.hack// Beyond the World

Title:  .hack//Beyond the World
Rating:  4 of 5

For those who haven't seen any of the .hack series of anime, it resolves around a virtual world (called THE WORLD), similar to World of Warcraft, and the internet in general.  I don't know if they are all made by the same director/authors (maybe someone who can read Japanese can let me know) but the ones that I have seen seem to have different feels, so I would guess that there are multiple authors and they use the this virtual world as a central point and go out from there.

This particular series centers around a young girl who due to her curiosity and some gentle pressure of her classmates, ventures into THE WORLD.  There is a rather comical introduction as she is walking around with a bunch of bubbles over her head which representing the graphical interface used by players (similar to a program's menu options).  As she's walking around, some players notice and ask her to get rid of the bubbles.  Her first attempt at removing the bubbles ends with her holding two bananas that she can't drop.  Out of embarrassment, she runs to a secluded location where she is met by a strange glowing woman, who gives her a glowing cube that fuses with her digital character.  This obviously plays an important part of the play but she quickly forgets (or neglects) to tell her classmates until later.  As with the other .hack series, there is an issue with the world which renders people who are in the world unconscious.  One of her classmates who has feelings for the main character is one of the unfortunate souls who is impacted, which gives her additional reason to move forward and search for a solution to the developing problem.

With the aid of an American special agent and her grandfather and friends, she has to deliver the glowing cube back to the woman to save the world.  I was actually engrosses by the movie (it was almost 2 hours long) and didn't realize the length until I took a look at the clock.  Ignoring the few grammatical errors in the subtitles, let me know if you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Ebiten: Kouritsu Ebisugawa Koukou Tenmonbu

Title: Ebiten: Kouritsu Ebisugawa Koukou Tenmonbu
Rating: 3 of 5

This is a rather amusing little series regarding several girls who are in an "Asstronomy" club.  A club where the just ass around (yes, I said ass around).  There are some scenes with some panty shots and some sexual themes but no direct nudity (I guess it's PG, not R-rated).  It's something to watch if you want a laugh and not want to think too terribly about things.

Enjoy!

Baldr Force EXE

Title: Baldr Force EXE
Rating: 4 of 5

I enjoyed watching this 4-part series and found that the storyline was a little overused but it was still fun to watch...

The story revolves around Toru a young teenage hacker is part of a small hacking team called Steppenwolf who travel the virtual world in mechanized robots causing mischief as fun.  As they are on their last hurrah, they are caught by FLAK (the cyber cops) and the leader of the team is killed by one of the FLAK officers.  Instead of facing jail time, Toru joins with FLAK to find the killer and avenge the death of his friend.  It's a rather wild ride as he's kidnapped by VSS, rescued by the Fei Dao, and he finds that he was part of a joint FLAK/VSS experiment when he was a child.  His sister was also part of the experiment and has since shed her mortal flesh and become a ghost in the machine.  Unbeknownst to everyone, his little sister has another personality where she absorbs data in the virtual world and kills the people in the real world (heads blowing up is rather comical).  Well, the end comes faster then desired and Toru is in a battle against his little sister to save the world.

Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden... AWESOME

Title: Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden
Rating:  6 out of 5

Let me start off by saying this is by far my overall favorite anime series and for those who haven't seen Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden, you are missing some great Anime. These are actually two different series centered around the same character.  The first series Naruto show the main character Uzumaki Naruto (Japanese have the family name first) as a child entering the Ninja Academy (similar to grade school) and the formation of their team (Team 7).  The team is made up of Naruto, two other students, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, and their team captain and teacher Hatake Kakashi, whose views don't necessarily follow the typical Ninja mentality.  According to the typical Ninja mentality, a ninja who fails his mission is worthless but in his eyes, one who abandons his team members is worse.  The series does well in developing each of the characters as well as the relationships between all the team members.  There are a ton of sites that describe each of the members in detail and the story line.  Just understand that there is a deep secret that everyone but Naruto knows, which impacted his life and has focused his determination to be accepted by everyone and become the Hokage - the #1 ninja and leader of Konoha (the Leaf Village).  The series takes a lot of twists and turns with some learning and growing for each of the young ninja as well as some betrayals and unexpected events.  The series ends with Naruto leaving the village under the guidance and protection of one of the greatest Leaf Ninjas, Jiraiya or as Naruto calls him, pervy sage.  The Naruto series was aired between October 3, 2002 and February 8, 2007 and is comprised of 220 episodes (that's 110 hours of viewing pleasure!!!).

The second series Naruto Shippuuden (shippuuden translates to hurricane chronicles) shows Naruto returning to the village a few years later and continues with his growth and education learning new ninja techniques.  The development and interaction of the characters continues well in this series.  As the characters are a few years older (late teens), the intended audience has also aged as well as some of the themes aren't geared for elementary school kids.  The second series has the death of some major characters and the changing of a crush love to a more mature love between several of the characters for example.  The episodes began airing on February 15, 2007 and are currently in production.  Right now, they are in Season 12 and it will be going on for a while longer.  As of today, episode 274 was released where we find everyone involved in the fourth Ninja War (a war involving all the Ninja nations).

FYI, these are all based on a manga (Japanese comic book) for those who would rather read than watch anime.  I would imagine that this may be one of the largest anime series.

If you have questions or would like additional information, please let me know and I'll see what I can do for you!

Thanks for reading... :)

What do Nosebleeds in Anime signify?

Often times you will see one of the characters (typically a male character) experience a nosebleed.  This phenomena is associated with sexual excitement.  I don't understand why the Japanese associate this with nosebleeds but there have been some that launch the character into the sky so hard that they disappear with the stereotypical vanishing *ding*.  This has been accepted into the common Anime.  So if you see this occur, you can expect that some undergarment or nudity preceding the event.

Saint Seiya Omega

Title:  Saint Seiya Omega
Rating:  3.5 of 5

Toss in an old school martial arts movie where the student's benefactor is kidnapped and mix in some Voltron, Pokemon, and you get this Anime.  I wasn't sure if I was going to like it but it's turned out fairly watchable.  You even get a little history lesson with ancient Greek gods and some information on constellations.  Basically, our young hero was born under the Saint's star and has been raised on an island trained to become a saint.  The island is attacked by the big bad boss man and his benefactor is kid napped.  So he sets out to become stronger and free his benefactor from the big bad evil dude.

It's a fun little Anime that you can watch if  you have the time...