With this third volume the story of star-crossed lovers Koshiro and Nanoka come to an end. Koi Kaze has been a sea of emotions thrown in the utterly believable yet horribly taboo relationship. Koshiro decides to be the adult of the situation and moves out suddenly in the hopes that the feelings he and Nanoka have for each other will subside. In his new apartment he lives on takeout and instant meals while his coworker, Chidori makes regular visits and spends most nights there.

By all outward appearances he has moved on and has started a relationship with Chidori. The truth is another matter. Inside Koshiro is torn and wishing that he could see Nanoka again although he actively avoids her if he sees her. This unfortunately doesn't last forever when Nanoka starts coming by his apartment regularly. Though he's given several chances to break the relationship and let things return to a somewhat normal state Koshiro instead gives in to his urges and the two move further beyond the point of no return.

I have been reviewing DVDs on this little blog of mine since September of 2003. Yet in the five and a half years since I started the site I have never had a harder time reviewing a dvd as I have with Koi Kaze. Oh sure there are times when watching garbage like Omoo Omoo the Shark God I just want to pull my hair out over having to remember how awful it was. Koi Kaze is something completely different as it is a fascinating story and yet incredibly disturbing and tragic.

When I first decided to sit down and watch Koi Kaze, I was fearful that it would try to portray incest as a normal, everyday occurrence and that this would be treated as a sort of propoganda for acceptance of a sexual kink or something like that. While Koi Kaze is not exactly promoting the lifestyle of Koshiro and Nanoka, it doesn't do all that much to discourage it. The judgement is left up to the viewer and we must judge whether what has transpired is good or evil.

Watching Koi Kaze is in many ways like watching a Greek Tragedy. You know the ending before it begins and you know that things aren't going to turn out well. I won't pretend to claim that Koi Kaze is in the league of Sophocles but the tradgedy and human emotion is very real and I did find myself feeling quite depressed over the state of Koshiro and Nanoka's life. As an observer I, like Chidori, wish that I could just slap some sense into the poor misguided fools and allow them to take a different path. Yet, like Oedipus the King, their fate seems pre-ordained.

This show is not for everyone. It deals with deeply disturbing topics in ways that many of us might not be comfortable with outside of the latest joke about renecks. Still, it's an interesting and well made anime that deserves a chance. If you can watch with an objective mind there's plenty to enjoy here. At the very least it got me to think.

Labels: Animation, Anime, Japanese

As we left Koshiro and Nanoka in the last volume we see two confused siblings who seem to have noticed the start of some attraction but have not really acted upon it. Koshiro being the older and more experienced member of the family seems to know what he must do and yet he struggles to treat Nanoka as a sister. Sadly, just when he seems to get the hang of the familiarity of her, the affection of Nanoka is returned with the simple words, "I like you."

Meanwhile while this is going on Koshiro's co-worker Chidori is becoming more and more suspicious of the two. She observes that they don't look like the typical brother and sister and she also notices that Koshiro is no longer as belligerent about his sister as he once was. While she can't quite put her finger on it, she seems to know that something is up.

Koi Kaze is progressing along very nicely and I must confess that as I watch each episode I become more and more engrossed. While incest has been seen in literature from Genesis to Greek Tragedies to modern blockbuster films it is rarely handled in such a sensitive way. What surprises me so much about Koi Kaze is how well written the show is. Honestly most anime appears to be written to a focus group. If I did have one complaint it would be the character of Odagiri. In what is otherwise a totally atypical anime the stock pervert co-worker just seems out of place.

It's a hard show to recommend based on its subject matter but if you can stomach the idea of incest and a romantic relationship with a minor. While I personally cannot understand the feelings of the main characters, the idea of a forbidden or unattainable love/lust is a universal feeling felt by all. Here's hoping that things somehow get better in Volume 3.

Labels: Animation, Anime, Japanese

Here we have twelve more episodes of what is certainly one of the best anime shows ever. It's always sad to see your favorite show work towards a conclusion but that is exactly what Volume 7 of Maison Ikkoku does. Several side plots and characters such as Yagami and Coach Mitaka are more or less put to rest in terms of the Kyoko / Godai romance story.

I find that as I review each volume of Maison Ikkoku I find myself with less and less to say. It's not that I am losing interest in the show but that I feel there is nothing more I can say that hasn't been said before. Maison Ikkoku is consistantly good and if I was to find any fault it would be that at times they don't deviate much from the path. While I would love to see more episodes focusing on the side characters like Yotsuya and Akemi this is a show about Godai and Kyoko.

I can't wait to watch the next and final volume. While I will be sad to see the show end, I know that I will most certainly have to watch it again. It would certainly be a good excuse to try and introduce it to some friends.

Labels: Animation, Anime, Classics, Maison Ikkoku

As this is the first time (I think) that I've reviewed a show only in fansubs I'd like to have a bit of a history lesson to start.

I've been an anime fan for a good 10+ years now. There's no secret that in that time anime has gone from an emerging niche market to a full blown marketable product that just about everyone knows about. While it still has yet to become mainstream, you can at least walk into your local video store (or even Walmart) and pick up a copy of some of the more popular titles.

Back when I was just starting to become an anime fan I got my fix through VHS tapes which cost $20 and up for two to four episodes. In order to watch as much as I could on my limited budget I got into the fansub market trading tapes and requesting Nth generation copies from fansub distros. Back then I was watching mostly shows from the 80s and early 90s as all the "new" stuff would take a year or two to come to LaserDisc in Japan and then it might get picked up by a fansubber. If not, you were SOL.

Today, if you want a fansub you can usually get an episode a few days after its airing on Japanese TV. Many in the anime communities feel that fansubs have lost that amateurish feel and that "By fans for fans" comradery and that today's fansubs are little more than piracy. While I won't argue that fact here, I will state that fansubs are still the only way to see some shows and sadly, they will most likely be the only way to ever see such shows.

Bewitching Nozomi is such a show. Made in 1992 around the Barcelona Olympics we get the story of a young boy named Ryotaro who, after being scouted by his neighbor Nozomi starts his trek to become a boxing champion and fulfill Nozomi's dream for him.

The plot is relatively simple and yet it works. The element of realizing a dream for a female love interest is certainly not new to anime. Touch did it back in the 80s with baseball instead of boxing. Yet there is something enduring about the show which I can't put my finger on. Perhaps it's because the characters are so enduring despite only getting to know them over the course of three episodes.

As a three episode OVA from 1992 the animation is perhaps a bit dated by today's standards but it holds up very well, outside of a few early digital type effects in the OP.

It should also be noted that the OP song, "Flash of Thunderlight", bears a striking similarity to both "Eye of the Tiger" and also Bonnie Tyler's "Ravishing". Not that that's a bad thing.

If I had any complaints about the show it's that the story does, at times, feel a bit rushed and that it could have easily have been expanded to a 13 episode TV series. Yet I'm satisfied with what we have and I think you will too.

Nozomi Witches a.k.a. Bewitching Nozomi is a pretty rare find, even for fansubs. Checking the usual places I can't find a copy. Mine was a copy of the old Lupin Gang SVHS so the video quality isn't quite what you expect. Still, I say this is a show worth hunting down. When you finish it, be sure and send a note to the anime companies in the States and ask them to license it.

Labels: Animation, Anime, Fansub only

Well, after waiting almost a year since watching volume 5, I finally have gotten around to watching the final volume of Sugar.

Basically since I don't want to spoil the show, I will simply state that it is one of my favorite anime shows that I've seen. There really is something magical and delightful about the show that really keeps me entertained. There's nothing objectionable and I can certainly see this as a show that I would show my kids someday should I ever have any.

Excellent and recommended in the highest way possible! Too bad it's out of print.

Labels: Animation, Anime, Classics

I actually watched these a while back but sadly I have not blogged so much lately and have never given my review.

For those who don't know, Davey and Goliath was a television series made by Gumby creator Art Clokey under the sponsorship of the Lutheran Church in America. Thus each show had a moral or scriptural lesson to teach which can be backed up by Biblical truths. Each disc had a handful of the 15 minute shorts as well as one longer short. All episodes are fairly decent but there are a few gems to be found.

On the first disc we get the controversial (for its time) episode of Blind Man's Bluff. Davey's best friend Jonathan (who quite possibly was the first black kid in a cartoon series depicted as a normal human character) invites him over to take care of his cousin Scottie who hates White people. What's so interesting here is that the tables are turned from the conventional White Supremacy that is used to display racism. Sadly even to this day we have groups of people who don't even believe that Black people can be racist against White people or that it is somehow excusable. Davey and Goliath got it all those years ago.

The second disc has more Biblical stories in it with one episode, Good Neighbor, mirroring Jesus's parable of the Good Samaritan and Halloween Who Dun It where Davey learns that not even the masks we try to put on can hide us or our sins from God. However much in the same way that the Doughnut shop owner forgives the children and pays for the damages Jesus forgives us of our sins and makes things right for us by saving us from the punishments we deserve.

Davey and Goliath is a classic that I think many children today could benefit from. The messages are simple and don't overload kids and best of all come from the truths of the Bible which Jesus gave to us. Davey and Goliath aren't teaching the universalism and tolerance crap of most new shows which tell children to abandon principals and to accept just about anything as normal and decent.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Labels: Animation, Christian, Family

Space Ghost returns along with his enslaved villain side-kicks Zorak and Moltar for another collection of one of the most brilliant shows in the history of television.

Included here are all the episodes from the fourth season. These episodes are now a full ten years old and yet they are just as fresh and hilarious as ever. Between "Macho Man" Randy Savage portraying Space Ghost's grandfather to Space Ghost breaking into a version of "Dear Old Donegal" the humor goes from completely over the top to educated and back again all within 10 to 15 minutes time.

I definitely recommend this and I really hope more are coming since Volume 4 never (to my knowledge) materialized.

Labels: Animation, Comedy

Wow, I have seen some disturbing things in my day but this one takes the cake.

Pinocchio like many other fairy tales is known to most modern audiences not by their original work but instead by their Disney interpretation. Therefore when we are presented with something a bit more true to the book we may tend to prefer the Disney sterilized version and shun those more true to the book.

This film is actually an Italian production and appears to have been dubbed by the same people who did Gamera vs. Zigra, that is to say the dubbing is rather putrid and the film is a strain on the ears. It, like the original book, is incredibly depressing as the social commentary is quite clear. It also is a bit weird as I never really expected to see Pinocchio lynched Spaghetti Western style.

If you want to watch something downright weird or want to try your hands at your own MSTing then by all means, spend a dollar on this. Just don't buy it for your kids.

Labels: Animation, Bad Movies, Crap