Review: Death Note

Death Note Review

This is a review of the Death Note collection on 9 DVDs.

 There may be minor spoilers in the pictures shown, and notes but this was released in 2006 so i am a little late to the Death Note party.

There was a manga  released first but i have not read any of it, so this review is just the series.

 The series introduces Shinigami or death gods who live in a dull and boring realm and can extend there lives by taking the lives of humans.

 Each  Shinigami has their own Death Note, this is a book that will cause the death of anyone whose name is written within. The Shinigami will gain the life of that being.

 Light Yagami an intelligent young man, finds a Death Note and takes on a mission to make the world a better place by writing the names of criminals in it.

 The Death Note Light finds is dropped in our realm by the Shinigami Ryuk.

Ryuk seems to be visiting human realm to alleviate his boredom.

 Lights antics soon come to the attention of the authorities and of another young genius called only L. I am not sure who L works for but it seems he is like a private contractor hired by the government to solve crimes.

 The series follows the psychological drama as Light and L match wits in order to fulfill their desires. It is generally well done but does sometimes get a little into the "I out thought you and knew you were going to do that so i did this, but knowing you would know that i would do this,  i did this other thing as well..etc."

 The dynamics between Light and L are great and we were often left wondering if there was a little more to the relationship. The series doesn't shy away from such things as one female character was clearly in love with another. But the relationship between L and Light is only strongly hinted at.

 Don't come to this show expecting man on man loving, its sadly just not shown on screen.

There is only a very small amount of fan-service here.

 The art is amazingly good, and i absolutely love the design of the various Shinigami. Though i wish they and their real were explored more.

 What must be towards the end of the second season kind of takes a downward spiral for me, i wasn't as interested in where the story was heading.

 The show explores themes of morality, justice and death. I really did enjoy it and really want more.

 I am a little confused but Death Note Relight (1&2) seems to be the same anime but from Kyuks perspective and there are some live action movies also available. Be aware that the live-action movies may have English subtitles but may not be dubbed in English.

 This is a great show, low on the action but highly engaging. The DVD set is released by Madman in Australia and while the DVD set is of good quality i can not recommend purchasing it through the Madman web store after the problems i have had with them.

Review: Cowboy Bebop

Cowboy Bebop Review

 I am very late to the party on this one as Cowboy Bebop was released way back in 1998. I had tried a few times over the years to watch this series as i had heard good things, but that intro music, its so bad, i just couldn't get past it.

 What i did end up watching recently was the Cowboy Bebop REMIX Complete Collection DVD 6 disk set. 

The physical package is fine, the disks didn't skip or anything like that. 

The show is set in space and follows a small group of spacers and their ship.

 The name of this show is weird, but Bebop is the name of the casts ship.

 While cowboy is what the residents of the system call bounty hunters.

 The art is fine, its not overly detailed but passable, especially when we remember when it was made. Its not awful by any stretch of the imagination.

 The music is very hit and miss. As i mentioned the intro music is horrific. The intro is discordant and reminds me of the "music" from Naked Lunch. I should say that most of the music is OK, i am not really into blues or jazz, but it wasn't terrible. Some of the tunes were even quite catchy.

 There are some cool physical fights and shootouts.

 There are a few ship battles and chases which are cool.

 The story covers the adventures of the crew as they try to collect bounty's and deal with issues from their pasts. 

There are some running jokes and some funny moments.

 Most of the crew gets at least an episode exploring their backstory. There is a dog, and we are told there was something more to the dog, but it was not explained. But maybe that's the joke?

 Considering when this was made there are a few passing mentions of LGBT characters and its not handled horribly.

 I really enjoyed this series, while it wasn't the best i have ever seen. It was good and i am very glad i finally got around to watching it.

 Definitely check this out, its well worth your time.

I am going to give this series 3 and a 1/2 out of 5 juicy gum leaves. Have you seen it? What did you think?

Review: Tokyo Ghoul

Tokyo Ghoul

This is season one of Tokyo Ghoul. This show is apparently based on a very popular manga, but i have not seen any of the manga. 

The basic premise is that there is a race of creatures living beside humankind. These ghouls are indistinguishable from humans (except for maybe via blood test) and the general public know of their existence. 

Ghouls can only eat human meat, anything else (mostly) makes them ill. They need to eat once a month but some called binge eaters kill and eat a lot more humans.
There are also gourmand who like to experiment with their diet, i think.

There is a group of government sponsored humans, some obviously psychotic, that go around killing suspected ghouls with impunity.
I have no idea why blood tests and ID cards are not a thing in this world, some ghouls wear masks sometimes to hide their human faces.

Oh the ghouls can also produce kagune from their body's, which range from energy looking things to insect-like appendages. I was reminded of Parasyte by this aspect.

So in this world we have a human who gets turned into a half-ghoul, sort of. I wont say this season is about him as such, but he is in most episodes a lot.

 The art is really nice, the music is cool. The premise is interesting, but everything seems a little glossed over, i kind of felt like i was missing large pieces of characterization and exposition.

There is some fan service for those who want it, but other than a boob shot in the first episode most of it isn't gratuitous.

There are some amusing moments and some horrible ones. There is a torture scene that goes on and on and seems like its never going to end, which was probably the point but still.

Also there are a lot of characters, most not fully developed, characterization seems to be a major flaw with this series.

This is classed as a horror anime and i suppose it is, but the only time i was scared was when my cat sat up, and i jumped.

While i enjoyed this series, it is flawed. I wanted more. I want to actually know the characters and care about them. There also seems to be a lot of plot holes, and i hope that season two addresses these issues.  Also you should be aware that none of the many plots seem to be resolved this season, the series ends on a cliff hanger.
I will be watching season two, i have hopes for this show.

Review: Free! Eternal Summer Review

Free! Eternal Summer

review

This is season two of Free!, season one was titled Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. Sadly season one hasn't been released in Australia yet. Free! is an anime about a group of high school friends who create a swim club, and follows that summer. 

The story also deals with the rivalry between the Iwatobi swim club and their rivals the Samezuka Academy swimming group.

It should be pointed out that this anime is a story about friendship and rivalry. 

There isn't much action as such, no not expect giant  robots or alien symbiotic parasites.

 Expect a beautiful story about friendship, love and rivalry. I don't mean that to sound boring at all, the show if far from boring. It also left me with a smile on my face almost the entire time.

The story is amazing but the art is utterly beautiful. The use of shadow and darkness to aid in the mood of a scene is brilliant.

Light is used to equal effect and some of the night scenes are simply breathtaking.

 

Perspective is also used to great effect. 

It may be a slight SPOILER but there are some really terrible Australian accents, so much cringe.

I have to say i loved this season, other than it being too short, and the guys seeming to be missing some nipples i have no complaints. It was quite expensive though.

The Australian DVD set is released by Madman. I have a few Madman DVDs in my collection and they are usually good quality.

The inside cover of the DVD case has a cool picture of the club.

The spine of the DVD case says it includes four disks, while the front says it contains only two.

So my biggest issue with the DVD set is that it is missing the majority of the extra features. These features were listed on the Madman web store as well as on the back of the DVD case. I have crossed out the features that are missing, in the photo above.

 I have contacted Madman ans am still awaiting a response, i will update here with the outcome.
Also the copyright warning is long, a Madman video which is  yet another copyright warning thing and you cant skip any of them.

I will give this DVD set 3 1/2 out of 5, but the show itself would be 4 1/2 out of 5, i am lowering the score based on the missing features from the disks. 

I would not recommend buying this DVD set at full price until the issues are sorted out.