Anime Review Roundup

My first review of the week was for FUSE: Collector’s Edition, although you may be more familiar with its theatrical title, Fusé: Memoirs of a Huntress. The feature film came as quite a surprise for me when I reviewed it, although not in terms of its story, which is somewhat typical for anime. It’s a pseudo-period piece, based on classic Japanese literature, about Edo during the Tokugawa Shogunate, being plagued by strange creatures, Fusé. They are the cross between dogs and humans, and they feed on human souls. The shogun issues an edict that they be hunted down, which is where our protagonist comes in, a young mountain girl who comes to the city to live with her brother, and initially finds herself out of her depth, and then she connects with a young man who just happens to be a Fusé. The narrative might be typical anime, but the visuals and music gave the film a more European air. Click on the review to read more.

Then it was the turn of Kill Me Baby: Collection. In recent times we’ve had Akame ga Kill, and Kill la Kill, but this Killing anime is a lot more bloodless and friendly to watch. It’s a wacky, zany comedy based on a short-form manga, in which an enthusiastic idiot of a high school girl finds that the girl she sits next to in class is actually an assassin. Every time that Yasuna tries to befriend Sonia, she takes her life into her own hands. To make matters more unnerving, there’s also a ninja at their school. It sounds like a daft premise, but click on the review to see why this is one of the funniest anime I’ve seen in quite a while.

Then it was time for one of those shows that I’ve really been looking forward to seeing on home video, Golden Time Collection 1. Actually, given that this show is a straight up romantic comedy drama, without a hint of a harem, I was surprised that it actually got a UK release, as it strays from the usual convention for anime romances. But it is an exceptionally fine show, from the creator of Toradora, which sees a university student get involved with a fiery girl who pursued her childhood sweetheart all the way to college, only for the truth to finally sink in that he’s not interested. The relationship that develops between Kaga Kouko and Tada Banri should have a lot going for it, were it not for Tada Banri’s amnesia. An engaging, entertaining, and thoroughly likeable show; click on the review to read more.

Blade of the Immortal. This is one show that you might think is worth watching. It’s a revenge story tinged with the supernatural, as a young girl whose family was slaughtered goes looking for the group that committed the crime, and picks a scarred, one-eyed ronin as her bodyguard, who just happens to be immortal. The show’s visual aesthetic is suitably dark and moody, with Studio BEETRAIN’s animation living up to the subject matter. What’s more, the tone of the show is really quite adult, delving into character motivations, and taking the story to some really dark places. It should be great, but in the end it turns out too short for its story at 13 episodes, and because of sheer character overload, it’s hard to keep track of who is who, and just what their motivations are in the story. It’s one of those ‘could-have-been’ shows that are worth pulling out to watch once in a while, to think fondly on what promise the show had.