Texhnolyze

Title: Texhnolyze
Alternate Title: none
Genre: drama, psychological, sci-fi
Run time: 24 minutes
Episode count: 22
Vintage: 2003
Review:

Texhnolyze is an anime by the producer of lain. Its a hard hitting anime built around a town that was locked underground by the rest of humanity and themes around human evolution. This anime has a highly original story line that is influenced heavily by cyber punk.

The animation for this series was phenomenal. The whole world his highly muted and drab with tons of textures and grit, which is perfect for the storyline. Its done in a similar visual style as lain with hidden themes through out the background and setting. Normally I don't bother to mention sound, but that's where this anime excels. The soundscapes in this anime are truly amazing. You can hear when a light flickers and when water drops even if its off screen. This is a huge part of why I continued to watching during slow moments

The anime is fully serious and dark. There is no humor but there is a nice amount of blood and action to keep the story moving. However, even with the action and blood sequences this anime still drags. There is no real way to fix this and still tell the story. The story makes it fully worth any slow part.

This anime is truly amazing. At the end it leaves you thinking with more questions than answers. This is something anime currently is lacking for the most part. So since the only problem I have with this anime is some of its slower parts I will give it a 9 out of 10

Next Up:
Full Metal Panic Fumoffu

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Title: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Alternate Title: None
Genre: Slice of life, comedy, psychological
Run time: 24 minutes
Episode count: 14
Vintage: 2006
Review:

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is a slice of life anime based on a story about a girl who can control the world to make it fit with what she believes is interesting. Nothing is cookie cutter about this anime. To make it even more original there is a trick to it. The first episode is out of sequence. The first episode is really the last episode. This throws off the average consumer, which is really a shame because this anime is so unique. If watched it outshines most other animes in this genre if not all of them.

The animation is relatively well done. They use a few different styles. They use the typical slice of life style animation, a home movie style animation, and an imposed monochromatic video overlay in one episode. This is nice it uses elements not typically seen in anime.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is full of humor based of of characters that are the extreme versions of stereotypes, however each character plays a double role. There is a ditzy pretty girl who is a time traveler, an esper who is part of an elite organization, a bookworm who is really an alien gathering data, a normal depressed male who is the shows narrator, and then the lead is that typical out there space cadet but she controls the world with emotions.

This anime is a constantly changing with unique plots and stories up to the very end. However, there are a couple of things I did not like. I hated the show being driven by the male leads internal narration. It gets old you have to pay super close attention to see when he is actually speaking and the voice is drab. The other thing I disliked was the home movie episode being the first episode. It will make alot of people not watch the series, however after the series is watched you get the joke that is told throughout the home movie and it quickly becomes a favorite episode. I suggest watching the other episodes first or at least know going in that the first episode isnt intended to make sense till the end of the series. For that reason I give it an 8 out of 10.

Next Up:
Tokyo Underground

No E In

Title: No E In
Alternate Title: To your other self
Genre: Sci-fi, drama, adventure
Run time: 30 minutes
Episode count: 24
Vintage: 2005
Review:

First off, this anime was visually stunning. I had countless different animation styles used. Not only that but it used them in the best ways possible. They even used sketch styles which normally means skimping on production costs. However, they used it in a stylized manner to emphasize emotion and battles. This anime did a great job of delving into theoretical physics. It made physics interesting even to the casual watcher. The battle scenes were amazing even though they were few between. This anime was more about psychological development and physics than action. So when they spiced in action it was a real treat and masterfully done. Even the recap episode placed in the show was done with finesse and style. I give this anime a 9. It loses one point for the slow moving plot in places. I don't think they could really help that with the story line and themes and they combated that as much as possible with a few action sequences.

Next up Flame of Recca

School Days

Title: School Days
Alternate Title: none
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Psychological
Run time: 25 minutes
Episode count: 12
Vintage: 2007
Review:

I expected it to be your run of the mill Harem anime. This anime was dark and twisted and did so in just 12 episodes. It was wonderfully poetic. Its about a guy who doesn't know how to run with the girls if you catch my drift. So he gets set up by his friend and then this friend teaches how to make girls happy. Then she falls in love and he becomes a play boy. At the end it becomes horrible tragic and violent. I rate it a 9