Review: Gunslinger Girl – Disc 1

Title: Gunslinger Girl
Produced By: Madhouse
Directed By: Morio Asaka
North American Distribution By: FUNimation
Year: 2003
Genre: Action, Drama, Science Fiction
Ratings (out of 5):
Story: 4
Art: 5
Sub: 3
Dub: N/A (Didn’t watch)
Overall: 4

---

Gunslinger Girl is easily one of the darkest anime series I’ve ever seen. Sure, it doesn’t look all that dark; it’s not like Hellsing or Gantz, the DVD covers of which are enough to make you feel a little creeped out. But believe me, this shit’s black as night.

In the first episode, we meet Jose and Henrietta. Jose introduces the pair as fratello, and we soon learn that these pairings are common in the Social Welfare Agency, the modern-day Italian government program where he works. The S.W.A. “rescues” children who’ve suffered tragedies (all of which leave the children without any family) and re-conditions them, physically and mentally, into only part-human political assassins. The younger the child, the easier it is to transform her from an innocent little girl to the kind of killer no one would ever see coming. Henrietta was the sole survivor of a massacre that left her orphaned and suicidal before the S.W.A. essentially reprogrammed her. There are other fratello who work for the S.W.A., each pair consisting of one adult handler and one damaged little girl.

The other four episodes on disc one introduce us to some of the other girls, including Rico, who is, as far as we know, the only one who’s retained memories of her life before the S.W.A. took her. Triela is the oldest assassin, and she has trouble earning respect from her handler. Claes is used to test experimental machine components before they are implemented on the other girls, and how she came to live at the agency is a mystery. The handlers are worth mentioning, too. Jose seems to have developed a more personal relationship with his partner, Henrietta, and she’s becoming increasingly devoted to him in a way that she’s not supposed to be able to. Some of the other handlers are indifferent or even cruel, but the girls are under strict control, and since most of them know no other way of life, the agency is their home and the people they work with the only family they have.

The storyline is a bit awkward at times as the time line is fluid, jumping from past to present, often with very little warning. Also, there’s a bit of repetition. For example, the first five minutes of the second episode are the last five minutes of the first one, which seems unnecessary. The subtitles are good, though they are awkwardly timed in places, which can lead you to believe one character’s dialogue belongs to someone else unless you’re paying very close attention. The animation is clean and soft, almost dreamlike, and the colors are muted, like a rainy day. Even when a little girl pulls a gun out of a violin case and starts blasting bloody holes in grown men, the visuals are stunning, and the action scenes are dynamic without being overbearing.

The opening theme is worth mentioning, too, as it’s not only one of my favorite anime themes, but also one of my favorite songs. It’s “The Light Before We Land” by The Delgados, which some of you might recognize from the seasonal CD mixes I used to send out before I got my first MP3 player. It’s posted below.

Review: D.N.Angel – Discs 1 & 2

English Title: D.N.Angel
Produced By: Dentsu
Directed By: Koji Yoshikawa and Nobuyoshi Habara
North American Distribution By: ADV Films
Year: 2003
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance, Action
Ratings (out of 5):
Story: 3/3.5
Art: 3/3
Sub: 4/4
Dub: 2 (First episode only; I didn’t listen to the dub on any other episodes.)
Overall: 3.5/3.5

---

Daisuke Niwa is a shy, awkward teenager who is shocked to learn on his fourteenth birthday that he is able to transform into Dark Mousy, the legendary Phantom Thief. The spirit of Dark is passed down on the male line in the Niwa family, and he steals objects usually imbued with some sort of dark energy so the malevolent force within them can be sealed off. Unbeknownst to Daisuke, his grandfather and mother have been training him for the moment he became the newest incarnation of Dark his entire life.

As if this wasn’t awkward enough, Daisuke seems most likely to transform into Dark when he sees a picture of Risa Harada, the girl he loves. Problem is, Risa’s in love with Dark, unaware that Daisuke and Dark are (sort of) the same person. Dark, meanwhile, has kissed Risa’s twin sister, Riku, who isn’t sure what to think about either Dark or Daisuke.

The first disc—titled The Dawn of Dark—contains the first four episodes, which are pretty much what you’d expect from your average shojo series: lots of gazing and sighing and misunderstandings and obscenely cute characters (particularly the Niwa family’s pet rabbit/marshmallow, With). The exception to this is episode four, in which we are introduced to Dark’s counterpart and enemy, Krad. The second disc—Double Helix—contains episodes five through eight, and delves into the history of the Niwa family, at least as far as Daisuke’s mother and grandfather are concerned.

The whole series seems extremely formulaic so far, but that’s not meant to suggest that it isn’t also enjoyable in its own way. At the end of the second disc, Daisuke begins acting out against Dark, who is focused only on the objects he’s supposed to steal, even at the cost of other people’s feelings, so things could get more complicated (and a bit more compelling) in upcoming volumes. The subtitles are pretty good, and I gave it an extra point because ADV translated written Japanese that appears on screen in addition to the voice track, which is not something that seems to be standard among companies that license anime, even though it should be. The animation is uneven, veering between perfectly average and perfectly lovely, sometimes within the same scene. One thing I really love, though, is the opening theme. I don’t grade music, but if I did, I’d give the opening song at least a four; I’m a sucker for drums that could make your heart vibrate right out of your chest. I’ve posted it below.

Review: Welcome to the NHK – Disc One

English Title: Welcome to the N.H.K.
Japanese Title: N.H.K. ni Yokoso!
Produced By: GONZO
Directed By: Yusuke Yamamoto
North American Distribution By: ADV Films
Year: 2006
Genre: Dark Comedy, Drama, Slice of Life
Ratings (out of 5):
Story: 4
Art: 5
Sub: 4
Dub: N/A (Didn’t watch.)
Overall: 4

---

Welcome to the N.H.K. was produced by GONZO, the studio that also produced titles such as Hellsing, Trinity Blood, and Chrono Crusade. As expected from their previous projects, this series features clean, dynamic animation and several bizarre story elements that may or may not ever make sense, since I imagine many of them are simply meant to represent that the main character is a little nuts.

Disc one features the first four episodes, in which we meet Sato Tatsuhiro, a 22-year-old paranoid shut-in who is part of a Japanese phenomenon known as hikikomori. Hikikomori voluntarily remove themselves from society for six months or more—in Sato’s case, it’s been almost four years since he left his apartment during the day. He occasionally leaves at night to buy food or sit on a park bench and stare off into space. Sato sleeps eighteen hours a day and seems to spend most of his time either stewing over the anime music coming from his next door neighbor’s apartment or feeding his paranoia by focusing on conspiracy theories. It’s this state of mind that leads him to “realize” that one of Japan’s premier broadcasters, N.H.K. (Nippon Hoso Kyokai), is actively trying to create other hikikomori. (He believes N.H.K. stands for “Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai”, or “Japanese Hikikomori Association”)

Somehow, Sato comes to the attention of Misaki Nakahara, a teenage girl who thinks she can cure him of his reclusiveness. Sato’s in denial, though, and refuses to admit to Misaki that he is hikikomori, and the first four episodes focus on his attempts to prove to her that he’s a perfectly functional guy who works from home instead of the reclusive, paranoid, unemployed conspiracy theorist he really is.

The first volume of Welcome to the N.H.K. manages to be over the top without becoming too surreal to understand. It’s also funny, but the glimpses we receive of Sato’s memories of a former classmate hint at something sadder beneath the surface. Considering, too, that the majority of the first four episodes take place within either Sato’s filthy apartment or the cramped nerd lair belonging to his neighbor, Kaoru Yamazaki, the tone of the disc is fairly light-hearted, poking fun at hikikomori and otaku culture without being unnecessarily cruel about it.

Episode four ends with a bit of a cliffhanger. I expect the next disc will start answering some of the questions brought up by Sato’s flashbacks of his high school classmate, which will probably uncover some of the reasons he became hikikomori in the first place.

As for the technical stuff, the subtitles get layered over one another every once in a while while a character talks over a television broadcast or multiple characters talk at the same time. It’s pretty typical in most anime subs, but that doesn’t mean it’s still not a little distracting. I’ve seen series that seemed to handle these situations better, so I know it can be done, which is why that category, and the disc, received a four out of five. The story is still a little confusing simply because we don’t have all the pieces to which Sato keeps mentally referring, but I’m pretty sure those things will become clearer as the series progresses.

Review: RentAnime.com

Okay, so I just have time for a quick review of RentAnime.com, which is the Netflix-like service I recently signed up for. I’ve only had it for a few days now, but I still have some comments.

The website sucks. It’s got an indecipherable organizational system that seems alphabetical at first, but which is only kinda alphabetical. They also don’t have DVDs organized by genre, so you just sort of have to scroll through everything. This is okay, since I’m finding series that I might not have otherwise, but I can see how it would be annoying if you were looking for something specific.

Also, be aware that there are some series with missing discs. They’re all, as far as I can tell, old, out of print DVDs, so that’s why the company hasn’t replaced them. Just know that you do have to pay a bit of attention when you’re filling up you’re queue. For the most part, though, the series seem to be complete, and the DVDs I received yesterday are in great condition.

The queue feature is pretty great. It’s got something called “Series Lock” which prevents you from getting the discs for any one series out of order. If the next disc is unavailable, you get a different series. Since many anime fans are used to juggling several series at a time anyway while distributors release something like one series disc every three months, this is a great thing. I’m sure anime virgins would think it was annoying, though. You can list one series in your queue at a time to ensure that you only watch one show at a time, but I’m absolutely certain that would cause horrible delays.

Which brings me to turnaround. I can’t really say anything definitive right now, since I’ve only got my first shipment yesterday, but if the turnaround time stays within even a day or two of what it currently is, I’ll be ecstatic. RentAnime.com is located in Tampa, Florida, and since I’m in North Carolina, it only took two days for my DVDs to get here. I also did some research before signing up, and, by all accounts, they don’t throttle their accounts the way Netflix did. (Still does? They did when I was a member, but I know they got sued for it, so I hope they’ve stopped.)

Oh, and if you don’t know what that means, when I first joined Netflix, I got new DVDs within three or four days of mailing them out. But within six weeks, it was supposedly taking them a week and a half to receive discs I’d sent them, which effectively put a limit on the “unlimited” number of DVDs I could rent from them (three at a time, of course). Like I said, they got sued for it, so I’m not the only person they did this to. It was a class-action suit, and they “paid out” by temporarily bumping up people’s subscriptions.

So, again, according to the service reviews I read, RentAnime.com doesn’t throttle their member’s accounts, and this first shipment of DVDs got here in two days.

I will, of course, report any significant changes if they occur, but for now, I do recommend the service. Just be prepared to browse, build up your queue (I’ve got over 120 discs in it right now), and juggle multiple series at one time.

Oh, and the initial subscription options are one-at-a-time for $9.95 a month or three-at-a-time for $19.95 (the option I chose). According to RentAnime.com’s FAQ, subscribers are given the option of going up to a five-at-a-time subscription plan after a certain period of time, but I don’t know yet how much that costs. Considering how much anime DVDs cost, though, the prices are extremely fair. There’s no way I could have gotten my hands on the first three DVDs I rented from them for 20.00, let alone the others I’ll receive from them before the month is over.

So, the website needs to be overhauled, but I can manage. Everything else: so far, so good. I do recommend it.