Finished watching Sailor Moon R: the Movie (1993)

Finished watching Sailor Moon R the Movie: The Promise of the Rose (1993, Toei Animation, 61 min) on 9/19/2018.

A meteor from space brings with it an alien threat. The Sailor Guardians are on the case and before it even lands they know this is no ordinary comet. This isn't the only problem on their hands, as a friend from Mamoru's childhood returns and he's got a jealous bone to pick with Usagi, and a promise he must fulfill to his old friend. One that might just have to be broken by Sailor Moon and the Sailor Guardians.

Promise of the Rose is actually a pretty good movie. It is loosely based on the filler arc of Sailor Moon R involving characters Ail and An. It took some visual and story elements easily recognizable from that arc to create what is for the most part an original story. And the animation quality is great, with fight sequences that are just great to watch.

8/10 - I would totally watch this one more time.

Finished watching Megazone 23 Part II

Finished watching Megazone 23 Part II (1986, Artland, AIC, Tatsunoko, 80 mins.) on 12/05/2017.

Attempting to return to a normal life with "Trash", his bike gang and Yui, his girlfriend, Yahagi Shogo finds himself answering the call for help from EVE, the digital songstress idol programmed to protect the city of Megazone, as the government that rules the people plots to take control over EVE's capabilities.

Well, this was... interesting. And a bit hard to follow. The first thing you'll notice about this second entry in the Megazone 23 series is the drastic change in the visual style. And it's one I'm not very fond of, to be honest. It got a bit distracting. But I can't say I completely hate it either. I think I understand its appeal. It has to do with the age it was produced in, and I have to say it's certainly a style from the 80's. I'm sure they picked it up from some other media, maybe even western media like the Heavy Metal movie. The art style is especially distracting with the scene where human ships get attacked by alien robots and it's really gory, unnecessarily so and they just keep playing it over and over or whatever. And then there's the Captain of the ship who just looks like a Muppet character. It was cringy for sure. But let's move on. The visual style was not the only thing that changed. It was the character's basic design. The girl's hair, for example used to be blue, now it's just brown. Funny enough however, EVE, the digital music idol seems to have retained her original appearance from the previous movie. Other than that, the movie was alright. Animation quality was pretty good and the story wasn't too bad, maybe some plot points were skimmed over.

6.5/10 - It didn't really catch my attention that much, but I still enjoyed it... somewhat.

Finished watching Megazone 23

Finished watching Megazone 23 (1985, AIC, Artland, Tatsunoko, 80mins) on 10/18/2017.

Yahagi Shogo is given ownership of an unusual-looking, red motorcycle from a friend. Immediately after, black suits show up looking for the bike and Shogo drives off with it to later find out that the bike turns into an armed fighting robot. Looking for a place to hide, he then contacts Takanaka Yui, a girl he had just met to help him out. After a series of strange events, the two find themselves in the middle of a government conspiracy hiding secrets that question what's real and what's not, including a popular musical idol named Tokimatsuri Eve.

So first off, this movie was put together by the same staff as the original Macross series. Cool, right? I love their style. There's a lot of similarities with the two IPs. Visual. Thematic. Robots. Idols. Space. 80s. It's great! The music of course is pretty awesome with Eve's songs and the soundtrack just has that typical 80s synth stuff. What I enjoyed about the story was the conspiracy going on with Eve and how she gets the main characters involved in it. It's an interesting concept.

8/10 - But despite all my praise, I think the storytelling suffers from its age. Old anime seem to always have thing that don't quite add up and this one's no different. But it wasn't too bad.

Finished watching Leda, The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko

Finished watching Leda, The Fantastic Adventure of Yoko (1985, Kaname Production, 75 mins.) on 07/19/2017.

High School student, Yoko wrote a song to confess her love for a classmate. After attempting to approach him, she loses the courage to show him the song and walks past him. Then suddenly, in a strange twist of fate, she is magically brought into another dimension. There she meets a talking dog and becomes a sword-wielding warrior when threatened by a futuristic bike gang who steals the cassette tape with her love song. With her new found power she must retrieve the song back and find her way back home.

7/10 - This is one of those hidden gems of the 80's. It's a good movie with interesting visuals. The plot is a bit generic, but not bad. Did you know that Yoko shares the same voice actress as Dragon Ball's Bulma? Anyways... there's also giant robots, which is also pretty cool. Their designs are, well, unique. But one of them is pretty cool actually. I just don't want to spoil much about it. Well, either way they don't get much use though... I also wish I'd see more fighting action from Yoko. Wouldn't mind seeing her swing her sword around a bit more.

Finished watching Miss Hokusai

Finished watching Miss Hokusai (2015, Production I.G., 90m) on 07/14/2017.

The Great Wave off Kanagawa, the popular painting by Japanese artist Hokusai. But he wasn't the only artist in his family. His equally-talented daughter Katsushika Ōi worked under his shadow while the two shared the same roof with Hokusai's apprentice. But Ōi's relationship with her father isn't the best, and his reluctance to visit his wife and younger daughter of two only makes things a bit more tense as Ōi juggles between the two.

Some might be quick to assume this is a movie from Ghibli studio. I was too... well, I thought I had heard a rumor that it was directed by Miyazaki's son... or something to that effect. Well, turns out it is neither of those things. It's actually Production I.G., whom I will always remember now as the same studio that worked on the Xenogears animation sequences. But there are some visual similarities to a Ghibli production, so maybe that's understandable.
Anyways, Miss Hokusai focuses mainly on the relationship between Hokusai and his two daughters. One of which, Katsushika Ōi is just as talented with a brush as he is. His younger daughter is blind, and is rarely visited by her father who relies on Ōi to keep him up to date on the family as she is the one that visits them often.

7.5/10 - I really liked this one, and at 90mins-long it felt like just the right length. I also liked how mystical it would get sometimes with some of the yokai elements in the movie. It actually reminded me of things like xxxHolic or Mushishi.

Finished watching The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013, Studio Ghibli, 137m) on 07/13/2017.

Miyatsuko is an old man who makes a living as a bamboo cutter. One day he comes across a bamboo shoot that unravels itself to reveal a miniature child. He takes her home to his wife and the two raise the child as their own but notice that her growing rate is much faster than any other child. Miyatsuko and his wife consider the child a blessing from the Heavens and try to raise her to become a respectable princess.

There's a couple of things I should point out about The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. The movie is based on a popular, traditional Japanese folk tale. Also, despite it being a Ghibli production, it is actually directed by Takahata Isao.
Setting this feature apart from other Ghibli movies is its visual style. Backgrounds are lightly hand-drawn and hand-painted in pencil and watercolor respectively to give the audience the impression of watching a children's picture book come to life. The characters and everything that moves is drawn in organic pencil lines and rendered digitally in gentle colors that add even more to the movie's picture book-like aesthetic. And this is all woven together with a narrative that is sure to pull at your heart strings.

8/10 - This was certainly a gem of a movie for me. I felt all sorts of emotions watching the characters go through the many ordeals that came with being part of Kaguya's life. But I also very much enjoyed watching the really interesting art style of the movie in motion. I've always imagined what animating traditional media would be like. But I still wonder if it was an easier task or more difficult than doing regular animation. *SPOILER* I was left with a bitter taste at the end. The movie certainly doesn't leave off on a joyous note, and I felt like it was very unfair to Kaguya's parents. However, that's not necessarily a bad thing as I feel it proves the moral points it's trying to make, and that is that life's too short not to enjoy it for what it is and the things and people we already have in our lives.

Finished watching Your Name

Finished watching Your Name (2016, CoMix Wave Films, 1h 46m) on 04/21/2017.

Mitsuha is a country girl who dreams of life in the city. Taki, is a city boy who spends his days juggling between school and his part-time job. Their fates suddenly become intertwined when they begin experiencing a phenomena that puts them in each other's bodies. While at first this confuses them, they get used to the common occurrence and attempt to communicate with each other in hopes of eventually meeting up in person.

9/10 - This is a movie that's loosely based on an older one by the same name. I think only the concept of meeting up with someone without many leads to go by is what they share in common. At first the movie explores the funnier side of swapping bodies. But eventually plot comes in and says "Hey, we got a movie to make here!" and drama unfolds the story into something that I assure you will be too much for your poor little heart to handle. All of a sudden they want to meet each other, and they plan things out and then... Well, spoilers happen, that's what! Now my heart feels played and I don't know how to handle my emotions anymore! Why are you still reading this stupid review! Go watch the movie! Nothing else can save you now! WAAAHAHHH! D:

Finished watching Macross Do You Remember Love

Finished watching Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love (1984, Studio Nue, Tatsunoko, 115 min.) on 03/17/2017.

A massive alien spaceship crash lands on Earth and is years later reverse engineered by Earth's UN Spacy who names it SDF-1 Macross. It is then launched into space as part of a ceremony celebrating the project's completion, but the launch attempt is interrupted by an attack from an alien species called the Zentradi and the ship teleports itself to the edge of the Solar System taking an island city along with it. In the midst of the messy launch, Valkyrie pilot Hikaru Ichijo rescues pop idol Lynn Minmay and in doing so they become trapped in an area of the ship for days. The Macross must now return to Earth all the while dealing with various Zentradi attacks.

8/10 - DYRL? is supposedly an alternate retelling of the original Macross series with certain events unfolding differently than the TV show. While the movie itself is pretty good, I still prefer the original story. Specially with how Roy Fokker is handled. But the animation quality is great, specially with Lynn Minmay's shows. And it's always nice to hear her songs as well. I'm not trying to say the story isn't interesting just because it's a different retelling, on the contrary, that's what's interesting about it. Oh, and Kaifun doesn't have much of a presence in this movie. So far as him being replaced as the actor for Shao Pai Long. Ichijo plays the part instead which I thought was great. I can't stand Kaifun...

Finished watching Capitão Falcão

Finished watching Capitão Falcão (2015, Individeos, 106 mins.) on 4/3/2016.

Ultra-patriotic, Portuguese superhero Capitão Falcão (Captain Falcon) teams up with his sidekick, Puto Perdiz (Partridge Kid) under the direct orders of Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar to defend his nation from a communist threat known as the "Red Menace".

7.5/10 – Although this satirical movie was heavily based on real, important events in the history of Portugal, it was still able to be a very entertaining comedy filled with bright comic book-like colors and kung-fu action. What I loved the most about it is that it followed a nostalgic live-action superhero style very reminiscent of the Adam West Batman series. But, as you can tell from the rating I gave it, it's not a perfect movie. Some scenes were awkward to watch and others were dragged out for too long. With that in mind, I still recommend watching it. In fact, I can't wait to watch it again with a friend of mine. I had tons of laughs with it.

Finished watching Escaflowne

Finished watching Escaflowne (2000, Sunrise, Bones, 98 mins) on 3/8/2016.

Kanzaki Hitomi is magically whisked away from Earth to a planet called Gaea where she is taken in by a group of freedom fighters who believe her to be their fabled Winged Goddess, their only hope in awakening a legendary, weaponized, mechanical armor known as Escaflowne. With Escaflowne piloted by the young Van, they hope to fight and defeat the evil forces of a powerful man named Folken.

8.5/10 – It seems to me that the Escaflowne franchise likes to create parallel universes for each of their different media installments. The manga, anime series and this movie seem to be very different from eachother, yet the same. But the movie is more faithful to the series than the manga is in terms of character design. Just remember that it's a different story. But this movie is good. I especially like the visual aspects. The animation quality is very good, but the style differs a bit from the series, everyone is just so... attractive, gorgeous *coughallencough*. That's because Sunrise hired Bones to do the animation. Explains a lot, doesn't it? The movie has its own soundtracks while some are from the series, and others are based on them. And while the animation is awesome, the soundtrack is good, and even the story is interesting, the plot seems to develop at a slow pace, finally picking up a bit of speed towards the end. And Dilandau is still my favorite character. Just puttin' it out there.

Finished watching xxxHolic: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Finished watching xxxHolic: A Midsummer Night's Dream (2005, Production I.G., 60mins) on 2/23/2016.

Yuko, Watanuki and Domeki are invited to a mansion party where they meet a handful of collectors. While staying at the mansion, everyone starts to wonder who the master of the house is as they are guided into different rooms for dining, lounging and sleeping without any maids or butlers. Watanuki even finds himself going though puzzling mazes just to get to a restroom.

8/10 - Although it's a movie, it's a little short for one. But I think it's because this movie double-features with an even shorter movie, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle the Movie: The Princess in the Birdcage Kingdom. The two are also directly connected. This movie was fun and interesting to watch. Animation quality got... well, a bit too stylized at times, specially with Watanuki flailing around to get spirits off of him. Watanuki reacts to everything very dramatically so this fun-house mansion filled the movie with comical sketches between him and the ever-stoic Doumeki.

Finished watching Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle the Movie: The Princess in the Birdcage Kingdom

Finished watching Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle the Movie: The Princess in the Birdcage Kingdom (2005, Production I.G., 35mins) on 2/23/2016.

Sakura and Syaoran crash land into yet another alternate universe where they must help princess Tomoyo foil her uncle's evil plans to cover his kingdom in darkness, all the while recovering one of Sakura's memory feathers from him.

7/10 – Although it's a movie, it's pretty short. But I think it's because this movie double-features with a longer movie, xxxHolic: A Midsummer Night's Dream. The two are also directly connected. I have to point out that the studio that worked on this movie is not the same that worked on the Tsubasa series and so you can definitely tell the difference in visuals. Specially with Syaoran's David Bowie-like eyes. In the show they don't draw them like they did in the movie so you can't tell that they're actually different. But the show, at least for the first season don't really explain very well this fact. Just that there's something wrong with his eyes. But whatever. This movie was good. Animation quality is good. It uses the same soundtrack as the series. But I wouldn't recommend watching it without being familiar with the plot of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.

Finished watching Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Odyssey of the Celestial Ark

Finished watching Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Odyssey of the Celestial Ark (2014, Xebec, 111mins) on 10/23/2015.

While fleeing from an attack from an unkonwn enemy during Yamato's voyage from Iscandar back to Earth, Yamato warps into the vicinity of an unknown area of space with no stars but one single planet called Aquarius where apparently anything is possible and everyone perceives everything aesthetically differently. Yamato's recon team gets stuck on the planet and have to figure a way out of the planet's illusion.

9/10 – Yamato 2199 is the best thing to happen to the Yamato franchise and is the major reason why I'm into it. I started my Yamato journey with it and what better way to end but with this movie. Unless another one comes out in the future. This movie is interesting in which it combines some part of the White Comet arc with some sort of reference to the Aquarius planet from Final Yamato. Although it's a bit of a long movie, it's a really good one at that. I hope I get to live 184 more years.

Finished watching Be Forever Yamato

Finished watching Be Forever Yamato (1980, Academy Productions, Group TAC, 1hr 25mins.) on 10/3/2015.

Be Forever Yamato picks up from the first encounter with the Black Nebula Empire. Having been defeated by the Yamato last, the Empire sends to Earth a massive fortress that doubles as a bomb capable of destroying half the planet. From the fortress an army of robots and Black Nebula aliens came out to completely devastate the city they landed on. The Yamato comes to find that the only way to stop the bomb is to destroy its remote control from its place of origin.

7/10 – First thing I noticed was the dramatic art and animation quality improvement from the previous Yamato movies I've been watching. Looked great. The only thing that bothered me the most was this new character, Sasha. Daughter of Starsha and Mamoru, Sasha is half-Iscandarian and half-Japanese, apparently allowing her to grow from a baby into an adult within the span of one year. I felt like she didn’t contribute anything to the story. Like she was just a temporary replacement for Yuki's job in the ship. Also, the fact that she falls in love with Kodai was very… strange for me. Both because she's his niece and she's technically still one year old. Weird, man. Other than that, the movie was pretty decent.

Finished watching Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage

Finished watching Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage (1979, Academy Productions, Group TAC, 1hr 35mins.) on 10/2/2015.

After the White Comet Empire was defeated, Lord Desler decides to pay one last visit to his home planet and finds the Black Nebula empire strip-mining it for a rare mineral. Desler then contacts Earth, specifically the Yamato crew for help in driving the new enemy away.

7/10 - The movie was alright and I don’t really have much to say about it comparing to the previous movie. I am, however starting to get the feeling that there's always so many silly plot holes with these old shows. I'm having fun seeing the art quality improve as I go along the franchise, though.

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 (2010, Robot Communications, 1hr 18mins) on 8/18/2015.

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.

7.5/10 – One thing with Leiji's franchises is that their content isn't consistent between each installment. This movie is no different. Well, to be fair the inconsistencies aren't that big of a deal. For example, in this movie, doctor Sado is played by a woman. A pleasant surprise considering the series tends to be a bit of a sausage fest. Their excuse being that all the female crew members have been put to sleep until the end of the voyage, except for Mori Yuki. Gotta have that love interest somehow, right? *coughkodaiyamamotocough* Just sayin', man! Also, Mori Yuki is now a Black Tiger squadron ace pilot instead of originally a radar operator & ship nurse. They also gave her a nice, heavy pair of metaphorical balls. I'm very much behind this. What bugged me a little is that they didn't make her blonde. I get it, Japanese people don't have the blonde gene (I think), but I would've appreciated at least a wig... or something... idk. The ending of the movie however was new to me. Not what happened in the original series. But what about the Gamilas? And Lord Desler? I was excited to see them on the screen... nope. Nothing. All you get are what I think are Gamilas androids. Or at least I don't want to accept that they're Gamilas. I'm not sure. The movie didn't really explain. Heck, there supposedly was even a large ship the Yamato destroyed, but they didn't even show it. But getting back to the Gamilans, the only actual person I saw was a Desler made of water... or something. Kinda looked like him. But it was hard to tell since he was so transparent. Okay, how about Iscandar's Starsha, huh? Gosh, I don't really know how to explain this, but I guess now I realize Gamilans are these weird, floaty crystal things, and Starsha (also being a Gamilan, apparently) goes inside Yuki Mori so as to speak through her. The movie was still interesting, despite all these odd, new changes, and the production quality was good.

Finished watching Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann the Movie Childhood's End

Finished watching Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann the Movie - Childhood's End (2008, Gainax, 1hr 52min) on 5/19/2015.

Simon and Kamina are two of the many children who live their lives digging underground tunnels looking for resources for their underground village. But one day Simon stumbles upon an object that turns out to be the key to an ancient machine of war. The two friends name it Lagann and use it to fend off a surprise attack on their village by a giant creature from the surface. They also meet Yoko, a massive-gun wielding wanderer also from the surface. The three join forces to explore and face the many challenges of the world outside and meet new friends along the way, as well as forging lasting relationships.

8.5/10 – It's been long since I watched the series, so halfway through the movie I was almost convinced I was just watching a series recap in movie form made entirely of recycled footage and a long montage. That might've been half-true for most of that first half of the movie (I say half-true because upon closer inspection, the animation is all new). The second half of the movie threw those concepts out the window and I found myself really enjoying it! Specially when they combined three different battles in the series into one giant brawl in the movie. And when I say combine, I mean they literally combined! Like, holy fuxx!

Y'know, I really think this whole show’s theme is about sex drive. They’re just sort of subtle about it.

Finished watching Stand by Me Doraemon

Watched Stand by Me Doraemon (2014, Shirogumi, Shin-ei Animation, 1hr 35min) on 1/21/2015.

Nobita’s future looks grim, that is what his great-great-grandson, Sewashi knows and plans to change. So he sends Doraemon, a high-tech, robotic cat from the 22nd century to the past so he can try to change a disaster in Nobita’s future, however Doraemon and Nobita don’t really click at first but eventually become good friends. Is that the friendship that will save Nobita from what’s coming?

7.5/10 – The later half of my childhood was spent watching Doraemon. So naturally, as soon as I saw the trailer to a CG Doraemon movie... I flipped. But, listen, the movie looked great. I was really impressed with the graphics. But the story felt a little rushed and almost like a reboot, and what seemed like a possible ending to the series as well. The plot of the movie worried me a bit in terms of morals however. I also found Nobita to be a bit too whiny compared to the TV series. I enjoyed the movie but I think the story could've been better. Even for an hour and a half movie it felt like it was longer.

Finished watching Space Pirate Captain Harlock Movie

Finished watching Space Pirate Captain Harlock Movie (2013, Toei Animation, 1h 55m) on 9/28/2014.

Mankind is at its wit's end as life outside of a devastated Earth proves to be nearly impossible. But Earth is governed by a greedy alliance known as the Gaia Coalition. Space Pirate Captain Harlock commands the fearsome Arcadia battleship as he plunders the alliance's spaceships to fight for the freedom of Earth, but can we really be saved by a man himself shrouded in mystery?

8.5/10 – This movie was, in my opinion, a great reboot of the original story. As I've mentioned many times before, it's not like Leiji's Harlock works are consistent with each other to begin with but this was a pretty cool re-imagining compared to the rest. Most of the original characters were there with some new ones as well. Some of the character's names were changed to something else and even the official translation had names different from the new ones too, which was a little weird for me but I didn't really care because I knew who these characters really were in essence. Now, let's talk about the graphics. Wow. It's an improvement on movies like Advent Children if you've ever watched it. It is so visually stunning it hurts. And of course, they have to show off how good it is with some pointless scene where this chick does an air flip in the shower for no reason whatsoever. I was so lost. But the story was awesome. Actually it was a bit dull towards the first third of the movie but then there's a plot twist that really got me! This movie is decently long and I loved the way it ended even though I saw it coming. Awesome. Awesome stuff.