Closing out another promotion and a look see on the results and entries making a play for the booty. In this case, a copy of a Studio Ghibli DVD from the crew at Dendy Cinemas. Reason being that of the exclusive limited season of Tales from Earthsea from, yes, Studio Ghibli.

Ten days for one reel to play at the Dendy Newtown in Newtown's Dendy Cinemas and on to the next state. So, on to the scoreboard of entries and the art coloured in the lines.

Who sings the theme song to Tales from Earthsea?

Aoi Teshima.

On the surface isn't all that simple. Unless a quick check of the Wikipedia entry is made. Not much for the IMDB listing. Clearly nothing from the film's official site.

Well, it is a crap shoot when playing with Wiki as a source. In this case, it plays well enough to the tune.

Name another Studio Ghibli film not already mentioned on this page:

Any of the following made an entry a valid entry: Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Grave of the Fireflies, Kiki's Delivery Service, Only Yesterday, Porco Rosso, The Ocean Waves, Pom Poko, Whisper of the Heart, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbors the Yamadas, The Cat Returns or Spirited Away.

Most entries fell safe and late with the use of Spirited Away as the chosen marker. Obviously, when sorting through, and with the options to consider, any entry which opts to drop with any other title floats a bit higher in the pool.

When picking from a list, take a look at other movies, in case they don't seem so dragged down by being so recent or popular as to not make the brain think.

Which Studio Ghibli DVD would you like to win?

Any would do: No preference; Howl's Moving Castle; My Neighbour Totoro; or Nausica of the Valley of the Wind.

This round works on two shots; the personal choice and the blind shot. For those who are really interested in picking up a DVD of their choice, they would go for the one they're looking to nab. Others, for the sake of winning, will just throw down "No preference" and hope for the best. When there are entries for all the other titles however, those with a shot at "Whatever" will lose out.

Most of the time.

Those that will always lose out are those who cannot decide and go for more than one. And that's the worst thing to do. There exists a blacklist for those who choose to rort. It's there for a reason. Stay away from it and have palms clear of red paint.

 

Smash that ice leg as the freezing nights are here again. Really cold out now, so cold the ears are starting to bleed from all that frost.

Tales from Earthsea continues its short and exclusive run at the Dendy Newtown cinemas. Really good anime, finely made film and even falling asleep from the night's antics hours on the phone before hand will not dampen it at all.

Oh, but for those of reading things in books and not of subtitles, Fell: Vol 1: Feral City collects the first batch of single shot crime fiction stories from Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith. Quick and satisfying read in the singles form, a nice ride on the train for those who know how to walk and read at the same time.

Unlike those who know how to watch a movie and sleep at the same time.

 

Only one reel of the latest anime from Studio Ghibli is in Australia and making the rounds. Next destination, and running for the next ten days, Tales from Earthsea at the Dendy Newtown.

Glamorous and lush visuals from the very start, a hint of shouting across the crashing waves and subtitles are good. Not so good to do this much reading in the morning however. Drowsy takes hold and a nice slumber slots in early after the start. Enough to gather the flow of the story, not too late to miss out entirely on the world.

With a world in despair it's the ancient and true which leaves for hope and the dying truth of life and the end with death. A tale of acceptance and fighting for the best parts of life and leaving the rule of giving and receiving to the heart. Heads will only complicate matters when the desire out rules and out gasps the sheer audacity of what befalls those who chase the light.

Magic and sorcery, the stuff of mystics, plays heavy in the background with a clean swipe as the human emotions stand at the fore. Truly a beautiful film to soak in and marvel at the expanse and closeness.

Playing at Dendy Newtown from May 17 until 27 for an extremely limited season.

 

Spawning from the pages of CMX's manga comes Tenjho Tenge. An anime series chock full of fan service, a strong story and awesome martial arts action as well as sharp line work and purdy colours synonymous with all of Madhouses forays.

Aya and Maya Natsume sisters and their Juuken Club battle two new students, Souichiro and Bob, at their school to maintain supremacy in the fighting club ladder. To make things even more complicated, younger sibling Aya is courting Souichiro by trying to feed him all sorts of home cooked goodies. Throw into the mix the Student Executive Council, a group that sends out "Executioners" to make sure all students are kept in line.



It would be rather easy for someone to mistake Tenjho for a cheap clone of Ikki Tousen where in fact these two series are like chalk and cheese. They may have the same motif, pretty ladies fighting for pride and supremacy in a high school. Thankfully, Tenjho takes it one step further by introducing interesting and well designed characters. Although the character design isn't the best I've ever seen, it's well and truly good enough to be able to differentiate the characters albeit while keeping faithful to the shoujo/shonen archetype.

Don't get too carried away with the wonderfully animated hip-hop inspired opening sequence, it is as good as the animation gets. That's not to say that the rest of the animation is sub-standard, it's just that the opening sequence is of better quality than the animation in the majority of series' out there.

Judging from volume one, Tenjho Tenje looks rather promising. The animation is great, the story is solid, the characters are put together well and the action is top notch.

Tenjho Tenge is available through the Comic Shop.

 

One thing that comes from taking in the art and information from the exhibition, Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga at the Art Gallery of NSW, is that Osamu Tezuka, creator of Black Jack, Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, really did have a thing for the metamorphosis angle in life. Or just his stories. Whatever.

Either way, it's not without the next manga work and the next after that, displayed clearly and well with information and sample finishes, that the line between the underlying theme beneath that underlying theme is apparent. Or perhaps this is all a matter of transference.



Up close to his original art, all the mistakes and corrections are spot on clear. Liquid paper collaring the stray and changes, his work is super fine and so easy to read and understand.

All the focus is on the manga, so there are no moving visuals, no animations playing alongside the original creations. Flat, but then the anime is not the donut here.

 

Samurai Champloo is the follow up to Shinichiro Watanabe's much revered Cowboy Bebop. Champloo, roughly translated as "mix" in Okinawa, takes a step outside of the usual and frankly stale samurai genre. Infusing an awesome hip-hop soundtrack to back up classic Edo era back drops.

The action sequences are arguably some of the best that I have seen in a series full stop. The animation itself is vibrant, crisp and down right incredible. I applaud Watanabe's decision to steer clear of Gonzo-esque CG sequences. This decision made way for some of the best and most beautiful classically animated sequences and in particular back grounds of recent years. Certain shots of water at night time are amazing.



Character designs are exceptional and varied with supporting characters receiving just as much attention from their conceptual designers and animators as our three main protagonists Mugen, Fuu and Jin. While the story itself is strong, strengthening from the first quarter onwards before tying up all loose ends for the finale, something rarely achieved by most anime series.

History buffs may very well turn up their noses at the historical inconsistencies abounding from Champloo. Just keep in mind, it's an animated TV show, not a documentary. Taking artistic liberty is easily forgiven for a series that rivals, but not quite outshines, its predecessor Cowboy Bebop.

Champloo is available across 7 individual discs or in a perfect box set from the Comic Shop.

 

The Fullmetal Alchemist feature film, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa, picks up two years after the last episode of the TV series left off. Alphonse Elric attempted to sacrifice himself to save his brother Edward Elric from certain doom, transporting Ed to the year 1923, post World-War I Munich, Earth. He lives with Alphonse Heiderich, an engineer with a striking resemblance to his brother Al. The Alphonse from "our" world works for the Thule Society, a group of Nazi's who plan to cross dimensions to Shambala (Ed and Al's home world) to assist them in obtaining weaponry to help them to victory in the ongoing war. On the plane of existence where the series took place, Al tries to right his wrongs and return his brother to their world with a combination of science and alchemy.

The Conqueror of Shamballa is able to be watched as a stand alone film although viewers who haven't watched the series may struggle to understand who's who. One way to combat this is to go and get the series as well!



Not unlike Neon Genesis Evangelion's The End of Evangelion, Conqueror of Shamballa ties the series up into a nice little bow, which is nice as the series kinda left things hanging in limbo ala Dragon Ball Z and Neon Genesis Evangelion. It also touches base as to what your favourite characters have been up to since the series end.

The film in itself provides a moving score and production values superior to that of the series. As usual, Studio Bones continues to delight with some of the sharpest and most aesthetically appealing art I have seen in a long time.

The DVD itself comes as a one disc standard edition or a 2 disc special ultra super kawaii edition. Of course any anime fan worth their salt would own the 2 disc set and no less.

Go get Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa at the Comic Shop now!!!

 

From director Yamaga Hiroyuki (Wings of Honneamise, Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL), animated by Studio Gainax and based on the manga of the same name by Nakayama Bunjurou and Ditama Bow comes Mahoromatic. I could end my review here with a strong feeling that the above sentence should be enough to get the majority of readers to go out and watch Mahoromatic.

Mahoromatic is the story of a battle android, Mahoro, who after completing her service with a military installation called Vesper is offered the opportunity to live out her final days how ever she so pleases. She, oddly enough, decides that she would like to become a maid and live out her days caring for a seemingly random Japanese High School student.



The characters in Mahoromatic display juxtaposition in respect to their personality traits and the monumentous occasions in which they decide to let such traits shine. Suguru is your classic subdued, sex obsessed coward that could have quite easily been lifted from the screen of Ah! My Goddess, Hina or Tenchi series. Where Mahoro on the other hand is an incredibly destructive and powerful battle-android who makes some killer marinated potatoes and cares for nothing more than the satisfaction of her "master".

Like with nearly all Gainax series, the animation is exceptional and the character designs unique. The soundtrack is not entirely memorable with exception to the song performed during the closing credits. A nice little rumba type of ditty.

Try this series if you are a fan of Chobits or Neon Genesis. I say this because Mahoromatic has a whole bunch or sweet romantic comedy laced with some kick butt action sequences that will keep all tastes wanting more.

Mahoromatic is available from the Comic Shop now.

 

Sendou Kazuki is your average run of the mill student. Even though he would be more than happy to be so normal or even borderline mundane he has decided to surround himself with the most left of field circle of friends imaginable. His pseudo girlfriend Takase Mizuki, crazy otaku pseudo brother Kuhonbutsu Taishi and sweet doujinshi artist Yuu. Taishi pressures Kazuki into pursuing a role in the world of manga in the hopes of one day making it to the ultimate Japanese comic convention called Comic Party.

Before I really start to review this series you should be forewarned that this series is pretty much aimed at your hardcore anime fans (Otaku). Many of the jokes, allusions and references may be missed by a first time anime viewer or someone who has not been exposed to the world of manga or doujinshi (basically self published manga). That being said, it is an extremely funny series that can be enjoyed by anyone willing to watch.

On a side note, many people mistakenly call anime manga. So let me clear it up for you. Manga is the general name given to Japanese comic books where anime is the term used to describe Japanese animation (Otaku generally refuse to call anime a cartoon).



Now that we have that out of the way... Comic Party does a great job of explaining the reasons behind the fandom or otaku-dom that exists in not only the Anime and Manga fan bases but also extending to Sci Fi, Comic Books and cosplay. It does this in the best way imaginable. It follows the journey that Kazuki is a part of. The inspiration behind the creation of his manga, the philosophies behind the creative process and the homage he pays to those pop culture icons that have influenced him in the decision to go into publishing his own manga.

Comic Party is a great series that has no issues with poking a bit of fun at the clich?s that it itself raises. On the same note, through these clich?s it pays homage and parodies the styles, genres and in fact the whole medium of anime.

Comic Party is a nice short series that is packed to the brim with laughs, bright and colourful animation and a great insight into what makes us Otaku tick.

Comic Party is available from the Comic Shop now! SO GO GET IT!!!