Black Omega
First Post
Again this year the fine folks at Hades Pro were running the anime room at Gencon and for one more year they totally kicked butt.
The Good
1. More free stuff at the raffles than you could shake a stick at. I won something both times and they were giving away so much it seemed like half the people there got something, even if it was nothing more than a few booster packs.
2. Read or Die. I had no expectations for a anime based on the Special Ops branch of the British Royal Library but this anime got off to a great start and just got better. Funny, good outrageous action, geniuses from the past trying to destroy the world, and the main character's a girl with superhuman power over..paper.
What's not to love? A sequel is confirmed for 2003. Woo! Apprently set to be brought to the US by Manga Entertainment. Death by Origami! Highly recommended.
3. Spirited Away. In certain ways this reminded me of My Neighbor Toturo. Not surprising, since this is from Hayao Miyazaki, who did MNT and Princess Mononoke, among many others. He has a wonderful way of lulling you in, hinting something is going wrong, then just smacking you upside the head. Not released officially in the US until Sept. 20th, this broke records at the box office in Japan and rightly so. Creepy, sweet, scary, this is just excellent. Highly recommended.
4. The Oh My Goddess movie. Already released in the US. If you like OMG, you'll enjoy this.
5. Music videos. From Pikachu rapping to Van Halen's 'Right Now', there were some great anime music vids.
6. Bastard! This is a great anime to watch with a big group of people. Out dated, but good mindless fun. And have to love all the 80's metal band references.
The Ok
1. Chobits. From the fine people at CLAMP. Boy meets computer. Computer happens to be in the shape of a scantily clad girl. Will it end in love? Tragedy? Meaningless sex? This is very popular but I just saw a few eps and could not get into it. Seems interesting but I'll have to see more.
2. Boggiepop Phantom. ... What the hell is going on here?? Grim, often disturbing. Very confusing. 4 DVD's with a very interwoven plot. I'd say you'd have to take notes to follow it, but the notes aren't enough. Compelling as well. I rarely run into a anime creepy enough to be hard watching, but an ep of this came close.
3. Armitage: Duel Matrix. I liked Armitage III ok and this is much the same. A little puzzling and it felt like a few chances were missed. But entertaining enough and if you are an Armitage fan I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
The Bad
1. Excel Saga. Ok..ok..I'm sure it's great for what it's trying to do. And obviously alot of people at the show were enjoying it. But I could not get into this at all. Very silly. Occasionally funny.
Even so, congrats to Hades Pro on a good show. One of the Hades guys asked that we post good reviews of the show and send email. I asked later what their email was and found out they evidently don't have one. Even so, if you ever get around Gencon, definitely check out the anime room. They don't show much old classic stuff but there is plenty of new stuff worth watching.
The Good
1. More free stuff at the raffles than you could shake a stick at. I won something both times and they were giving away so much it seemed like half the people there got something, even if it was nothing more than a few booster packs.
2. Read or Die. I had no expectations for a anime based on the Special Ops branch of the British Royal Library but this anime got off to a great start and just got better. Funny, good outrageous action, geniuses from the past trying to destroy the world, and the main character's a girl with superhuman power over..paper.
What's not to love? A sequel is confirmed for 2003. Woo! Apprently set to be brought to the US by Manga Entertainment. Death by Origami! Highly recommended.3. Spirited Away. In certain ways this reminded me of My Neighbor Toturo. Not surprising, since this is from Hayao Miyazaki, who did MNT and Princess Mononoke, among many others. He has a wonderful way of lulling you in, hinting something is going wrong, then just smacking you upside the head.
Not released officially in the US until Sept. 20th, this broke records at the box office in Japan and rightly so. Creepy, sweet, scary, this is just excellent. Highly recommended.4. The Oh My Goddess movie. Already released in the US. If you like OMG, you'll enjoy this.
5. Music videos. From Pikachu rapping to Van Halen's 'Right Now', there were some great anime music vids.
6. Bastard! This is a great anime to watch with a big group of people. Out dated, but good mindless fun. And have to love all the 80's metal band references.
The Ok
1. Chobits. From the fine people at CLAMP. Boy meets computer. Computer happens to be in the shape of a scantily clad girl. Will it end in love? Tragedy? Meaningless sex? This is very popular but I just saw a few eps and could not get into it. Seems interesting but I'll have to see more.
2. Boggiepop Phantom. ... What the hell is going on here?? Grim, often disturbing. Very confusing. 4 DVD's with a very interwoven plot. I'd say you'd have to take notes to follow it, but the notes aren't enough. Compelling as well. I rarely run into a anime creepy enough to be hard watching, but an ep of this came close.
3. Armitage: Duel Matrix. I liked Armitage III ok and this is much the same. A little puzzling and it felt like a few chances were missed. But entertaining enough and if you are an Armitage fan I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
The Bad
1. Excel Saga. Ok..ok..I'm sure it's great for what it's trying to do. And obviously alot of people at the show were enjoying it. But I could not get into this at all. Very silly. Occasionally funny.
Even so, congrats to Hades Pro on a good show. One of the Hades guys asked that we post good reviews of the show and send email. I asked later what their email was and found out they evidently don't have one. Even so, if you ever get around Gencon, definitely check out the anime room. They don't show much old classic stuff but there is plenty of new stuff worth watching.
