Finished watching Gunbuster

Finished watching Gunbuster (1988, Gainax, 6 OVAs) on 3/3/2016.

In the near future gigantic, insectoid, space monsters pose a threat to human kind. Planet Earth's best defense lays in the hands of an army of giant fighter robots called RX-7, piloted by trained professionals. Two of those pilots, namely Noriko and Kazumi have been specially chosen to train for an even larger, more powerful robot, the Gunbuster.

10/10 – Yup, a 10. It's that awesome! This mostly female fronted show puts its two main characters in space, piloting giant fighter robots against giant space monsters and it even tries to be scientifically accurate as possible. Which it is! By a lot! SPACE! SCIENCE! Oh and did I mention this is directed by Evangelion's Hideaki Anno? The characters are well constructed and the soundtrack is pretty awesome. The animation quality, despite experimental on rare occasions, is pretty good. I should mention the boob physics here, they're not exaggerated, they're quite nice. And yes, there is some full nudity from the ladies on occasion as well. Gotta have that hot spring bath episode, yo! But let me tell you something, this show made me aware of Time Dilation, something I should really know about. Some of you know why. This concept is crazy and I'm happy Gunbuster brought it up to me.

Finished watching Arrivederci Yamato and Yamato 2

Finished watching Arrivederci Yamato (1hr 31min, Academy Productions, Group TAC, 1978) and Yamato 2 (26epi., Academy Productions, Group TAC, 1978) on 9/25/2015.

Earth is faced with a new threat two years after the fall of the Gamilas Empire. For Yamato the White Comet Empire is their most fearsome opponent yet. But that isn’t the only thing Yamato has to worry about, Lord Desler isn’t quite finished with the business he has the Yamato. But the answer to their problems lies with Teresa, the only being on planet Telezart.

Arriverdeci - 7.5/10

Yamato 2 - 4/10

Arriverdeci Yamato was in Japanese theaters shortly before Yamato 2, the 26-episode anime adaptation aired on TV. Yeah, I don't know. Usually it's the other way around, but whatever. Anyways, that is the order I watched them in. Which made watching Yamato 2 significantly boring. Not only that, but the story and art quality were even worse. I even fell asleep during most episodes. I would've been better off just watching the movie, which by the way was pretty good, a bit lengthy and that scene right at the start with the comet dragged out for way too long. Also, now I know where the ending for the 2010 live-action movie comes from.

Finished watching Space Battleship Yamato

Finished watching Space Battleship Yamato (1974, Academy Productions, Group TAC, 26 eps.) on 8/16/2015.

The year is 2199. Earth is faced with a major crisis. After being bombarded by the extraterrestrial Gamilas Empire with radio active meteors for years, Earth has started looking more like Mars, forcing humans to live underground. But they won’t give up without a fight as they revive battleship Yamato as a space battleship to fight against the threat and make their way to planet Iscandar where a technology was promised to cleanse planet Earth of the radiation.

6.5/10 – I had watched the 2012 remake of this series last year without knowing what I was getting into and I freakin' loved it. Then I watched the original one and now I'm sick of anime shows from the 70's. Okay, it wasn't so bad. Amazing for it's time of course. But all the animating mistakes I noticed, all the awkward dialogues that would take place here and there; Analyzer being a drunken, perverted robot; plot holes; ridiculous, out-of-the-blue deus-ex-machina events; characters with a 5 year-old logic... Again, It's not completely bad. I just couldn't deal with so much non-sense and out-dated art techniques. If I had watched it when I was 10 maybe I would’ve given this a much higher rating, just the same way I enjoyed watching Saber Rider or Dogtanian twenty years ago.

Finished watching Space Battleship Yamato 2199

Finished watching Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (2013, Xebec, 26 episodes) on 5/14/2015.

The year is 2199. Earth is faced with a major crisis. After being bombarded by the extraterrestrial Gamilas Empire with radio active meteors for years, Earth has started looking more like Mars, forcing humans to live underground. But they won’t give up without a fight as they revive battleship Yamato as a space battleship to fight against the threat and make their way to planet Iscandar where a technology was promised to cleanse planet Earth of the radiation.

10/10 – I have no words. I really don’t. If you were thinking of watching this, do yourself a favor and just watch it.

Finished watching Space Pirate Captain Harlock: Outside Legend - The Endless Odyssey

Finished watching Space Pirate Captain Harlock: Outside Legend - The Endless Odyssey (2002, Madhouse, 13 ep.) on 9/7/2014.

In this alternate reality sequel of the original series, Prof. Daiba unleashes the Noo, an ancient alien threat from its confines during an archeological mission to the end of the universe. Five years later, this threat reaches earth throwing into motion a reunion of Arcadia's Captain Harlockand his old crew.

7.5/10 - This sequel to the original series, if I can call it that, was actually pretty decent. At least comparing to that piece of garbage prequel known as Gun Frontier. So I guess that means I'll be comparing them both. Why? Because I know there are other shows and movies in the franchise and from what I heard none of them are very consistent with each other so I'm not even going to bother with them. That's why I'm sticking with only these two. Even Outside Legend was a little wonky in terms of continuity, but that's as far as my patience can go. Don't get me wrong, I think the whole Captain Harlock idea is pretty epic, but Leiji Matsumoto keeps annoying me with his inconsistency in this franchise. However, I'm willing to bet this series is the best Captain Harlock spinoff. Now, the reason why I'm not sure whether to call this show a sequel or not is because it behaves like both a sequel and a reboot. The reason why I say this is because the show is supposed to take place after the Mazone arc. Even Yattaran mentions fighting the Mazone in the past, but at the same time the show starts with Pr. Daiba still alive and his son, Daiba yet to meet Harlock for the first time. So basically Harlock defeated the Mazone without Daiba as part of the crew and Pr. Daiba was never killed by the Mazone, but instead... by the new threat known as the Noo. In 13 good looking episodes Harlock pursues this new enemy and I have to say, as a fan I was pretty pleased with the quality of the show. I never got bored, there was always something new happening each episode and the art was clean and crisp. The animation was also well done, specially with the Arcadia turning in some scenes to dodge laser canons. I do think that some other scenes didn't have to be so static though. It would've been nice to see Harlock exchanging a few blows with one of the bad guys as they exchanged a conversation between eachother. Other than what I've mention I really don't have much to complain about with this show. It was very awesome to see the old characters reunite in an updated art quality that would match that of today's anime shows. And as my last visit in my Harlock voyage as a true man, I shall move onto to watching the CG movie that was released recently. Til, then, may the hearts of passionate souls guide you through the stars of the universe.

Finished watching Space Pirate Captain Harlock

Finished watching Space Pirate Captain Harlock (1978, Toei Animation, 42 epi.) on 07/11/2014.

A race of plant-based alien beings known as the Mazone threaten a futuristic Earth claiming the planet once belonged to them before humans took over. But, without official consent from Earth, in their path stands Space Pirate Captain Harlock with his space battleship, the Arcadia, manned by his lively crew of space mateys as he departs on a journey to the source of the Mazone.

7/10 - For its time I'm sure the show was pretty epic, but I did fall asleep on a handful of episodes. Regardless, I did enjoy it in its entirety. I was left with some technical questions however about the plot, like why does Mime keep saying that she gave her life to Harlock. for example. I must've fallen asleep when it came up, maybe. Also, there were some scenes that were supposed to be serious but I couldn't help laughing because of the way they were directed, sometimes they were just downright awkward. There's also some sort of weird consistency with the storytelling too, like the Tokargan males having odd-shaped heads one episode and then looking like normal humans on another. I really think this must've been an awesome show to watch in late 1970's Japan. Again, It's not what I'm used to but I certainly enjoyed it. One very important thing to mention is that this is a show based on the manga by the same title which was created by Leiji Matsumoto who, by the way, supervised the creation of those Daft Punk anime videos. Yeah! Remember those? Interstella 5555 was the sh*t! In fact, you'll see a lot of character design similarities throughout most of his work. He has a stock of characters he likes to keep using. Most noticeable examples would be Doctor Zero or even Tochiro from this show.