Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

From one of the greatest mangas of all time comes one of the greatest animes of all time. Episode one gives you a taste on how the rest of the series is going to play out. Guy turns into chick, old man turns into panda. Personally if I could turn into a woman with big firm jugs, I would never change back. But then again I am a very, very sick man. It manages to keep adding more and more goofy characters each couple of episodes and most of them have an axe to grind with Ranma (ie Ryoga) or are in love with his female side (ie Kuno). This anime is pure fun, tons of laughs. It is a bit expensive but personally it is worth every penny. Nothing in this country is half as funny anymore.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

This series is about Momosuke a young writer of puzzles for children who is trying to compile a book of 100 ghost stories who on a dark and stormy night encounters three very unusual people who have a very unusual job, the punish people so that spirits can rest. Think of them like reverse ghostbusters, they are Mataichi, the leader who is a seller of talismans and trinkets, Ogin the sexy, oh so sexy, puppet master, and Nagammi the bird caller. Momosuke keeps bumping into the Mataichi Gang as their called until he winds up traveling with them. This is a wonderful example of the differences between western animation and anime. This is a very mature show, the first two episodes might put you off with their shocking violence aimed towards young children, the cracking watermelon noise in the second episode really creeped me out, and if you can do that then you've done a might thing and I congratulate you. Another thing I liked about this disc is the different animation style, it is very surreal which is very fitting to the shows rather unusual theme. The style is kinda like MTV's animated series based on Sam Keith's comic the Maxx. If you can get through the first two episodes I know you will like it, I love this series and look forward to the other discs. The dub isn't too bad, it is fairly average, the only voice I didn't like was Mataichi he came across as too old, Ogin's voice sounded a lot like Fujiko which goes really well with her sexy, sexy figure. This anime really came in under the radar mainly because it came out at the same time as Paranoia Agent another really amazing supernatural thriller and it stole most of Requiem's thunder. I hadn't even heard of this series until Right Stuf had it on sale in September, I read the little blurb and immediately knew it was for me. I bought it and sure enough I loved it.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Momosuke continues to travel with the Mataichi Gang as they continue to hunt down ghosts. In the first episode Momosuke actually assists the Mataichi gang in investigating a noble lord living in a mansion. Momosuke arrives starving to death and it nursed back to health by the kindly servants but Momosuke becomes more sick after eating, with a lot of vomitting. It is then he learns of the legend of the Hayate, if you eat the meat of a horse its ghost rides around in your stomach until you die. Momosuke learns that the lord of the house had eaten a horse to survive once and it is the horse that is cursing him, or it is something more that haunts him. This is the first time Momosuke actually takes part in the ghost hunt, and seems to enjoy it. The next episode involes a traveling puppet show which Ogin works for that have a wild man who thinks he is Tanuki. For those who don't know what a Tanuki is or never played Super Mario 3, a tanuki is a Raccoon, and Mario gets a Raccoon Suit in the game which allows him to fly. The Tanuki man is also a vicious serial killer who has been killing women each time the puppetry troupe stops. This time Momosuke actually takes the lead in killing this man by sending dogs after him. This is another great episode becausee Nagammi takes a more active role in dealing with Momosuke. In the final episode I was actually worried because they travel to a town where Ogin is found dead, murdered by a vengeful ghost who kills all women who are more beautiful than her. For the better part of the episode I believed they killed her, this is the kind of series that would do something like that and let's face it Ogin is far and away my favorite character, not just because she is the only one with breasts, and such nice ones too, but of the three Mataichi gang, she is the most human. But thankfully she is alive and well, or at least well, we aren't totally sure she is alive anymore or maybe it was all an illusion. That is one of the great thing about this series, you are never totally sure what is real and what is an illusion created by the Mataichi gang. I also like how the tackle sticky subjects like child murder and cannibalism so well, it isn't exploitative, but they don't shy away from it either. I love this series, it is really so unique and worth watching by everybody not just anime fans or horror fans.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Momosuke visits his brother in Kyoto and finds that several citizens have been killed in a strane manner, a black stone has been thrust into their foreheads as if fired from a gun but the rocks are too rough to have been fired from a gun. The rocks have been fired from a cursed field gun that caused several tragic deaths because evil people wanted its power. This is the only episode so far where the intended target of the Mataichi Gang is strong enough to over come the evil within him and is spared being sent to the next world by Mataichi and company. This episode also has zombie attack flying squirrels who attack Momosuke's samurai brother. This is a really interesting note about the series, often the supporting characters are bizarre and freakish in appearence but Momosuke and his brother actually look like brothers. They aren't identical but they share enough characteristics that you immediately recognize that they are brothers. You never see this in anime unless the pair are identical twins. The next episode looks into Ogin's past and Momosuke learns a shocking truth about the very yummy Ogin. They return to Edo where they are going after Giemon, an unkillable bandit whose head has been cut off three times but yet he always comes back, now that is a tough guy. But like everything else in this series truth isn't in the eye of the beholder. A samurai Lord was the original Giemon and has manipulated enough people to make the legend work. Ogin wants his skin because he killed her mother and blamed her father for it. We also learn that Ogin died too at his hands. They devise a particularly gruesome and visually interesting curse for him. He starts to grow these horrible lump growths on his face and body. This taps into a primal feeling I think all people have and that is the fear of their own bodies and of course this series takes it to the extreme. The final episode is about a woman who starts fires and incinerates those she doesn't like. This one ends different, Momosuke getting in the way of the exorcism of the flame demon and then she is spirited, pun intended, by the two old shriveled raisen women who are working for the strange force that is also employs Mataichi and company. Something is up where Mataichi and company are being played, I doubt they like being played. This is a great series, there is something so imaginative, creative and singuarly unique. I love this series, I love ghost stories, and I love anime when you combine the two with a unique look I can't lost.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

This singular series comes to a singular and rather unsettling end. The first episode of this disc involves two twin islands where one disappeared and now sea ghosts are pulling the local fishermen to death. Momosuke goes to investigate and finds that one of the two twin islands has a super weapon that is pure evil which of course makes everybody want it. Mataichi and company are there to exorcize the cannon's evil spirit but it gets stolen by the two old hermit women who are working for their employer. Now Mataichi, Ogin, and Nagammi got to their employers castle where horrible atrocities are being committed seemingly to create hell on earth. Momosuke follows although they told him to stay away. Momosuke gets captured and imprisoned in the dungeon of terror. Mataichi and company exorcize the castle and its evil inhabitants by first terorizing the already terrorized villagers. Momosuke says farewell to the Mataichi gang and returns to Edo to finish his hundred ghost stories. The last two episodes were really unsettling, lots of people die in rather brutal fashions, including burning at the stake, impaled on spears, and eaten by a nasty panther. This ends very well, this series is made up of ghost stories, each their own storyline with the main storyline of the employer using the Mataichi Gang to gather the items he needed to destroy his own village, that is one messed up guy. I did like Ogin's affection for Momosuke, it was rather subtle but it was there. I kinda wished this series would have gone on a little longer, I just loved every ghost story, they were so well done. The animation was so different yet very good. This is not a series for everybody there is a lot of disturbing imagery. It is quiet amazing that this made it on Japanese TV, this stuff is almost too disturbing to make it on premium cable. I love this series, it is definitely in my top five favorite anime series of all time, you can't argue with Ogin, she is just that yummy.

Story: A
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A 

Utena is a top boy at a swanky private school where everybody is dressed like they are at a royal ball. She meets another girl who is the finacee of a jerk. So Utena challenges him to a duel, and this being called Revolutionry Girl Utena, she of course wins. This now makes Anthy her finacee because she is the prize to be won during these duals. Yes Utena is a girl and Anthy is a girl, lets get all the girl on girl giggles out now, this is a long series. Utena and Anthy get to know one another and learn to navigate the treacherous ways of high school while Utena duals members of the student council which are all long haired vaguely Yaoi material guys and deal with jealous girls. From costume balls, to the dangers of gym class there is a lot emotion, and swordfighting to rock opera music. But that is the problem with Utena, it is nothing but talking about emotions and then a swordfight. Chu-Chu the comic relief critter is very funny and can interject some humor into the episodes but I much more prefer the creator's original work, Sailor Moon much more.

Story: A
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A 

The first episode of the disc attempts to inject some wacky humor that involves Utena and Anthy swapping personality because of some magical curry and some of their classmates have to venture to the ends of the earth to find the cure. Each time they get chased by a stampede of animals including elephants on a small bridge. That episode ends with a marauding boxing kangaroo. The rest of the disc gets back to its normal rhythm of sword fighting and angst. The series follows up to a fight between Utena and the student class president where Utena loses and loses Anthy. Utena falls apart, even taking to wearing the girl's uniform until her pal beat some sense into her. Of course Utena has a rematch. Guess what? You think Utena wins in the disc finale. The series is a little too predictable and really drags out the walking up the stairs to the rock opera score. I really liked the first episode of the disc because of the good humor that didn't involve a sword fight and a rock opera. The rest of the series is rather repetitive, episode starts, somebody challenges Utena, there is a recap by the shadow puppets, Utena walks up the stairs, Utena and the character fight, Utena wins, that is the basic layout of almost all the episodes. It still is good but a bit repetitive.

Story: A-
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A- 

Utena and Anthy are back, now two new villians have come to the school to give Utena a hard time. After the student council proved totally impotent to defeat one girl two new people have come on the stage. They are boys that look like girls who control all the fallen duelists. They have a box of black rings and they make others do their bidding. When they duel they wear black roses. They send the least likely duelist after Utena and now the dueling ground is different, there are desks and red sillouettes on the floor. The series is still very repetitive, we have inciting incident, shadow puppet recap, rock opera sword fight. The series is repetitive but it does work so far.

Story: A-
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A- 

In this disc the complicated relationship between Utena and her non-sword carrying friend Wakaba. Wakaba has a crush on a guy who is called the Onion Prince, but the Onion Prince is more interested in Utena. That is strike one, strike two and three come when Wakaba discovers Sanji, the green haied former member of the student council who was expelled because of an unauthorized sword fight has been living in her dorm for a a few weeks and now Wakaba is starting to fall ever so deeply in love with him. The only problem is Anthy, at least in Wakaba mind. So she goes to the elevator confessional where the Black Rose people give her the ring and she pulls a sword from Sanji, yes now everybody carries a sword around inside their bodies, you just have to know who to pull it out. Utena doesn't want to fight Wakaba because she is Utena's friend, but Wakaba has gone crazy and wants to kill Anthy so Utena has to defeat her. Again the episodes are very repetitive but still are entertaining me so I will put up with it.

Story: B
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: B+ 

This disc was a disappointment, I thought it was going to be a ghost story. The back of the disc talks about the mysterious school building where 100 students died in a mysterious fire. Silly me I thought Utena and company would end up exploring the building, meets some ghosts, and Utena would have to have a sword fight with one of them. Instead we are treated to three long, talky episodes, with no sword fights, that showcase the guy behind the Black Rose plot. It really doesn't reveal much and is dreadfully boring. I really had my hopes up for some good ghost story stuff but instead it is all about deep emotions and a guy who hasn't aged in years. Whoopie Doo.

Story: B
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: B+ 

The Black Rose Saga has apparently ended in the last disc although this is the last volume of the box set. Now it appears Anthy's brother is becoming the main bad guy and instead of the elevator confessional that was used in the previous discs he takes the would-be duelists out in a sports car with all their shirts open like some odd beefcake car ad. I was rather disappointed that the Black Rose Saga had no real conclusion, it just ended and this just began. The duels are still very similar but now Utena rides up in an elevator instead of climbing the stairs and Anthy pulls the sword from her instead of the other way around. Probably could have trimmed this a bit, but they didn't so that is life.

Story: C
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: C+ 

The final Revolutionary Girl Utena series begins with a very funny episode, the blonde girl finds an egg in her bed and is convinced that she laid it. The episode is very funny, the episodes with the blonde girl always are. The last two episode of the disc fall back to the standard template episode type. Guy appears causes some shock in the school and challenges Utena to a sword fight which she of course wins. The series has a few bright spots but keeps falling back on the standard episode format which begin and end the exact same way. The series needs more variety in it episodes because the appeal of the characters can only take a series so far. The series stumbles and meanders its way through a complicated plot that really never seems to work except for making everything look symbollic. The final confrontation resolves only one little plot point leaving the rest hanging in the air. The ending was very unsatisfying because they go through all this trouble of making this elaborate backstory for Anthy and her brother and then never actual explain any of it. The series would have been better off stopping where the manga ended at least it would have spared itself being dragged through all the unecessary filler episodes that spend more time on the supporting cast than they ever do with the main character.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Possibly one of the most recognized anime series next to Dragonball Z. This is the season that began it all, we follow the life of classic underachiever and cry baby Usagi who meets a talking cat, Luna, who explains she is in fact Sailor Moon, a sailor warrior of truth love and justice. With a catchy transformation phrase she turned into Sailor Moon in a very tight sailor outfit that has been the subject of many a doujinshi. Well she has to fight the force of darkness led by Queen Beryl and a collection of 'questionable' underlings that have fabulously long hair and pretty boy appearences. Well Usagi has not only to fight them off but gather the other Sailor Warriors, albeit they have no idea who they are. Add to this a mysterious guy in a Tuxedo with sunglasses, called Tuxedo Mask (why Tuxedo Mask? He doesn't wear a mask, he wears sunglasses, so why not call him Tuxedo Ray-Bans?). Well each episode brings a new adventure and a new monster to kill with a glowing frisbee or magical can opener. While Usagi can be a touch annoying from time to time, the shows best character is of course Ami Suziki, or Sailor Mercury. She is the cutest, and the smartest but armed with the least offensive weapon of the group, the ability to blind monsters with a spray of bubbles. As much as I shouldn't like this, I have to say I really do like it. It is light and breezy but still enjoyable to watch. The first season is quiet good, the ending is rather interesting for a children's TV show but then again it is Japan and they are a stronger built emotionally than kids in the US I guess. I had seen a few episodes of this years before I knew what anime was on Saturday morning once, then I wasn't that into it but oddly as I get older I seem to enjoy it much more. There are a lot of episode but it is worth the watch.

Story: B-
Animation: B
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: B- 

A priest and three demons travel to distant India to stop the resurrection of Gyumaoh, a really nasty demon. The demons that are traveling with Sanzo the priest wear special items that keep them in human form while they are constantly attacked by demons who follow Gyumaoh. The series starts off very average and kinda slow, we meet the group, Sanzo, Hakkai the calm demon, Gujyo the Water Sprite, and Goku the monkey king. Sanzo and Hakkai are the calm ones that move the plot along while Gunzo and Goku are the comedy relief, always fighting over food and with each other. It takes three episodes to spark my interest in the series, once they really start traveling and are attacked by a travelling theatre troupe who are in fact demons. The last two episides are really good because we are introduced to the opposite number of Sanzo and company led by Kougaji and has a busty demon chick who has a big crush on Hakkai. I have mixed feelings about this series, it is long and so far looks like it is definitely going to take its sweet time to get rolling. In the first episodes Gujyo and Goku are amazingly annoying but by episode 4 they become tolerable if not amusing at times. I hope this series isn't some kind of weird guys only DBZ Fushigi Yugi combination. I'm hoping this series lives up to the hype that was piled upon me and I'm not disappointed.

Story: B
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: B 

Our motley troupe continues on, finding trouble everywhere they go. The first we have a two part episode where the animators really go crazy with all kinds of split screens and distinct colours. We meet a figure from Sanzo's past, Rikudo, who has now become a foul tempered demon killing talismanic monk who wants to kill Sanzo's three demon companions. We get lots of flashbacks about who Sanzo became the priest he is today. We also see what happens when one of his demon companions loses the special power inhibitors that keep them from using all of their powers. Of course it is Gozu, he turns into full monkey demon and beats the living hell out of the Rikudo. In the end Sanzo has to face Rikudo himself. Rikudo is a pretty decent villain, he is the first villain that really causes the group any real problems. Later the group travels to another town in god only knows where I think China, and a fortune teller tells Hakkai that he cares sin with him that will cause nothing but destruction and because we need combat in every episode a giant worm appears and starts tearing the town apart, but at the same time we meet a little cat girl, who is on Kougaiji's side. She is really cute and destroy the worm. Sanzo makes friends with her by feeding her a meat bun when Kougaiji and his demons appear. Now a battle starts but it is a funny battle, Gozu and Kougaji face off, as well as Gojyo and another demon, but then Hakkai faces off against the busty demon from the previous disc who have the most civil battle imaginable, 'May I Fight You?', 'Yes That Will Be Nice.' Sanzo and the cat girl eat meat buns and watch the battle. But the battle comes to an end when the worm comes back and they have to work together to defeat the worm. It is nice to see the two opposing sides working together, it is much more civil than most opposing teams in other anime. The last episode is the funniest of the disc when Sanzo and company go to a town and are given a huge feast when another group arrives and says they are Sanzo and the group. Of course the real Sanzo and company get imprisoned but when a demon turns the imposters into zombies of course who has to save the day. The action is good, it has some funny moments but has yet to really hook me into really liking it yet. Hopefully the next discs will do a better job.

Story: B+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: B+ 

Hakkai gets to confront the demons of his past, or rather the castle full of demons that killed the woman he loved. Well one escaped and now he is back for revenge, a whole lotta revenge. He tries to use Hakkai to defeat himself but he learns that Hakkai and Sanzo are a lot more together than he expected and after two episodes he gets his just deserts. Then the disc gets good because it gets funny. In the first funny episode Gozu is hungry so is cat girl Lirin. They go to this remote monastery where Gozu and Lirin eat this strange fruit which steals their DNA and starts to clone them from the big tree. This is one of the problems I have with the series it is half ancient China and half modern times which gets really confusing at times when you think it is ancient China you get smacked in the head when they start talking about DNA and cloning. But it is great when everybody gets to battle Gozu Clones and Gozu shouts 'Hey You Guys Are Enjoying This Too Much!' very funny. The next episode is much dirtier but totally inoccent. While in a town Goyjo goes out hunting for chicks and winds up helping out an 8 year old girl but Gozu see them and is convinced Goyjo is robbing the cradle. In the end they get to fight this giant plant vampire guy who captured the little girl's mother and father. It was a funny and ecchi episode which goes well with Goyjo's amorous lifestyle. This disc started off a little weak, too much emoting and long speaches but the next two episodes were really good because there is less long speaches and more jokes and fighting. This entire speech keeps me balancing on the line between liking it and it driving me nuts. Well I still have several discs for me to like this series more.

Story: C-
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: C+ 

This series knows how to drive me nuts, this disc serves up three medicore episodes and when I'm just about to give up on the series they manage to come back with a good episode. The first two episodes are a flashback episode only problem they never actually tell you it is a flashback episode. I didn't figure out it was a flashback episode until fifteen minutes into the first of two episodes where I asked isn't that monocle guy?. Rule number 1 in storytelling, if you are going to have a flashback episode you have to tell the auidence or they get extremely confused. The flashback shows how the four, priest, monkey, pink haired guy, and monocole guy all met in the first place. The third episode of teh disc was pretty bad too, so bad I don't really even remember it. But just as I'm going to give up episode 4 was really good, the animation was really different with a splash of Kite facial expressions and eye ball design. The cute demon chick from the other team has been captured by a group of human demon hunters who go about killing demons for fun and profit. Sanzo and company go to her rescue, because she is the hottest thing on the entire show, the only problem a friend of theirs belongs to the group. This series makes more sense when you realize it was written by a guy that primarily does yaoi outside of Saiyuki because in the entire series there are three women that are seen more than in one episode, and they are all minor supporting character, two are on the wrong side, Lirin the cat girl and the ultra sex demon chick Yaone and the third is the floating goddess head, 99 percent is just guys, overly good looking guys. They often have their shirts off and have long femme hair. This series drive me crazy, I want at least two good episode per disc, not just one.

Story: C-
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: C 

Sanzo fights Scorpion Chick, Sanzo gets poisoned. Goku fight Kougaji without his magical Burger King Crown and then beats up everybody else until Sanzo gets Goku to calm down. Afterward they continue to travel towards their destination but never actually get any closer.

Story: C-
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: C 

Sanzo and Company travel, meet people, kill demons, occasionally make some sort of life lesson and move on. No plot progression, no new characters introduced that are seen in more than one episode. This disc is more filler.

Story: B-
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: B- 

The only reason why I gave this disc a B- is for the amazing bounce Yaone in Episode 29. This is the new season disc so we get a new opening, and new ending and a new villain, this time a God, the War Prince who wants the Scrolls like the one Sanzo wears so he assaults the Kougaji and the Queen's fortress and because he is the newer villain he just walks all over them and Sanzo, and everybody but never seems to actually take the next step, maybe it is because there are 5 more discs and we need to padd out until the end. Well we have a new villain, big deal, he is more unlikable than Sanzo and company, Kougaji and his group remain the only likable characters in the series. Well no progress is made to whereever they are heading. But that is nothing new.

Story: C
Animation: B
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: C- 

Okay our band of unlikable heroes first meets a group of 'god' soldiers and guess what they defeat them. Then they travel to another nameless city where they meet the imposters from an earlier disc who have gone on to lead decent hard working lives until Sanzo and Company meet them, the imposters are convinced that Sanzo and company are here to kill them so they don their old clothing and go commit crimes so the town will think it is Sanzo and company. Well in the end the imposters are beaten to a pulp not once, not twice, but thrice. The last time my Kougaji and his group, the likable villains. It this tiny little appearence that kept this disc from D+ land. The next episode introduces and kills two twins sent my the evil Queen, to get the scrolls from Sanzo and the War Prince guy with the flaming sword, they both die, of course. The fourth episode the War Prince and his two guys fight Sanzo and his guys for no real gain other than to tell Goku he is full of potiental. This is another disc that goes absolutely nowhere they are traveling to some place but never actually make any progress to getting there. Kougaji is wasted in this disc, they really need to make a series just for him and his group, they are much more interesting.

Story: D
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: D+ 

Say hello to Gasaraki's mutant brother, this is another disc that has absolutely nothing to do with the main plot. We do get to meet Kougaji and his team, who really should have their own anime series, it would be much more interesting and possibly the death of Homura, the God Prince of War or whatever. The rest of the disc was basically filler. If you removed every flashback episode and filler episode this would have made a fairly solid 13 episode series but instead it is 52 incredibly long and pointless episodes.

Story: D
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: D 

This series is still going absolutely nowhere, but yet they still seem able to fill up episodes. A majority of this disc was concerned with a flashback that has nothing to do with the main plot, then again nothing in this entire disc has anything to do with the main plot. I swear I doubt if the guys making this series know what the main story is. I am in serious trouble I have two entire discs still to go.

Story: D
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: D 

This disc slowly, painfully slowly sets up the final battle for the two sides to retrieve their stolen Seiten Scrolls and to have Goku face Homura. Thrown in a couple of pointless flashbacks and you can pad your episode total. This disc is again just wasted space.

Story: D
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: D 

This is the most pointless ending to a series I have seen so far. Everybody gathers at the tower and fights to stop Homura from destroying the world and creating a new one, basically the fight boils down to Goku and Homura duking it out. In the end the two sides get their scrolls back and go back to exactly how it started out in the first damn disc, this entire series was just a subplot, 50 episodes of subplot, the main plot went absolutely nowhere. Stay away from this series, stay far away. This has replaced Gasaraki as my least favorite series I have watched thus far.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Two samurai, who really don't like each other, are enlisted by a spunky waitress to help her find the samurai who killed her family, the only clue they have to go on is the fact that he smells like sunflowers. The first episode is the introduction of all three principle characters, Mugen the wild man, Jin the Zen Ronin, and Fuu, the head strong waitress and how they get together, basically through a series of mishaps and sword fights which also establishes the rivalry between Mugen and Jin, which is really one of the best things in the series, two of the main characters want to kill each other. After getting in trouble with the local governor and are sentenced to death. With the help of Fuu they escape and are forced to help her out. I really like how the pair are very equally matched despites their varying skills. The second episode the only survivor of the restaurant fight between Mugen and Jin, the guy who had his arm chopped off breaks out Oniwakamaru, more beast than man to kill Mugen and Jin. I just love that name, Oniwakamaru, it sounds like a joke but he is a world class ass kicker. This episode is basically assassins trying to kill either Mugen or Jin while they fight with each other. Episode 3 and 4 are a couple of my favorites because they use the feudal Yakuza. Mugen, Jin, and Fuu all split up after a fight and each in their own ways end up embroiled in a fight with the two rival Yakuza groups in this town and somehow Jin ends up in drag, which is a total hoot. I really like this series, at first I wasn't exactly a big fan of the music but after awhile it grows on you like mold on bread. Champloo is a word from Okinawa's version of Japanese which means mixed up, which goes well with a series that mixs samurais and hip-hop. This delightful series comes from Shinchiro Watanabe, the genius behind Cowboy Bebop and Excel Saga, this guy really has the golen touch to make anything great. I know there are some out there that complain this is too much like Bebop, two guys and spunky girl but really they aren't close, okay so there are two guys and a girl with a flying squirrel, but if that is grounds to dislike a series then you can basically write off most anime out there, especially so-called harem anime, which is so amazingly cookie cutter it is uncanny. This is a great series, but then again I really love samurai tales, I don't know if it was my upbringing on Kurasawa films or what but I always seem drawn to samurai tales and this one delivers the good with style and flair. There is one thing I don't like about this series, the dub. I first saw this there was something I couldn't put my finger on, it wasn't until I was rewatching the first episode of Samurai Champloo on Adult Swim why I don't like the dub is that it is too generic, the voices are very much interchangable, especially between Mugen and Jin, they aren't distinct enough. When you watch Lupin or Ghost in the Shell, two of my favorite dubs, you know who is talking even if you aren't watching the screen to see whose mouth is moving, the key to a great dub is distinction, and that is what Samurai Champloo's dub lacks. Other than a weak dub this is a great series that I am thoroughly enjoying and looking forward to each disc with inticipation.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

The penniless trio of Fuu, Mugen, and Jin continue on their quest to fill their stomachs and if at all possible squeeze in some time to find the mysterious Samurai Who Smells Like Sunflowers. They always seem to be out of cash, and their quest to make a buck gets into into nothing but trouble. At first they reach a river town and have to raise enough cash to cross the river. They go their seperate ways to make money, Jin takes up playing Shoji with a man with gold teeth, Mugen takes up beating up the local punks, and Fuu goes to model for a Ukioy-e painter who just so happens to be part of a scheme to sell girls to the foreign merchants out at sea. Guess who gets herself tied up and dumped in a bucket? Through a series of happy accidents Mugen rescues Fuu and whoops some ass under the nose of Shanzo the Saw who is a parody of the famous Hattori Hanzo, a Tokugawa era police man called Hanzo the Razor. I really liked this episode, I just love Mugen's style of getting pocket money, go find the local thugs and kick their asses. After getting across the river they finally get to Edo, center of Tokugawa Japan. You think they are going to get in trouble in Edo? No, not them. They first take part in an eating contest in which Fuu just barely loses to a strange foreigner that everybody is out chasing after. He entangles Fuu, Jin, and Mugen because they had to pawn their swords to enter the eating contest and he bought their swords making them become tour guides. Their next mishap involves a hardluck pickpocket stealing their gambling winnings, they can't catch a single break. After all the trouble they get into they do catch a single break, Sunflowers can be found in Nagasaki and a man gives Fuu a strange warning about one of the charms on her knife. I love those charms, they hang off the knife like the charms that hang off cellphones these days. Another great anachronistic disc with plenty of fighting and sword pawning.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Our penniless trio attempt to cross the border with forged papers sold to them by a scalper, but the border guards see right through them and they are arrested and setenaced to cruxifiction unless Mugen can bring back the head of the leader of the mountain bandits. Mugen takes off but finds the mountain bandits are much more than just bandits they are warrior monks from the warring states period that intends to reconquer the country with their secret weapon, weed. No I am not kidding they have a giant field of marijuana that will conquer the country. Let's just say Mugen sends their plans up in smoke. After managing to cross the checkpoint the next day and head to the next town where they end up working for a buddist monk. One of the monk's pupils is now out killing the best swordsman around because he wants to show everyone how good he is. He gets a heafty bounty placed on his head and this of course draws Mugen's attention which leads to the pair of them facing off. Finally Jin gets some much needed character development when he falls in love with a woman who has been sold to a brothel to pay off her husband's debts. Jin formulas a plan to help her escape to a temple in the middle of a lake where she must stay for one year in order to get a divorce from her gambling addicted husband. Like Mugen said, 'I'm just glad he isn't gay.' The final episode the two find Fuu's diary which gives a good and comically recap of the three discs. My favorite episode of the disc and one of my favorite episodes of the series is the first episode, monks, pot, and everybody gets high. It really is a great example of what makes the series so good, it is anchronistic but not so much that is ruins the story telling.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

The first two episodes of the disc give good backstory to Mugen and the pirates he use to pal around with before his escape from Okinawa. Now they are back in his life and they con him to take part in a raid against a Shogunate ship carrying tons of gold coins. But the psycho double crosses Mugen and he ends up almost drowning. But Mugen is too tough to drowned and he comes back for some much needed revenge but the psycho's sister has employed Jin to get some revenge of her own. Then while fishing Jin is having difficulty, serious difficulty catching a fish. He resorts to leaping into the water and attacking the fish but instead of fish he finds an entire bag of gold coins, you know what that means, eating and whores in town. Fuu eats herself into a blimp and Mugen and Jin go to a brothel were Mugen goes after a really sexy girl and leaves Jin with the rest. The really sexy girl turns out to be a female ninja and the gold coins they found in the lake happen to be counterfiet and the makers of hte counterfiet gold coins happen to be headquartered in the basement of the brothel. How the female ninja gets Mugen to help her is truly hilarious through a series of whispered promises for kinky sex and smashing him over the head with vases they end up taking down the entire counterfieting ring. The final episode ends up with the group going their seperate ways after having an arguement at a crossroads and they all end up in the same mess just from different angles. Again just fabulous stuff, why people give this series so much crap is beyond me, maybe they really have something against the combining of rap, samurais, and hookers but I love this series because there is nothing else like it at all.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

The hunt for Okuru, the man who destroyed his entire village, brings our trio back together, whether they like it or not. After being reunited they continue on for Nagasaki where they come to a town covered in grafitti where Mugen admits he can't read so he is assaulted by a school teacher who is going to beat Mugen until he learns how to read. After getting his ass kicked over and over he finally learns his letters and takes part in the grafitti contest where the two main parties are vying for Fuu's love by 'tagging' the most dangerous place in town, the lord's castle. Then after making it out of that town with chaos in their wake Fuu finally meets someone who actually knows the samurai who smells like sunflowers, he had ties to a Christian sect, Christians being outlawed by the Tokugawa regime they have to keep their dealings a secret. The girl gets Fuu and company wound up in the deals of Christian sect that is making guns because Jesus loves weapons or so their leader tells them. This of course leds to all kinds of ass kicking of the holy kind. After causing that ruckus they meet a blind biwa player named Sara who has a dark secret. This was a good disc, I like the comical episodes a little more than the serious ones in this disc. This series has a way of antichronistic but keeps it at least believable.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Mugen and Jin both discover that Sara, the blind biwa player is in fact an unstoppable assassin sent by the government to put an end to their little trip to Nagasaki. After barely surviving that encounter they venture into the two wackiest and wildest mis-adventures yet. The first after eating piles of mushrooms they find laying in the forest the trio end up falling through a hole and meeting two guys who look strangely like George Romero and Tom Savini, the gods of the zombie world. At the end of the tunnel they find a treasure hunt taking place, another biwa player, this time a death metal biwa player who looks oddly like the leader singer of Spinal Tap, is leading a dig for the lost Heike treasure, a dig that the trio soon discover has been going on for 500 years. The men who are digging, and eating nothing but wasabi are really zombies, hence the Romero and Savini look alikes. The episode ends with a meteorite smashing into the planet, which is a rather good ending for such a weird episode, I would have liked more zombie fighting but it was still a great episode. Then comes the funniest episode of the series, our trio take part in a game of baseball, at stake the future of Japan, their opponent, the Americans. What follows is the most violent game of baseball ever, also the greatest game of baseball ever, also the only game of baseball to involve ninja techniques, and use of dogs as players. This is a great way to lead into the final disc, instead of being all serious leading into a disc of nothing but seriousness they pull out their two funniest, most insane episodes yet. You will roll on the floor, shoot liquid from your nose and probably find yourself unable to breath at the end of this disc. Even if you don't like baseball and zombies these are two hilarious episodes.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

The long and perilous journey of Fuu, Mugen, and Jin finally comes to an end, they have traveled far and wide and seen a whole lot of strange stuff in their search for the samurai who smells like sunflowers. This was a great series, it is probably the only series that could be so antichronistic and getaway with it. Other series have tried, Samurai Gun is one of the best examples of going so far away from reality it becomes laughable fantasy, but this one managed to do it and keep it within the realm of possibility. This is half way between Watanabe's other two works, Cowboy Bebop and Excel Saga, it had elements of both in it, the serious well crafted episodes dealing with characters you identify with and care about and zany utterly insane episodes were you are howling with laughter as the insanity only builds in the episode. When I first started watching this series I wasn't exactly sure what I was in for, I'm not the biggest fan of Hip Hop out there and was worried that the urge to reach out to the hip urban youth of today would totally screw up the anime but the more I watched it the more I realized how the Hip Hop actually complimented the Rebel Samurai theme of the film. The series is excellent for repeat viewings, you pick up on more and more little jokes and references you didn't understand the first time around. I really liked all the cameo appearences by people made up to look like famous icons in film like Hanzo the Razor, Elvis, George Romero, these are thinsg you pick up on your second time around and start to appreciate. This is an anime for anyone, everyone and someone, not just fans of anime, or fans of sword and sandal films but anyone can enjoy and laugh at this excellent title.

Story: A
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A 

Ichimatsu hates his day job, is in love with a prostitute, and at night dones samurai armour and goes to kill those who are evil with a gun. It is set during the Industrial Revolution in the last days of the Tokagawa Shongunate. The first episode Ichimatsu is introduced, he works for a secret society that deals out justice. Ichimatsu is part of this group because someone out there killed his parents and sister and he wants revenge. The first adventure we see is them against three brothers that like to hunt down women for sport. The second episode involves a giant experimental steam train that has a new electric torture device that is being guarded by the Anti-Samurai Gun unit. It is during this episode that we get a more complete introduction to Daimon, Kurenai and Matsuzaki who are the other memebers of the Samurai Guns. Kurenai is my favorite, she is the sniper and the guitar player at the Dragon Palace Tavern. It is during this episode we get some back story on Kurenai. In episode three there is a sadistic guy who is killing prositutes with a shotgun with explosive shells. This episode also gives us back story on Ohana, the prositute that Ichimatsu is in love with. She is kidnapped by the shotgun loonie leading to a big time showdown with the Anti-Samurai Gun guys coming in at the last moment. The final episode Ichimatsu teams up with Inzuma who is also part of the Council. Together they go to a political prison in the mountains but Inzuma has other plans don't involve freeing the prisoners but revenge. The animation is crisp and reminded me of Gantz for some reason, I think it was from the eyes. In their suits the Samurai Guns look like Feudal Japanese versions of Batman. The action is pretty strong, I like the use of people of lesser standing as your key characters including Ohana who is a prostitute and later a bar maid. But there problems that kept me from really liking this series. This is a little bit anachronistic, they say it is set in the Edo Period, the last Shogunate but Ichimatsu is using an automatic pistol which wasn't invented in the late 1890s. There are also machine guns, sniper rifles, a lot of stuff that simply wasn't possible in that time period. It does kinda takes away from the series, if you are going to put all this weird stuff in there put it in a fantasy world that allows you to toy around with it. The other unsettling part of this series is all the rather nasty violence towards women in this series, if they aren't being tortured they're being hunting for sport and killed in various other nasty ways. I am not giving this a blessing or a curse just yet I want to see how the series unfolds and if they kill my two favorite characters, Kurenai, and Ohana which I am almost certain one of the two will die because they are women and this series women don't have a really long shelf life. Now I'm not exactly sure but this first disc all the episodes had the subheading, Encoded Orders Part 1-4, now are all the episodes in this 13 episode series of the Encoded Orders and there area going to be other series to follow or what? If you do get the ADV DVD you must , must, must listen to the Fun With Audio Segement, they aren't exactly dub outtakes but rather the actors having fun with their voice overs, it is hilarious.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Of all the bizarre and hard to follow anime, this is the best. You must watch this entire anime at least three times before you understand this enough to be able to comment on it. I have seen it the required three times, even if I hadn't tough I'm still going to comment about it. It is strange how a girl dressed in bear pajamas enters into a insane internet other world. The first time I saw this I didn't get about 99 percent of what was in this anime. So when you watch this and get lost the first time around, stick with it, and watch it again and you'll understand more and then want to watch it again to understand even more.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Sorceress Lina Inverse and her loyal but thick sidekick Gourry travel through the magical kingdom not looking for trouble but it always seems to find them. After defeating an army of bandits by blowing up their stronghold Lina runs into Gourry who thinks she is a damsel in distress but he will later learn it is those around her that are in distress. The bandits used a dragon to terrorize the countryside and when Lina blew up the bandits she didn't defeat the dragon who comes to attack the village. She does defeat the dragon in the end, but blows the entire village up in the process, whoops. The pair leave the village as fast as possible but without being paid so Lina has to sell some of the treasure she liberated from the bandits. This brings a mysterious stranger to her who wants to buy her magical statue. She knows he is upto no good and sets the price incredibly high. So the mysterious stranger, Zelgus, vows to take it from her by force. He sends his minions, of course he has minions what self respecting villain wouldn't, after them. They are saved at the last moment by Rezo, the Red Priest. Rezo helps them escape but they soon learn he too is up to no good they all want this statue to be able to bring part, not all just a piece, of the Dark God back to life so he can reign chaos and destruction across the world. After a twist and a turn the motive becomes clear, Zelgus is the good guy, and Rezo is the bad guy but Rezo doesn't want to bring the Dark God back he just wants to give himself sight, which isn't a really villainy motive but hey we've had one twist we'll probably have a couple more. This is a funny series, I liked it when I first saw it years ago on VHS and I still like it now. It is ment to be fun and it accomplishes that goal very well.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Lina, Gourry and Zelgus have to face down the dark god in Rezo or the entire world will be destroyed. At least there is no pressure here. All their spells and magical items are no use against a creature of this power until they combined their strengths and find the last bit of Rezo's humanity deep with in the Dark God to finally defeat him. Now with the Dark God defeated Lina and Gourry bid farewell, at least for now, to Zel and they go their seperate ways. Of course Lina and trouble are rarely apart for long so as Lina sits, rather impatiently at a crossroads waiting for a prince who is rumored to be traveling in the area. Instead they hear a lone travel in danger from bandits. But they don't save him, an eager but comedically clumsy girl appears and with a flourish defeats the bandits but not before taking a few falls. She meets up with Lina and Gourry and says she wants to travel with them. Her name is Amelia whose father just so happens to be the prince Lina has been waiting for. But sadly he isn't anything she expected, he is a crazy crime fighter, think Batman but less brooding and more insanity. Amelia wants to be Lina's apprentice and learn the secrets to the Dragon Slave, Lina's all destructive mega-spell that always spells disaster for her foes and any innocent bystanders too. Lina doesn't want to teach Amelia the spell, because Amelia may use it on the slightest of law breakers so Lina embarks Amelia on a Ironman Style training regime until Amelia, with the help of her father devise a plan to make Lina show off the Dragon Slave so she can copy it. Well she does, destroying an entire mountain and unleashing an army of evil spirits which only Amelia can stop. They travel all the way back to Amelia's home town where they find that Lina, Gourry, and Zelgus all have hefty prices upon their heads. Amelia being Amelia decides Lina and Gourry are evil and teams up with a pair of new guys who are the real bad guys. After defeating everybody, Lina, Gourry, and now Amelia get run out of town and head to the next town to find out who wants them so badly. This is a goofy fun, and now with Amelia the crime fighting clutz is a great addition to this motley crew.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Still very wanted Lina, Gourry, and Amelia travel to the town where the bounty for them came from. They are constantly hounded by two bounty hunters, a mage and a swordsman, one who fights Lina, one to fight Gourry. When the reach the town they are hidden by a priest and his daughter, the daughter Sylpheel who so happens to be totally in love with Gourry, she must have a thing for thick headed men. Now with her in tow they find who has put this price on their heads. It is a sorceress named Eris, who dressed like she enjoys S&M. In the middle of the knockdown drag out fight between Lina and friends and Eris and her cohorts the real engineer behind the bounty, Rezo. Now you should be saying wait a second, they blew Rezo up when he absorbed the power of Shabranigudo. Well it appears that Rezo is still in good shape. But not good enough shape to stop Lina. In order to defeat her Rezo and Eris go to Rezo's laboratory to find Rezo's Legacy to allow him to unlock all the power he needs to either destroy the world, take over the world, or simply defeat Lina, he has a plate of opinions to choose from. Another great disc, plenty of laughs, plenty of villains to get beaten up by Lina, what else can you ask for?

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Lina and company travel to Rezo's birthplace to uncover Rezo's Legacy before Eris and Rezo can. They enter Rezo's laboratory and are immediately split up into three groups and each group immediately gets into trouble. They are all attacked by Golems which no matter how many times. You break them, they just keep coming back until you find that is controlling them. This ensures plenty of slapstick combat and hilarious situations. After defeating the golems and finding each other they encounter Zalagus who has the final axe to grind with Gourry. This leads to a glowing sword duel where Gourry bests Zalagus. He may be dense as a rock but he can sword fight with the best of them. After defeating Zalagus they meet a talking chicken. No it isn't the reincarnation of Colonel Sanders but the keeper of the secrets of Rezo's Laboratory. After defeating this evil talking chicken knows the secret of Rezo's Legacy but it is too late Eris and Rezo get to it before Lina and friends can. Now Rezo, who is actually a Rezo Clone absorbs Rezo's Legacy and becomes more powerful than the original Rezo. The final battle is on, can Lina and company defeat Rezo the all powerful? And why is Prince Phil back? He is the hairiest cheerleader of all time? This is a great series, even when it is at its most serious the series injects a healthy dose of humor. The series is a lot of fun, plenty of action, nonstop villains, plenty of humor. It is a great series, the plot is rather simply but simplicity can very enjoyable when done properly.

Story: A
Animation: A
DVD Quality: A
Overall: A 

What does it take to get a $$60,000,000,000 bounty on your head? Simple just be an extremely lucky Tylor-ite (Def: A man with no actual skill or intelligence just extremely extremely lucky, like he could could wear a SGV Yuuki shirt to a feminist rally and survive). That really explains Vash the Stampede, or better known as the Human Typhoon, now why a Typhoon I ask, the story takes place in the desert, how could a bunch of yahoos in the desert know what a Typhoon is with the except of a late 80s early 90s WWF professional wrestler. The series is rather amusing and reminds me of Irresponsible Captain Tylor but it lacks some of the qualities that Tylor had. Still a very good if not very expensive series.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Three Japanese High School Students are transported to a far off mystical kingdom (I tell you those school uniforms must be dimensional gateways or something). They are transported to a strange world where they are reviled by the locals because apparently this happens alot and it is never good. Now they are being hunted and everytime Yoko, the trusting good girl with a destiny, believes somebody will help she finds out they just want to stab her in the back or sell her to a brothel. Yuka, the moody introvert, takes to the situation a little more realistically and then with the help of a strange lady with mysterious powers like the guy who brought them to this land she becomes evil, or evilish. Along for the ride is Asano, basically he is there to be hungry, dense, and get into trouble. Both Yoko and Yuka have a spirit in them that allows them to kick ass and understand the langauge of this world which looks a lot like a multiplayer map from Warcraft. I had heard good things about this series but after watching the first disc I am left with a mixed bag of feelings. This series really smacks of Fushugi Yuugi, and unless something changes in the next couple of discs all I will keep thinking of is Fushugi Yuugi.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Youko awakens in the care of a three foot tall talking rat. Youko, still being Youko, doesn't trust her savior and plans to kill him but then decides to let him take her to town. On the way they are attacked by more giant crows and after slaying them all she runs off leaving her rat pal injuried. Youko finally takes control of the monkey man that torments her in her visions and kills him, something she'll learn later is a bad idea, but after freeing herself from the monkey's influence she joins up with the acting troupe she tried to rob with Asano in the previous disc. Under their protection they escape several close calls with the Kou troops and Sugimoto who is transformed into a man to hunt down and kill Youko. The acting troupe gets her safely to the port so she can board a ship that will take her to En where she'll be safe. There she meets up again with Sugimoto. Youko, now free of the monkey's rather bad influence, starts coming into her own. Sugimoto sees this when she helps out the halfing creature on the boat. Again she is attacked by the giant crows, this time an ungodly number but is saved by a huge sea serpent which also steals Sugimoto's vapor ghost thing that makes her a man. Now she is just a powerless crazy. They reach En and Youko meets up with her rat pal, whose name is too tricky to write down at this moment, who takes her to another person from Japan. From there she meets up with the King of En, a Taika like her and she learns that she was brought to Twelve Kingdoms to take the throne of the kingdom of Kei. This disc made me like the series more, I especially liked it once Youko was free of the monkey man that made her doubt herself because after a point it became almost too unbelievable that she would listen to the monkey man because he was nothing but trouble. Again the biggest problem I had was trying to keep track of all the titles and terms this series hurls at you with lightning speed. This series should come with a big book of terms like one of those Richard Scary Books I had as a kid that showed a house with all the items labeled, it would make this series so much easier to understand.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Youko learns the tale of the King of En, and his protector Enki and how they came together and ruled En for the last 500 years. She also has to make the decision of whether or not she wants to be queen. At the same time Sugimoto, upon learning Youko's destiny goes... Class? Nuts, yes she goes nuts. By this disc I could easily pinpoint the exact moment that she flips out each time she learns anything about Youko. She leads the King of Kou to Youko so he can kill her. We finally learn exactly why King Kou wants Youko dead, it is because his kingdom is a total wreck and if Kei would to have a ruler like Youko, who is Taika, he assumes that her kingdom will be like that of En, which is also ruled by a Taika and Kou would look even worse. Yes it is moron logic but you don't have to be a neurosurgeon to rule one of these countries. After dealing with his crazy ass, Youko, her rat, Enki, and the King of En set off to reclaim Youko's kingdom from the pretender that has Keiki prisoner. Youko frees Keiki and together they reclaim Kei for Youko. Youko sends Sugimoto, who now finally understands the truth of the entire situation home. The final epside of the disc is a recap and explaination episode which this series needs in the worst way because of all the titles, and terms that are flung at you. This also ends the first story arc. The only problem I had with this disc, Asano, he had been done for now ten episodes and that is a really bad writing glitch because I assume he is meant to be a key character but we don't see anything of him for ten episodes. I am hoping Sugimoto has more to do with the story, she is good for the story as long as she isn't completely acting like Yui from Fushgi Yuugi.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

With a new disc begins a new story. Youko and Keiki travel to Mt Hou so Youko can be crowned Queen of Kei but before that can happen we need to get some backstory on a new character, a high school student Kaname who is supposedly cursed, those who torment him end up having strange accidents. But does that make everybody around him cursed? Nevermind, we learn that Kaname is in fact the Ki of the island of Tai. The rest of the disc is his backstory, how he was lost from the Child Bearing Tree on Mt Hou and how his faithful servant finally found him in Japan. He is taken to the land of the Twelve Kingdoms and there he is trained to be a Ki. But he is a special kind of Ki, his hair is black where all the other Ki have blonde or white hair. He starts meeting all the prospective claimates to the throne of Tai and he meets one, a General in the Tai Army who both fascinates and frightens him to no end. Is the ruler of Tai and what omens does it mean that Taiki is so afraid of him. There are few anime out there than can five whole episodes of nothing but backstory for a new character and yet keep it interesting. This series seems to move in mysterious ways. It still throws a lot of terms at you but now four discs into the series I am starting to find my way through them all. Sugimoto still is involved with the story, she is investigating Taiki or Kaname in the real Japan trying to uncover what powers he has. I am very interested to see how all of this pans out, this series does a good job so far of tying up all these loose ends and making a decent story out of all of it.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

The story of Taiki and the Tai General finally comes to an end. Taiki goes riding with his new friends from Tai and they end up in a cave with the most dangerous and fearsome beast in all of the Twelve Kingdoms. Being the special Ki, the one with black hair he of course tames the beast and makes his servant. Eventually he decides to choose the general as king but immediataley begins to fear he has made the wrong choice and heaven will punish him for this and kill them both. With the help of the King of En and Enki they prove to Taiki that the general is in fact the king. This is where their main story ends with a little aside that soon after both Taiki and the King of Tai mysteriously vanish and mostly people assume one or the other is dead but because there has been no new Ki or a call for the people of Tai to come to Mount Hou to be crowned makes everyone think they are still alive. Sugimoto is starting to understand this as she meets more with Taiki in Japan who is now a moody teenage artist. The next story arc begins with our Rat pal talking to the bird Youko sends to him, think of it like a feudal phone call. Both of them are trying to become accustom to their new positions although neither admits it to the other it isn't easy. Youko's advisors don't give her the respect she deserves and the Rat is finding not everyone in En is so understanding of the half human half animal people of this world. I am very interested to see if anything comes of these last two discs, if Youko and Keiki actually go hunting for Taiki or the King of Tai or was it all just a way to burn up 9 episodes. We have reached the half way point in the series and I am curious to see what they do with all the loose ends they have dangling out there so far. Hopefully they will attend to each in its own right instead of leaving them hanging as they are doing right now.

Story: A-
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A 

Two more totally unrelated storylines begin that will sooner or later mean something but I doubt it is going to be satisfying. First up we have Suza, a girl from Japan is sucked into the world of the Twelve Kingdoms. Of course she can't speak the language and has a hard time initially until a woman appears and offers to help her. Of coures this help turns into 100 years of brutal servitude under her thumb. Her mistress takes delight in making her suffer over the decades. She dreams of meeting the new ruler of Kei who she hears is like her. Being like her she must be more understanding but she had the problem that she can't escape her servantude. In the far north another girl is leading a totally different life. Shoukei is the spoiled daughter of a lunatic king who sends thousands to the execution block because he thinks it is best for his kingdom, yes ladies and gentlemen Twelve Kingdoms has its very own Pol Pot. When the king is overthrown both the king and queen who were wicked people are executed in front of Shoukei who believes the spelled weaved by her father that he was totally innocent. She is sent away to life the rest of her life as a peasant. This doesn't work eventually the people find out who she is and just about lynch her. Can you blame them, her old man killed hundreds of thousands in the kingdom. To avoid having anymore blood on the kingdom she is sent away to another kingdom. At the sametime Youko is learning how to be queen which is dreadfully dull, it is like watching feudal CSPAN. My patience for this series is wearing thinner and thinner with each passing disc. There really is no single plot line that is followed through this series but a thousand that come and go at their leisure. We focus two entire discs on characters that came and went and have no bearing on the initial plotline. Now we have two more plotlines that eventually will probably interact with the main plotline but I doubt in any satisfying way. I understand that this is a series of books but Lord of the Rings was a series of books that managed to follow one principle storyline from beginning to end. I don't know what is going to happen to this series but I am placing my money on disaster.

Story: B+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A- 

Asano finally returns, it took six discs but finally we bring back of the characters from the beginning. It has been seven discs since we last saw him and I had all but made up my mind they had forgotten him entirely. Suza after surviving her near fall on the cliffs is taken to safety with the queen of the country she has been living in. The queen, an old and wise woman gives Suza money and tells her to go and seak. This pisses Suza off because she thinks she is entittled to a lot more than that but takes the money and goes. She meets up with the same traveling circus that once sheltered Youko in earlier discs. They are caring for the totally insane Asouno who still can't speak the language of the land. Somewhere along the way he found a pistol which looks like total hell. He tries to use it against Suza before taking off. They board a ship heading for Kei where they meet a kid that manages to anger every ounce of ego in Suza who thinks that she is the only one in the entire universe who has gotten a bad shake at life. Well the kid eventually dies giving Suza a life lesson that she probably won't take to well with. At the same time Shoukei doesn't take to being a servant and steals some of the queen's jewels and takes off. While on the run she meets Youko's rat pal with the name that I can't remember. She tries to tell the En guards he stole all the stuff. I really hate both these characters, they are like Yui from Fushgi Yuugi, crazy pissed off girls that lack any sense of common sense to step back and really analyze what is going on. Of course these two characters take up 99 percent of this disc leaving Youko who I thought was the main character just enough screen time to decide to live among her people so she can learn to be a better queen. I am very tired of this series, the writing is all over the place and the thousands of new terms they constantly throw at you makes this series more of a chore to watch rather than a joy.

Story: B+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A- 

Lots of talking, very little doing. There is a conspiracy involving a wicked man named Shoukou who has employed crazy Asano. There is way too much talking and no significant action. This series is all talk and no fire. I want action not just ten second little battles were somebody totally overpowers the opponent and they flee. The plot doesn't really go anywhere, which is one of this series biggest problems, it has so many different plotlines that it takes several episodes to do anything and when it does it never really is ever satisfying. There is no identifiable main character, at one point I thought it was Youko but now she is lucky to get an episode out of an entire 5 episode disc. There are too many characters, too many subplots, a lack of a main plot, and way, way too many terms for this to be a great anime. It isn't bad, it has good animation, good music, just a bad story.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Youko and the rebels plan and stage an attack against the corrupt minister who has enlisted Asano to his cause. Yes this volume everybody stops talking and starts killing each other. This anime is a lot more enjoyable when people are killing each other than when they are talking about politics. Slowly Youko, Asano, Suza, and Shokei all come together, Suza and Shokei becoming Youko's closest friends like everyone else not knowing she is the Queen of Kei. After overthrowing the corrupt official and taking possession of the castle we learn who is really being all of this, it is members of Youko's own court, the ones she thought were loyal were in fact that ones who were evil. They mobilize massive armies to crush Youko and her scrappy band of rebels. Even after they get reinforcements from a neighboring province the odds aren't good. They become even less positive for the rebels when the royal army appears ready for the fight. It is time for Youko to take and stand and let everybody know who she really is. She topples the corrupt minisiters and officials and reorganizes her government with Suza and Shokei as her advisors. Queen Youko of Kei finally delivers her first decree as Queen and at this point you would think the series comes to an end, we have finished the story of our principle character Youko who we followed from her being a school girl in Japan to Queen of Kei in the Twelve Kingdoms this is were logically the series should end. But nope, we have another side story that has plagued this series since the 3rd disc still to go through. I really like this disc, it really helped me like the entire series once again. If they had stuck with their principle story throughout and not wander off on these side stories that really don't support the main story at all it would have been a good 26 episode series but it was not meant to be and we have one more disc of pointless story to go through.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

The mixed Twelve Kingdoms series come to an end, but didn't the main story end in the previous disc with Youko giving her first decree as Queen of Kei. Then you would be partially right but because this series likes to go in unrelated directions we are treated to a story about Enki and the King of En, 500 years in the past when the King of En became the King of En. A rogue noble is planning to overthrow the King of En and captures Enki to further his plan. I normally would have liked this but I was still under the effect of the previous disc so I let it go. The series was uneven, it would have been an excellent series if it was cut down to 26 episodes by removing all the unnecessary stories like the entire Tai side story, and this last story. If it would have stuck to the main story I really wouldn't have disliked the middle discs of this series because the middle discs would have existed. This all in all was a good series but it did stray a little too much in the middle with stuff that was in no way related to the main story at all.

Story: A+
Animation: A+
DVD Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Kiyo is an over-achiever, the smartest kid in his middle school, so smart that he doesn't show up to class because he knows it already, and the fact that everyone in school hates his guts. It is a little arrogance on Kiyo's part and a little jealousy on the part of his classmates. His life takes a dramatic turn when a small kid burst through his window one more. His name is Zatch (or Gash depending on where you watch this) Bell and he is going to be Kiyo's best friend, if he likes it or not. Kiyo goes to school hoping to escape Zatch (I'm going to use the American name for clarity) follows in his clever disguise as a gym bag. Zatch forces Kiyo to take on the school's biggest bully and their fight is interupted by a skaterboarder who floats on the wind and has a companion that looks a lot like Zatch. Kiyo figures out that reading the weird book that comes with Zatch. Zatch fires a massive electrical charge which reeks havoc on the roof of the school. Kiyo and Zatch confront another man who has a powerful companion, his companion fires ice. The first deal with him at a bank, and then in a field where Kiyo unlocks the second spell in his spell book which destroys their opponents spell book. They learn that destroying the book destroys the small guy. The last episode of the disc introduces somebody who at least knows what is going on. She is Naomi, and she tells Kiyo what Zatch is, he is a Mamodo, a spirit from another world. The mamodo's come to here every hundred years to do battle to see who can be the king of the mamodos and he tells Kiyo to give her his book or face the consquences. This is a good series, it is one of the few Shounen Jump series I like, the other of course being One Piece. I like Zatch Bell because of its creativity, fighting midgets that is a clever idea.

Story: F
Animation: C
DVD Quality: ??
Overall: F 

I am only putting this entry in the review as a warning to any Anime Fan. While DBZ may be your introduction to Anime, this is really bad stuff. I have watched a handful of these episodes on Cartoon Network and think the story is so boring and long. Some fights last numerous episodes and really don't get anywhere. You can start watching Anime with DBZ but move on. As this page shows there is tons, literal tons of good Anime out there (I'm sure if you dropped all the good Anime in DVD form on somebody it would prove fatal).