A to D

When he has a goddess agree to stay with him forever, student loser Keiichi has to move out of his no-girls-allowed dorm and live in an old temple with his sister, the goddess and her two sisters. Somewhere along the way, he falls in love with Belldandy, the sweet-tempered divinity.

Well, I quite like this series. The 5 OAVS of Ah My Goddess obtained an enormous success when they were released, and it is easy to see why. This series is very sweet, but gains credit by not falling into the mushy love story stereotype (Miaka! Tamahome!).

Plot: 2 out of 5. It's really not very original...

Animation: 4 out of 5. Very good.

Music: 3 out of 5. Nothing exceptional, IMO, though the ending song is entertaining.

Cute factor: 4 out of 5. You've got Skuld and Belldandy, some SD humor, and basically all the backgrounds swimming with pink flower petals, not to mention two characters in love with each other. Doesn't get a Pikachu since it never gets mushy, and that's a good thing.

Fun factor: 3 out of 5. I did get a kick out of the second and third episodes, but nothing so exceptional in the rest.

Cool factor: 2 out of 5. One for Urd and one for the motorcycle racing.

Overall rating: 4 out of 5. Great series, and it would have gotten 5 out of 5 if the episodes were a bit longer than a measly 30 minutes.

Arcadia of My Youth

The past, through many generations, of Leiji Matsumoto's famous hero Captain Harlock, and why he started on his eternal space voyage.

It is always interesting to see the story behind the characters, and this is exactly what Arcadia does. The film's themes of honor, loyalty, friendship and freedom are strikingly explored in poignant scenes that endure in your memory for a long time.

Plot: 4 out of 5. Bit cliché, maybe, but nicely told.

Animation: 3 out of 5. That isn't so good for a film but remember that this was made almost twenty years ago.

Cute factor: 0. Yes! Something older fans can watch without throwing up!

Fun factor: 0. It's a deep kind of film, not an action flick.

Cool factor: 5 out of 5. Let's see, pirates, eyepatches, scars, a female pirate with a scar, and those beautiful, graceful women. However Arcadia doesn't get a Rukawa award for coolness since the secondary characters are downright ugly.

Overall rating: 5 out of 5. Excellent viewing.

Bubblegum Crisis

The story of four mercenary vigilantes, Priss, Linna, Sylia and Nene, and their battle against the evil mega corporation Genom, which has taken control of a 21st century Tokyo ravaged by an earthquake a few years ago.

Possibly one of the most popular examples of the cyberpunk genre, BGC is a show which has greatly contributed to the spread of anime in the US, and not without reason. The show is greatly different from the cutesy Saturday morning cartoons, it shows a gritty, violent future and characters that live in slums and aren't exactly angels. Yet the series never fails to emphasize their humanity, even in the case of the robots, or Boomers, as they are called in this series. The atmosphere, largely inspired by the epitome of coolness that is Blade Runner, is also one of the factors which makes BGC so great.

Plot: Hmm... 3 out of 5, I guess. It starts out good, but fails to get anywhere, and there's no real closure.

Animation: 3 out of 5, bordering on 2. Quite disappointing for an OAV.

Music: This series gets a Madoka for excellent music! Some great J-pop and rock pieces, and the show's resident musician, Priss, is voiced by an actual singer.

Cute factor: 1 out of 5, for Nene.

Fun factor: 3 out of 5. Some great fight sequences, though the rating would have been higher if the atmosphere wasn't so serious.

Cool factor: Umph! Oozing. Priss with her devil-may-care attitude, a rock band, a really likeable homosexual, and the Blade Runner atmosphere. 4 out of 5.

Overall rating: 4 out of 5. Great watch.

Captain Harlock- Waga Seishun no Arcadia Mugen Kido SSX

This 22 episode TV series succeeds the film Arcadia of My Youth as Harlock and Tochiro continue their quest through space for the ideal world aboard their spaceship, the Arcadia.

Well the name is a mouthful. To be honest I didn't like the series as much as the movie. The movie had a nice story, but take the same stuff and spread it out over 20+ episodes, it doesn't work. Also, the orphaned kid theme is getting to be a real cliché in Matsumoto's works, quite irritating, really.

Plot: 2 out of 5. Like I said, I hate the deal with the kid.

Animation: 2 out of 5. Pretty standard for such an old TV series.

Cool factor: 2 out of 5. One for the pirate with the scar and another one for the female pirate with the scar.

Overall rating: 2 out of 5. Forgettable, especially in comparison with the film. Take a look if you like Leiji Matsumoto or old sci-fi.

Captain Tsubasa

The tale of Tsubasa, a very talented soccer player, and his team, and how they come to win the Japanese National Junior Championships.

I used to really like this series when I was younger, though I find it pretty boring now. The first thing is that the screenplay is out and out ridiculous. It takes an entire season (that is 26 episodes) for the final match of the championship. That gets kinda annoying since a match is only 90 minutes. The players take a whole episode to run from one side of the pitch to the other, and then somersault twice in the air before shooting. But all this has a way of taking you in, which accounts for its great popularity.

Plot: 2 out of 5. Really cliché and predictable. However, it can get very touching and exciting, and I loved the part with the guy who had a heart problem.

Animation: 1 out of 5. Some of the chara designs are really ugly, not to mention they all look like each other. The animation sucks.

Fun factor: Well, you get a kick out of seeing somersaults and karate moves in a soccer game. 3 out of 5.

Overall rating: 3 out of 5.

Card Captor Sakura

Young Sakura's life takes a turn for the weird when she accidentally scatters a set of cards which she later learns were magical all around town. The guardian of the cards, a cute little animal (surprise surprise) named Cerberos, informs her that unless the cards are gathered together again, they shall wreak havoc over town, and so Sakura becomes a Card Captor with magic powers!

More magical girl fare from CLAMP, who seem sadly to be getting more and more commercial in their works. Yet, Card Captor Sakura is not that bad, it is a nicely old-fashioned magical girl show that offers some good clean-cut fun along the way. It is intended for a young audience, though, so unless you enjoy magical girl shows or are a great admirer of CLAMP, you'll likely get tired of it after a few episodes. (I have only seen a handful myself, so maybe this review isn't all that good, but hey).

Plot: 2 out of 5. Not terribly original.

Animation: 3 out of 5. Pretty good for a tv series, but I thought there was something weird about the chara design. Not bad, just... weird. And Cerberos could have been drawn with a bit more detail.

Cute factor: 5 out of 5, which is understandable, given its target audience. Stops shy of being revolting, though.

Fun factor: 3 out 5. Some nice funny bits. Add a point if you are a fan of magical girl shows.

Overall rating: 2 out of 5. Again, add a point if you like the genre.

Cat's Eye

The three Kizuki sisters run a cafe in downtown Tokyo by day, and parade as a sexy trio of thieves at night under the pseudonym "Cat's Eye". Their real aim is to find their missing father through clues he left in his artwork, now in the hands of various collectioners. The one big problem is that Toshio, the middle sister's boyfriend, is also the cop who has vowed to put Cat's Eye in prison.

Well, it would be nice if the series played up Toshio's dilemma... Unfortunately, that doesn't happen, and while the series is entertaining, the lack of emotional dynamic between Hitomi and Toshio and the fact that by the end of the series, the girls have made little progress towards actually finding their father takes away from the enjoyment of the viewer. The series effectively falls into the same pattern as City Hunter. The last episode brings no closure whatsoever, even though it is about Toshio discovering the Cat's Eye's identity... but only in a play being staged for the youngest Kizuki's class.

Plot: 2 out of 5. Lacks development despite a potential dynamic.

Animation: The series is actually composed of two parts, which have different animators. The first part has a rounded character design and muted colors, and the animation is only worth 2 out of 5. The second series has a sharper chara design and crisp, bright colors, with more fluid animation, and is worth a 4 out of 5.

Music: Though not as good as the music of that other Hojo vehicle, City Hunter, Cat's Eye does have a decent soundtrack. 3 out of 5.

Cute factor: 1 out of 5, for the youngest Cat's Eye Ai.

Fun factor: 3 out of 5. A little comedy, a little action...

Cool factor: 4 out of 5, but only in the second series. Long live smart athletic kick-ass girls in catsuits! (Though why someone would choose to disguise themselves in bright orange or light blue is beyond me.)

Overall rating: 2 out of 5 for the first and 3 out of 5 for the second part of the series.

City Hunter

Ryo Saeba and his partner Kaori Makimura happen to be the best mercenaries in Tokyo. They lead an Akane-Ranma relationship, never admitting that they love each other, and the situation is made even worse by the fact that Ryo is the most perverted man on earth.

Oh, where to start? What a great show. Wonderful urban atmosphere, as well. I think I'll just go straight to the ratings.

Plot: 2 out of 5. It's not the show's strong point, but come on, it's an action flick!

Animation: 2 out of 5. Low-cost and pretty long TV series.

Music: A Madoka for great music, ladies and gentlemen! Some especially nice jazz pieces. One of the best soundtracks around.

Cute factor: 2 out of 5. Some SD humor and birds and flies squawking around (Don't ask.)

Fun factor: 5 out of 5! Let's see, dumb gangsters, crazy car chases, Umibozu, not to mention Ryo's lecherous exploits. A Ranma for great fun!

Cool factor: 4 out of 5, for the atmosphere and for Ryo, when he's being serious. Another point for Saeko, one of the greatest anime females around.

Overall rating: 4 out of 5. Great entertainment. Would be higher if the relationship between Ryo and Kaori showed some progress.

City Hunter - Secret Services

A TV special of the TV series. The ratings are the same except the animation is considerably better.

Cowboy Bebop

It is the year 2071. Spike Spiegel, Jet Black and Faye Valentine are a group of bounty hunters who travel across the solar system in their junk heap of a spaceship, the Bebop. Their adventures take them to many different places, but there is one thing that always comes back to haunt them: their, and more specifically Spike's, past.

"Wow!" was the only thing I could utter after having sat through the first five episodes of this series. I had fallen in love. This series has an extremely stylish atmosphere, and an incredible soundtrack (composed by Yoko Kanno) that is based mostly on blues and jazz, with a few other influences thrown in. This jazzy style appealed to me immensely, and mostly accounts for the Nakago rating I give this series. Yet, the tone of the different episodes is somewhat uneven: While some are pure entertainment, based on comedy and action, others are darker and less furiously-paced. I thought nevertheless that this mix worked well. Other points of note are the attention to detail that has gone into the various settings the story takes place in, and the way the technology of the future is portrayed in an almost-retro, functional style, which never becomes dominant as in other sci-fi fare. Here the emphasis is firmly on the events.

Plot: 3 out of 5. You have to admit that the storylines and the characters have a sense of deja-vu about them, Spike, Jet and Faye strongly resemble Lupin, Jigen and Fujiko, for example. Bounty hunters with mysterious pasts also aren't new.

Animation: 5 out of 5. I had difficulty believing that I was watching a tv series. The character design is nice, the colors are crisp, and the animation is very smooth.

Music: Repeat after me: I shall worship Yoko Kanno.... I shall worship Yoko Kanno...

Cute factor: 2 out of 5, for Ein and Ed. They are not the irritating kind of cute, though.

Fun factor: 5 out of 5. Bebop is very funny, with all the characters cracking one-liners right and left, but it also has a strong action content. From Bruce Lee style martial arts to John Woo style shoot-outs to James Bond style car (and spaceship) chases, Bebop has hugely entertaining action.

Cool factor: 5 out of 5. As I said before, this anime is practically based on style.

Overall rating: 5 out of 5, and an amply deserved Nakago rating for being an excellent anime.

Detective Conan

Shin'ichi Kudo, 17, is a budding detective, but his mystery-solving doesn't sit well with his potential love interest, captain of the school karate team Ran. One day, Shin'ichi gets in trouble with some men in black and is given a poison which traps his brilliant mind in the body of a six year old. Shin'ichi, calling himself Conan to avoid attracting suspicion, starts to live with Ran and her father, a lousy detective, in the hopes of finding the men in black and obtaining an antidote. Meanwhile, he helps Ran's dad's reputation by solving his mysteries for him.

Mystery-solving has always been a favorite, one needs only to look at Agatha Christie or Conan Doyle to see that. This series follows in that vein and presents us with intelligent enigmas. The atmosphere is well done, and can get downright creepy at times. And in the background are Ran and Shin'ichi's feelings for each other, which Shin'ichi, trapped as Conan unknown to Ran, cannot voice. It is very touching to see how they suffer even though they are actually living together.

Plot: 4 out of 5. Clever mysteries and Ran and Shin'ichi's relationship being maintained throughout. Me likes.

Animation: 3 out of 5. Not bad at all for a TV series.

Cute factor: 3 out of 5. To attract younger fans, Conan is given three friends at the kindergarten he has to go to. Kids running around at murder scenes? Unfortunately.

Fun factor: Mystery solving is always fun. 3 out of 5.

Cool factor: Shin'ichi (not Conan), is a cool character, the few times we get to see him. And Ran does karate. 3 out of 5.

Overall rating: 3 out of 5. A good watch.