I still hadn't transitioned into full on reviewing mode in 2004 but was starting to keep pace with the newest anime and consume them as quickly as i could, while still holding down the day job, taking care of an infant and jamming through the Naruto backlog. Here's the TV anime that I consumed over the years that premiered twenty years ago!
Bleach
Riding high on the wave of shonen action through the early seasons of Naruto, I jumped onto Bleach based on a recommendation from a friend. At first I enjoyed the world and story, immersed in the supernatural complexities it held. Watching two heavy hitting shonen titles at the same time is something that never happened before or sense for me, as its really a genre I have little interest in and avoid as much as I can. In the mid 90's I was never a fan of Dragon Ball and it carried on into the future, earning a distaste for the repetitive battle, training stories that didn't offer much beyond action sequences and absurd plot armor. I really really enjoyed the first year of Bleach and would have been satisfied if it had ended there. But it didn't and a combination of laborious filler (already on the back of the terrible Naruto filler) coupled with the realization that the story was too small of a world for its own good quickly made me move away from this series and swear off shonen action anime in general. I still don't understand why people still revere this series, it had a limited scope of story telling and spent way too long exploiting that in ways that didn't expand the medium or genre.
Even after living through the early 90's fresh into anime exploitation title craze, Elfen Lied presented a whole new level of violence and nudity. Urotsukidoji is one thing, particularly being the godfather of tentacle porn but Elfen Leid took the comical absurdity of those pioneering hentai horror stories to a new level. While it lacked the visceral porn of titles like Urotsukidoji or La Blue Girl, it more than made up for in the shear violence it presented. But, don't think of Elfen Laid as hentai, its a bit far from that in fact, the only reason I even bring that up is the character the story revolves around having a penchant for nude combat for a good portion of the show. What we get is a story of an abused girl being taken in by an unsuspecting high school kid, who doesn't understand he's helping a secret runaway weapon to try and live a normal life. While jarringly visceral the story isn't too bad, Stranger Things may well have gotten some inspiration from this earlier title.
What is a nation to do when its birth rate is plummeting to dangerous levels of societal sustainability? In the case of this weird mini series based on a light novel, force eligible single people to get married and encourage them to make babies for financial gain! Our male lead is forced into marriage in the pilot program for this government initiative. His federally mandated fiance is enthusiastic about the situation, he is not, wanting to be left to his own devices. They made the correct decision to product this series in a manner that took up little time. Each episode is half length, making the entire thing about as long as a Miyazaki theatrical release. The beat the joke to death about as long as they reasonably and end it before its welcome is worn out. This series seems to be a strange outlier in western fandom, ad I have never known anyone else that's seen it. Probably doesn't help that it was never made commercially available in English.
Gantz
Power violence? Check. Porno ready women who get nude alot? Check. Crazy aliens? Check. Gantz is the embodiment of Cold War era mens entertainment wrapped in a slick art style by original artist Oku Hiroya. High school losers Kei and Masaru wind up being killed by a subway only to find themselves trapped in a room with a collection of dubious strangers. Before they can get all of the details they are transported to a quiet neighborhood in Tokyo to exterminate an alien. The simplicity of the task obscures the incredible danger the group faces and survival is difficult. But the first mission is one of many, increasingly deadly encounters they will be forced to endure before they can attempt to return to their normal lives. This anime adaptation is a prime example of a product undeserving its source material. It doesn't even cover all of the first arc in the story and creates a new and terrible ending that changes everything with the rest of the manga. This was a fun mindless romp in the land of power fantasy but skip this shoddy representation and pick up the manga instead.
In the early years of 'geek as cool' Genshiken served up a quirky slice of life tale about a group of otaku who come together in a small college club. The only universal thing that binds the members together is their overall status as social outcasts. The series in general does not have a main character, instead follows a naturally progressing story lines through its varied members. The story covers a wide range of otaku specific fandom, going at times into detail. Figure collecting, anime, gaming, cosplay, doujinshi, it has it all. Not since Otaku no Video has there been such a concise and realistic representation of fandom as Genshiken. To this day it is still the best example of realistic hobbying in the circle of interests that gather around anime and manga. An absolute most watch/read for anyone interested in the hobby world adjacent to Japanese media.
Keroro Gunsou
What do you get when a group of inept alien invaders struggle to complete their mission to pave the way for a take over of the Earth? A juvenile comedy series that works part time as a sales pitch for Gunpla! Sgt Frog as its known in North America is half a vehicle to push Sunrise properties and a hair brained kids show. Keroro and his band of misfit alien frogs are infectious and iconic but the show probably dragged on for way too long for its own good. Fun at first but tiresome the longer you go.
Incest is a frequent enough trope in anime and manga, particularly the less transparent step-sibling variety. Its usually treated as a fetish but Koi Kaze handles this particular archetype with a suffocating gravity. The story follows late twenty-something Koshiro as he falls in love at first sight with a high school girl named Nanoka. When he learns she is his little sister, who has decided to move in with he and their father after many years apart, he struggles with his emotions. The bulk of the story is him attempting various methods to resist pursuing his physical desires. But when she starts to signal a mutual interest things become delicately complicated. This is a well written drama about a pretty taboo subject. Its handled with maturity and sobriety. While not for everyone, the drama is strong enough that I do suggest this as a good watch/read.
Midori Days
So what do you do when the hand you use to masturbate suddenly turns into a girl? You struggle to do a lot of things actually. The boy in question is a student who struggles due to his perchance for violence over studying and the hand is a girl from a different school who secretly loves him. It's been so long I don't even remember if I ended up finishing this series. It was weird, an uncomfortable artifact of an earlier age of anime. I may have to revisit it though...hmm.
A young girl moves into an apartment complex build into a giant tree with her family. On the first day of living in their new home, she discovers a strange creature who quickly becomes her friend. The creature is somewhat an embodiment of the essence of the tree and quickly befriends the young girl. They spend their days exploring their arboreal neighborhood and learning important life lessons. This is a cute educational anime directly aimed at preschool aged children. Sadly it was never officially released in North America but would have done really well as part of the Disney channels mid morning programming block. Super cute and lovable show, especially if your 5 years old!
In a version of feudal Japan that mashes up history and culture, we follow a group of three misfits bound together by a similar location, if not different goals. Along the way we learn about their past and motivations while diving into the surreal fictional history that incorporates B-Boy esthetic into the Tokugawa era. One of the hallmark series for the 3rd wave of American otaku in the early 2000's due to its persistent presence on Toonami. This is a fun ans stylistically unique fake history of the glory days of the samurai by the brain behind Cowboy Bebop.
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