THEM Anime Reviews
Home Reviews Extras Forums

News Archives - April 2004

Return to News Archives index

April 30 2004, 9:00 AM

Friday Update

Today, we introduce a new reviewer: Melissa Johnson. Of course, we here at THEM, being ever so formal, are just gonna call her Mippa. ^_^

Mippa gives us a full review of the Gainax series PUCHI PURI YUCIE, which passes with flying colors, as well as a positive review for LOST UNIVERSE.

That's all for now!

 
April 26 2004, 12:00 PM

Monday Update

Yet again, another busy weekend has Carlos uploading reviews and the sidebar being a day behind.

First off, Enoch gives no love to the excessively cute MAO-CHAN, but he's more than willing to send his now exorbitant dentist's bill to studio Xebec and creator Akamatsu Ken, who needs to learn how to draw more than five different women. An update on R.O.D. -THE TV- (aka READ OR DREAM) to full status has the series bumped up one notch into five-star territory.

Jeremy handles BANNER OF THE STARS II, which gets a full five-star rating, to the shock of precisely none of the editorial staff. No, we haven't reviewed BANNER OF THE STARS yet ... but that's only because Jason's writeup is slightly behind schedule and not ready for prime time. Another positive review for SPIRIT OF WONDER: THE MOVIE (aka SCIENTIFIC BOYS' CLUB).

In our last review of the day, Stig gives us the Frag of the Week: SWORD FOR TRUTH, which gets ninja-sliced-and-diced six ways to Sunday with a verbal katana up the you-know-what.

 
April 21 2004, 12:00 PM

Wednesday Update

Only one review up so far today -- this time, Carlos digs into the backlog and comes up with the utterly surreal URUSEI YATSURA MOVIE 2: BEAUTIFUL DREAMER, and barely suppresses the urge to sing a song about Salvador Dali while doing so.

The sidebar is time-delayed again, so expect the link to come up on Thursday.

 
April 19 2004, 12:00 PM

Monday Update

Carlos has been busily uploading new reviews today, but they're not going up on the sidebar until tomorrow.

First up, Enoch has a second opinion on GUNSLINGER GIRL that is a bit less enthusiastic about the show. He's much more positive about KALEIDO STAR, which gets a high rating and a safe-for-the-family tag.

Bob posts his own second opinion, this time a full take on BERSERK that echoes the original review.

Stig takes on EL HAZARD 2, and finds it more of a filler segment than a solid series in its own right. He also reviews the dated action series GUYVER: BIO-BOOSTER ARMOR, which gets a surprisingly average grade. Stig is much more positive about the space opera LENSMAN, though the Editor has to wonder how fans of E.E. Smith's original novels are going to feel about it.

Jeremy reviews JUBEI-CHAN 2: SIBERIA YAGYU'S COUNTERATTACK, which comes off more uneven than whimsical, and therefore gets stuck with an average rating.

Jen gives a "not-doinky" thumbs-up to SOMEDAY'S DREAMERS, warning that it may not fly for the impatient. She slams KERO KERO CHIME, though, as a totally derivative, unlikable mess, earning it "Raspberry of the Week" honors. An average score for HIME-CHAN'S RIBBON, on a very early review, rounds out today's submissions.

Of course, our work is never done, especially with three new reviewers coming on board, so stay tuned!

 
April 14 2004, 9:00 AM

Tomorrow's Tax Day!

Hope all you Americans got your taxes paid. ^_^ Hopefully we'll get to spend our tax refund on some decent anime this year.

Until then, Carlos has a partial review on the first half of .HACK//LEGEND. previously known to digital source viewers as .HACK//DUSK, as well as other less savory names.

See you next update!

 
April 12 2004, 3:00 PM

It Sure Is Monday ...

First off, a quick announcement for fans in the Phoenix metro area -- on October 2, 2004, the local anime convention drought will finally end. AniZona 0 will be held at Arizona State University's Memorial Union -- it is a one-day event that will be the run-up to a full-weekend convention beginning with AniZona 1 in October 2005.

More information and discussion boards will be available at the AniZona website.

And now, for some reviews.

Jeremy starts us off with KANON, which gets an average score because it tries to do too much in too little time (but at least it tries to do something, unlike far too many shows in the genre). He also gives us a second opinion on REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA, one of his favorite anime of all time.

Stig takes on another Korean piece, MY BEAUTIFUL GIRL MARI (or MARI'S STORY), which has little to do with Mari, but a whole lot to do with excellence. Less beautiful is WICKED CITY, which garners an average rating despite some extremely disturbing imagery.

That's all for now!

 
April 7 2004, 9:00 AM

No April Foolin'

Since Google and LiveJournal had plenty of April Foolery to go around, we decided not to join in the fun.

Instead, we have new reviews from several of our *cough* esteemed team of writers.

First off, Editor-in-Chief Carlos finally writes the long-delayed review on HAUNTED JUNCTION, which gets a very mixed reaction, which is about par for the course for a toilet humor occult humor series starring the son of a priest. Worse off is ARCADE GAMER FUBUKI, which reinforces Central Park Media's tradition of licensing series no one else was imprudent enough to touch. We love you, CPM, really, but why this? AGGH!

To counter all this bad karma, Carlos tackles KILL BILL VOL. 1, which barely qualifies as "anime" under the implementation of the "Episode 19 Rule" - if Episode 19 of HIS AND HER CIRCUMSTANCES counts, then so should KILL BILL VOL. 1. No, we won't be pushing this rule too much, believe me, as the likelihood of THEM reviewing the Chinese DRAGON BALL Z movie is about as great as the Chief Editor's odds of gaining Japanese citizenship. At least KILL BILL VOL. 1 turns out good, unlike most of the material we're mucking through so far.

Meanwhile, Jeremy polishes off a review for the as-yet-unlicensed GILGAMESH, another Ishinomori Shotaro revival series with seriously archaic-looking character design and mixed results. (At least it wasn't Genma Wars.)

Finally, Enoch gets saddled with another "goat" series, taking on STEEL ANGEL KURUMI 2, and reminding us that, indeed, "KYUUU~~~IN" is PAIN.

Late breaking news: Stig airmails a review of AGENT AIKA from Norway, just in time to file in with the rest of the mediocre anime being reviewed this week. Oy vey! Also, a review of the first episode of TOKYO BABYLON, which would be fine if they hadn't tried to make it into a music video halfway through.

I guess you could say we got April Fooled this time around ... but there's always next update!

 
 
© 1996-2015 THEM Anime Reviews. All rights reserved.