We get a “sniper rifle” to help when our normal weapons won’t punch through a force field.
Continue readingTag Archives: mecha
Let’s Play Zone of the Enders HD: 04 – Salvage
Jahuty sends us hunting for parts for the orbital frame.
Continue reading
Let’s Play Zone of the Enders HD: 03 – Can’t Go Home Again
Leo heads back to his home district to find it under attack.
Continue reading
Let’s Play Zone of the Enders HD: 02 – Driving Lessons
Leo gets into a little combat, before we go through the tutorial.
Continue reading
Let’s Play Zone of the Enders HD: 01 – Read The Fine Manual
We watch the opening cutscene (albeit with no audio for this stream), and read the documentation.
Continue reading
Knights of Sidonia Volumes 14 & 15: Manga Review
It’s interesting looking at Knights of Sidonia’s ending on context of the endings of Blame and Biomega, and the tones of those series overall. Blame and Biomega were stories with a generally small cast. Blame with one person, later 3 people. Biomega with 3 people. Those stories were also generally travelogues, with the protagonists traveling the Megastructure or the World (respectively) to find a solution. Knights of Sidonia on the other hand, has the story more (generally) locked down to a location, and has a much larger cast. So, the question becomes how does the ending pan out. There will be spoilers in this post.
Continue reading
Knights of Sidonia Vol. 12-13 Manga Review
These volumes of Knights of Sidonia are the lead-in for the big climax of the story. Tanijiro picks his romantic interest in these volumes, and the Sidonia gets ready for their big final assault on the Greater Cluster Ship, only for a new wrinkle to potentially ruin their plans – and the ship.
Continue reading
Metal Skin Panic: MADOX-01 Anime Review
MADOX-01 is a short, straightforward, wish-fulfillment mecha anime that lasts just long enough to not overstay its welcome.
Continue reading
The Big O: Anime Review
I have some significant gaps in the classics of Toonami. I watched most (though not quite all) of Gundam Wing when it first aired. Same with Outlaw Star, and a fair amount of Dragon Ball Z (at least through the end of the Namek arc). However, I never really watched much of Yu-Yu Hakusho, and I never got around to watching any of The Big O. Maybe it was the title of the show – it certainly wasn’t the aesthetic – the retro-futuristic style grabbed my interest. However, it wasn’t until recently that I finally got the opportunity to watch The Big O in its entirety – and it’s an interesting show to unpack.
Continue reading
Knights of Sidonia Vol. 1-7: Manga Review
I’ve read several of Tsutomu Nihei’s previous series and reviewed them for Bureau42, and in part here – Biomega and Blame, and I’d reviewed a couple of volumes of Knights of Sidonia at the Bureau, but I might as well get up to speed here.
Continue reading
Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory – Anime Review
I first watched Mobile Suit Gundam: Stardust Memory when I was in High School, a little after 9/11. The story worked for me at that time, when all the Gundam I’d seen had been the Gundam compilation films and Char’s Counterattack. Since then I’ve seen considerably more Gundam (including Zeta Gundam) since then.
Continue reading
Space Runaway Ideon: Anime Review
Yoshiyuki Tomino has something of a reputation as an anime director, for multiple reasons. Tomino has a reputation for being full of himself. His interviews about Brainpowerd in Animerica magazine demonstrate this. Anyone who has gone to an anime con and asked a Japanese guest who worked with him for a “Tomino story” can attest to this. Tomino also has a reputation for his absolute ruthlessness for killing off characters in his work. The normal examples of this are Zeta Gundam, the last half of ZZ Gundam, and Char’s Counterattack. However, the work that started Tomino down this road was Space Runaway Ideon. (Pronounced E-day-on).
Continue reading
Anime Review: Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn
For the past 30 years, the narrative and thematic conclusion of the One Year War arc of the Universal Century was Char’s Counterattack. The film is wonderfully animated, with intense action sequences, but in my view it felt less like a thematic conclusion of the themes of the first 3 Gundam series, and more of a return to the narrative of the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime series. As I mentioned in my review of Gundam ZZ – that worked for me when what I knew of the Universal Century was just the original series, but it became less and less resonant as I made my way through the story. Gundam Unicorn, on the other hand, feels much more resonant, and fits as a conclusion to this part of the Universal Century. Continue reading
Standard
Anime Review: Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ is one of the Universal Century Gundam series that had yet to receive a US release. Bandai Entertainment USA had announced a US release prior to them shutting their doors several years ago, but now that RightStuf has been working to bring out various Gundam series to the US, which means that fans here can finally take a look at the show legally.
Standard
As a head’s up, there are some spoilers for the show here, but I’m going to work to keep them to a minimum. There will be some heavy spoilers for Gundam Zeta, which are somewhat essential due to how the show starts. Continue reading
This time I’m taking a look at another out-print anime, in the wake of Lodoss getting license rescued by Funimation, in Armored Trooper VOTOMS. Continue reading
Anime Review: Megazone 23 – Part III
Megazone 23 – Part 3 is probably the most Cyberpunk part of the Megazone 23 series. The other installments had artificial intelligences and rebelling against the man. However, Part 3 has more hacking, human cybernetic augmentation, and dealing with human society’s relationship with the planet. It’s also the weakest part of the series. Continue reading
Standard