-released in specific stage formats (first, second, third stages etc.) I finally decided to give the D a chance and see what the hubbub was all about.

Takumi Fujiwara is a … (read more)

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Underwater Love (2011)

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Posted on May 13, 2012 by Deni

I almost wasn’t going to review this film – what I have to say about it is hardly the kind of thing that is going to make you want to see it (at least, that’s what I’m assuming). But then again, I thought, in the interests of full disclosure, why not talk about it? After all, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, right? As so many of the reviews around seem to attest.

I wouldn’t go so far as … (read more)

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Yakuza Weapon (2011)

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Posted on April 28, 2012 by Deni

I only had a vague understanding of what I could expect with this film. Anyone in any way familiar with Ryuhei Kitamura and his unofficial muse Tak Sakaguchi should at least have an inkling of what they’re in for. Or, conversely, if you’re familiar with the cult films coming out of Nikkatsu’s production company Sushi Typhoon (responsible for such gems as Alien vs Ninja and Mutant Girls Squad), again, there should have been no surprise. In fact, what ultimately … (read more)

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Bleach 4: Hell Verse (2010)

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Posted on April 24, 2012 by Deni

The Original Video Animation, or OVA (or, alternatively, OAV depending on your tomayto-tomahto standpoint) has gone the way of the Dodo. It’s dead. Defunct. It has rejected cumbersome technologies and eliminated redundant markets and evolved into the Movie; as in Naruto the Movie, or One Piece the Movie, or for the purposes of this review, Bleach the Movie – Hell Verse (also known as Hell Chapter), to be exact.

It used to be that your typical … (read more)

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