Fire Force Review

Fire Force (Japanese: 炎炎ノ消防隊, Hepburn: En'en no Shōbōtai, literally "Blazing Fire Brigade") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Atsushi Ōkubo. It has been serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine since September 2015, and collected into 25 tankōbon volumes as of September 2020.

An anime television series adaptation by David Production aired from July to December 2019 on the MBS's Super Animeism block. A second season premiered in July 2020.

In North America, the manga has been licensed for an English language release by Kodansha USA, and the anime television series has been licensed by Funimation.

The Great Disaster (大災害, Daisaigai) is an event that happened two hundred and fifty years before Year 198, with the world mostly consumed in flame, many nations destroyed, and most of the planet rendered uninhabitable. The survivors took refuge in the Tokyo Empire, which remained mostly stable during the period despite losing some of its landmass. The Tokyo Emperor Raffles I establishes the faith of the Holy Sol Temple as it and Haijima Industries developed the perpetual thermal energy plant Amaterasu to power the country.

In Year 198 of Tokyo's Solar Era, special fire brigades called the Fire Force fight increasing incidents of spontaneous human combustion where human beings are turned into living infernos called "Infernals" (焰ビト, Homura Bito).

While the Infernals are first generation cases of spontaneous human combustion, with more powerful horned variations known as Demons, later generations possess pyrokinesis while retaining human form. The Fire Force was formed by combining people with these powers from the Holy Sol Temple, The Tokyo Armed Forces, and the Fire Defense Agency, and is composed of eight independent companies.

Overman King Gaine Review

Overman King Gainer (OVERMANオーバーマンキングゲイナー, Ōbāman Kingu Geinā) is an anime television series, created by Yoshiyuki Tomino, written by Ichirō Ōkouchi, and featuring character designs by Yoshihiro Nakamura, Kinu Nishimura and Ken'ichi Yoshida. The series ran from September 7, 2002 to March 22, 2003 on Japan's WOWOW network, spanning a total of 26 episodes.
Following the 2012 closure of Bandai Entertainment, Sunrise announced at Otakon 2013, that Sentai Filmworks has acquired Overman King Gainer, along with a handful of other former BEI titles.
The setting and plot of Overman King Gainer are a loose adaptation of the novel series La Compagnie des glaces by the French writer Georges-Jean Arnaud. After an environmental cataclysm, much of the world's population retreated into domed cities called Domepolis, which are run by an organization known as "London IMA" (International Management Authority) and its police arm, "Saint Regan". However, the Domepoli are maintained and supplied by privatized firms such as the "Siberian Railroad Company".
Many years have passed since the cataclysm, and many have begun to believe that the world environment has recovered sufficiently enough for humans to begin living outside Domepoli. As such, some inhabitants begin planning Exoduses to leave these cities and to resettle their ancestral homelands.
However, this does not sit well with the London IMA or the private firms that monopolize trade between the Domepoli, as the loss of people would not only lead to a loss in tax and trade revenue, but if the Exodus were to be successful, it would show the people that it was no longer necessary to rely on the London IMA or the private firms for survival.
They fiercely oppose any Exoduses, spreading propaganda on the evils effects of Exoduses on the Earth's environment, and using military force to prevent any attempted Exodus.

Mazinkaiser Review

Mazinkaiser (マジンカイザー, Majinkaizā) is an anime OVA produced by Brain's Base and Dynamic Productions, based on the Mazinkaiser design that debuted in Super Robot Wars games and the original Mazinger Z manga by Go Nagai.
The OVA follows Kouji Kabuto, Tetsuya Tsurugi and the rest of the "Mazinger Team" as they fight against Dr. Hell's Mechanical Beasts while Kouji stumbles upon a forgotten laboratory where he finds Mazinkaiser, the most powerful robot ever built. The series chronicles Kouji's experience with the machine as he copes with Kaiser's power while defeating Dr. Hell's forces.
The OVA series was directed by Masahiko Murata (Jinki:Extend, Corpse Princess) and written by Satoru Nishizono and Shinzo Fujita. It was first released on Japan through Home Video from September 25, 2001 to September 25, 2002 with a total of 7 episodes. An epilogue movie titled "Mazinkaiser vs.
The Great General of Darkness" was released on theaters on July 25, 2003. Mazinkaiser emulates Go Nagai's character designs, and its operatic plot is supported by a "tongue-in-cheek" cynicism in regard to the gratuitous sex and violence.
Some of the Episodes draw their plot elements from the manga itself rather than the TV series. ADV Films once licensed the series in English territories until the company's closure in 2009.

Haguregumo Review

Haguregumo (浮浪雲, literally "Vagrant Cloud") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by George Akiyama.
It has been serialized by Shogakukan in Big Comic Original from 1973 to 2017 and collected in 112 tankōbon volumes. Haguregumo received the 1979 Shogakukan Manga Award for the general category.
It was adapted into an anime movie in 1982 by Madhouse Studios and Toei Animation. Directed by Mori Masaki, it premiered in Japan on the 24 April 1982.
Set at the end of the Edo period, the series depicts Cloud's family with his wife, Turtle, their 11-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter. The Clouds are always ignoring work and playing. Cloud is notorious for womanising.

Onegai Twins Review

Please Twins! (Japanese: おねがい☆ツインズ, Hepburn: Onegai Tsuinzu, Onegai ☆ Twins!) is an anime television series scripted by Yōsuke Kuroda and produced by Bandai Visual, which was later adapted into a light novel and one-volume manga series.
It centers on a family of three teenagers in high school all living together who are unsure which two of them are related to each other due to a reference from an old photograph. The Please Twins! anime series is a spin-off sequel to Please Teacher!.
It first aired in Japan on the WOWOW satellite television network on July 15, 2003 and finished with a total of 12 episodes plus a later OVA episode released on DVD.
The series was later adapted into a light novel in 2004, which spanned a total of two volumes and, soon after, into a short one-tankōbon manga version (authored by Akikan), which was serialized in MediaWorks's Dengeki Daioh magazine in September 2005.

Kurenai no Buta Review

Porco Rosso (Japanese: 紅の豚, Hepburn: Kurenai no Buta, lit. "Crimson Pig") is a 1992 Japanese animated comedy-adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
It is based on Hikōtei Jidai ("The Age of the Flying Boat"), a three-part 1989 watercolor manga by Miyazaki. The film stars the voices of Shūichirō Moriyama, Tokiko Kato, Akemi Okamura and Akio Ōtsuka. Toshio Suzuki produced the film. It was animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Japan Airlines and the Nippon Television Network and distributed by Toho. Joe Hisaishi composed the music.
The plot revolves around an Italian World War I ex-fighter ace, now living as a freelance bounty hunter chasing "air pirates" in the Adriatic Sea. However, an unusual curse has transformed him into an anthropomorphic pig.
Once called Marco Pagot (Marco Rossolini in the American version), he is now known to the world as "Porco Rosso", Italian for "Red Pig" or "Red Pork".
A first English-dubbed version was included in the Ghibli LD Box Set and on the first Region 2 DVD releases in 2002. The film was later redubbed by Disney and released on DVD in the United States and Canada on February 22, 2005. GKIDS re-issued the film on Blu-ray and DVD on November 21, 2017 under a new deal with Studio Ghibli.

Witch Hunter Robin Review

Witch Hunter Robin (stylized as Witch Hunter ROBIN) is a 2002 Japanese anime series created by Sunrise and animation director Shūkō Murase. The series follows a fictional Japanese branch of a secret global organization called "SOLOMON" or the "Solomon Toukatsu Nin'idantai" (roughly "Solomon Executive Organization"), abbreviated as "STN" or "STN-J".
Solomon fights the harmful use of witchcraft using a database of witches, which includes those who have obtained the power of witchcraft through genetics and others who carry the gene (called "seeds") in order to arrest or eliminate them should their powers "awaken". The series focuses on one STN-J member, Robin Sena.
Robin Sena is a "craft user", born in Japan and raised by the Roman Catholic Church in Italy. She is trained to use her craft of fire to hunt down witches. Witchcraft is a genetic trait, dormant within a number of individuals within the human population. Powers can be "awakened" in these dormant human "seeds" at any time, which seems to also drive the awakened witch into various forms of homicidal madness or sociopathy.
Trained hunters, craft-users or "seeds" themselves that have not become full witches, are needed to keep watch over "seeds" and hunt those whose abilities become active, serving in secret organizations, such as the parent branch "Solomon" and the "STN-J" branch in Japan, as self-appointed witch police to curtail the use of witchcraft in society, and to keep the witch kind a secret from the public. Even the police, who cooperate with STN-J in abnormal criminal cases, do not know what STN-J does.

Alice to Zouroku Review

Alice and Zoroku (アリスと蔵六, Arisu to Zōroku) is a Japanese manga series by Tetsuya Imai. It began serialization from December 2012 in Tokuma Shoten's seinen manga magazine Monthly Comic Ryū. It has been collected in seven tankōbon volumes.
The manga won the Japan Media Arts Festival's New Face Award in 2013. An anime television series adaptation by J.C.Staff aired from April to June 2017.
The existence of humans with supernatural powers is kept a dark secret, hidden from the outside world save a research facility created to understand the principles behind these people, known as 'Dreams of Alice'.
The story centers around Sana, an orphan girl belonging to the research facility as an experimental test subject, and nicknamed "Red Queen" due to her immense power despite her youth and childlike demeanour. After a narrow escape from the research facility, she wanders to the city of Shinjuku and meets an old man named Zouroku Kashimura, who kindly takes her in after sympathising with her story.
Soon, he adopts her as his granddaughter as they grow close during their time together, be it during dangerous situations when trying to evade the research facility and everyday troubles of Sana growing to know the outside world better.

Ai Mai Mii Surgical Friends Review

Ai-Mai-Mi (あいまいみー, Ai Mai Mī) is a Japanese yonkoma online manga series written and illustrated by Choborau Nyopomi. It has been adapted into an anime television series. A second season was announced on the anime's website in the beginning of April.
A third season was announced in November 2016 and premiered in January 2017.
The story follows the lives of the girls Ai, Mai, Mi and Ponoka-senpai, who together form the "Manga Club" where they fight against alien invaders, face fierce rivals and do all sorts of crazy things when they are not drawing manga.
Ponoka-senpai's shell-shocked reaction to a forex market crash from volume 2 of the manga and episode 9 of the anime became an internet meme called "The face of the people who sank all their money into the FX" (FXで有り金全部溶かす人の顔).
In 2014, DMM FX, the world's second largest forex company by trading volume at the time, had a collaboration with Ai Mai Mi where new users could receive T-shirts with Ponoka's glassy expression on them.

Onigamiden Review

Legend of the Millennium Dragon (aka Onigamiden) starts off with a battle between samurai and Oni, "visualized demons that seem to be made of smoke". It does not go well for the samurai and as the Oni prepare to make their final push to destroy a local temple, but Monk Gen'un wipes them all out in one blow with his magic powers.
The film then shifts focus over to Jun Tendo, a shy teenage boy, who is transported 1200 years into Japan's past to the Heian era. There, he must enlist the aid of the dragon Yamata no Orochi to resolve a war between humans and Oni.
He is bullied over and over because of his weak appearance and lack of skills.
Jun is then followed and attacked by an Oni, which he runs away from. While running, Jun finds himself hiding in the temple of Monk Gen'un and is confronted with the truth. Monk Gen'un starts by telling Jun that he is being targeted by the dark monsters and about the war between humans and Oni back in the Heian era.
Jun passes out and wakes up at the temple where he meets Raiko Minamoto, a highly skilled swordsman that fights alongside of Gen'un. Jun is treated as royalty and is highly confused.

Bubblegum Crisis Review

Bubblegum Crisis (Japanese: バブルガムクライシス, Hepburn: Baburugamu Kuraishisu) is a 1987 to 1991 cyberpunk original video animation (OVA) series produced by Youmex and animated by AIC and Artmic. The series was planned to run for 13 episodes, but was cut short to just 8.
The series involves the adventures of the Knight Sabers, an all-female group of mercenaries who don powered exoskeletons and fight numerous problems, most frequently rogue robots. The success of the series spawned several sequel series.
The series begins in late 2032, seven years after the Second Great Kanto earthquake has split Tokyo geographically and culturally in two. During the first episode, disparities in wealth are shown to be more pronounced than in previous periods in post-war Japan. The main adversary is Genom, a megacorporation with immense power and global influence.
Its main product are boomers—artificial cybernetic life forms that are usually in the form of humans, with most of their bodies being machine; also known as "cyberoids". While Boomers are intended to serve mankind, they become deadly instruments in the hands of ruthless individuals.
The AD Police are tasked to deal with Boomer-related crimes. One of the series' themes is the inability of the department to deal with threats due to political infighting, red tape, and an insufficient budget.

Ojamajo Doremi Dokkaan! Review

Ojamajo Doremi Dokkān! (おジャ魔女どれみドッカ～ン！, Ojamajo Doremi Dokkān!) is the fourth and final series of Ojamajo Doremi. The series was directed by Takuya Igarashi and produced by Toei Animation.
It was broadcast on TV Asahi from February 3, 2002, to January 26, 2003, and lasted 51 episodes. The series deals with the sudden growth of Hana, who has aged herself voluntarily and is given permission to become a witch apprentice.
At the same time, the former witch queen's curse has gone into full bloom, but the curse can be stopped if Doremi and the girls can remind her of her fondest memories, which involves the tedious task of recreating the gifts she made and received from her grandchildren.
Aside from using soundtracks from the previous series, the opening theme song for Ojamajo Doremi Dokkān! was "Dance! Ojamajo" (DANCE! おジャ魔女, Dance! Ojamajo) by MAHO Dou. The first ending theme song was titled "Watashi no Tsubasa" (わたしのつばさ, Watashi no Tsubasa), performed by Masami Nakatsukasa.
The second ending theme song was "Ojamajo Ondo de Happy-py!!" (おジャ魔女音頭でハッピッピ!!, Ojamajo Ondo de Happippi!!) by MAHO Dou and was only featured in the episodes that were airing throughout the summer. By episode 31, the ending song switched back to "Watashi no Tsubasa" for the remainder of the show. The final episode features a special all-cast version of "Watashi no Tsubasa" and was performed by the voice cast.

Alps no Shoujo Heidi Review

Heidi, Girl of the Alps (Japanese: アルプスの少女ハイジ, Hepburn: Arupusu no Shōjo Haiji) is a 1974 Japanese-American series by Zuiyo Eizo (now Nippon Animation) based on the Swiss novel Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning by Johanna Spyri (1880).
It was directed by Isao Takahata and features contributions by numerous other anime luminaries, including Yoichi Kotabe (character design, animation director), Toyoo Ashida (co-character design, animation director), Yoshiyuki Tomino (storyboard, screenplay), and Hayao Miyazaki (scene design, layout, screenplay).
Heidi is one of several World Masterpiece Theater titles produced around the "classical children's literature period" (1974–1997), based on classic tales from the Western world.
The animation studio responsible for Heidi, Zuiyo Enterprises, would split in 1975 into Nippon Animation Company, Ltd. (which employed the anime's production staff and continued with the World Masterpiece Theater franchise) and Zuiyo Company, Ltd., which retained the rights (and debt) to the Heidi TV series.
The feature-length film edit of the TV series, released in March 1979, was engineered completely by Zuiyo, with no additional involvement from Nippon Animation, Takahata or Miyazaki.