Media | Anime Releases | October 9, 2007: A light week with a fair amount of crud. Prepared with the help of The Digital Bits and cover art courtesy of Amazon.

Roundup by Mightyblue | Posted October 8, 2007

Pick of the week

Yu Yu Hakusho: Seven Sins
Only one pick for this week, and it’s the One Shounen Show To Rule Them All, pretty much. Tired of asinine plot devices, endless screaming and energy balls flying every which way? Too bad, 'cause you’re not going to get any relief from Yu Yu Hakusho, the epitome of what any good genre piece should be -- and one whose good parts are too infrequently emulated for everyone's good. Both the show and the manga upon which it's based are the brainchild of one Yoshihiro Togashi, who is also famous for creating Hunter x Hunter. The man is quite simply one of the best authors/artists ever to cater to teenage boys; his work tends to involve far more character development (not to mention care and planning) than most shounen series, and YYH is no different. This is the latest edition in Funi’s uncut releases, restoring all art and dialogue that had been edited for broadcast, and it contains 13 episodes.

The Other Stuff

Kurau: Phantom Memory Vol. 4 Mirror Image
An odd sci-fi piece about a woman who, as a child, merged with some sort of energy creature that exists in pairs. The meat of the story transpires ten years after that, when the second of the pair of energy creatures awakens and they're forced to flee in order to prevent the powers of the energy creatures from being exploited. Worth a watch.

Fate/Stay Night, Vol. 6: The Holy Grail
One of the most perplexing things about Japan is that some of the better mainstream anime shows are based on pornographic games and cartoons. Type Moon, the developer of the game that inspired Fate/Stay Night, is about as popular in Japan as, say, Bungie or Take-Two in America. At any rate, this series is a modern-day fantasy of sorts, centering around something called the “Holy Grail War” in which a series of magicians and their summoned servants do battle in order to obtain the grail and fulfill a wish. It's like DragonBall with the cup of Christ, except not actually like that at all. For starters, the original had way more boobies than DragonBall -- although this particular version of Fate/Stay Night was made for TV and therefore lacks the, uh, "adult" parts. Even so, expect a healthy (?) amount of violence and mature themage. Make it rental, not a purchase.

Blood Reign & Kimera
These are two rather middling -- if not outright crappy -- OAVs which saw American release back in the olden days. Blood Reign is about a ninja who has the tricky task of killing an undead monster which won’t, uh, die; Kimera is about a race of extraterrestrial vampires who land on Earth and proceed with turning the weak man-things into their food. Both OAVs contain copious amounts of violence, gore, and sex. We’re talking bad B-movie quality entertainment here, which seems the best anime can muster up to add to October's pile of horror movies. Skip it.

Galaxy Angel Rune, Vol 3.
This is the latest (read, fifth, FIFTH) entry in the Galaxy Angel series, and features an entirely new cast. I’d like to note that, kinda like Fate/Stay Night, this is also based off a series of dating sims. It is, however, nowhere near as good as Fate -- which is saying something, 'cause Fate’s not all that great an adaptation either. Expect copious amounts of pandering, stupidity and moé. For pervs only. Skip it... unless, of course, you're a perv.

Anime Boxsets and Other Things of a Swaggy Nature

Only one box set this week, Kyo Kara Maoh Season 1. It’s an odd show about a regular Japanese kid who becomes the king of the demon world, or somesuch. Worth a Netflix, if nothing else.

The Other "Other" Stuff

  • Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Vol 4: Between Death and Danger (borderline rental)
  • Samurai 7 Vol. 3: From Farm to Fortress (rental)
  • Samurai 7 Vol. 4: Battle for Kanna (rental)
  • Dog Warriors: The Hakkenden Vol. 4 (buy)

Finally, a bit more news on the Geneon front. The company will be releasing all their solicited catalog entries through early November, which gives fans about a month of content before the end. They also won’t accept returns from their webstore after that time either. And that's all that's going on in an otherwise slow week for animedom. Discuss it on the Forums!