Pantha

Story
Allow me to reveal a cold, hard, and very ugly fact: This past year has been nothing but a plethora of the Annoying (Madlax, Samurai Champloo), the Average (Elfen Lied, Midori no Hibi), and the Awful (Gantz, Konomini). As the year wore on, I worried that maybe only Koi Kaze lingered on the side of good. Fortunately, I was wrong. There is one other title, just one, that is not only good, but outstanding. Monster very easily blows away all anime released of late and is truly the best anime of 2004.One decision (made with the best of intentions) is the catalyst for the events that unfold. Dr... See full review

Story
Because Shakespeare's most famous work has undergone infinite versions, retellings, and adaptations, one could do almost anything with it and succeed. (Heck, I even imagined an underwater Romeo and Juliet in which Romeo is a shark and Juliet is a dolphin. I should work for Disney.) Studio Gonzo has an extremely unsavory track record - with only one truly respectable anime under their belt - but this is Romeo and Juliet. You cannot mess this up.... unless your name is Baz Luhrmann. Alack, but in true Gonzo fashion....... a potential masterpiece manages to fall under mere mediocrity. It... See full review

Story
Having an introspective story and stunning animation, Metropolis is a film with much ambition. Unfortunately, it only has one hundred minutes to fulfill its goals; hence, the movie comes off as hurried and remote. Contrary to appearances, this is not a character piece; Tima and Ken-ichi are used here as pawns to carry out the basis of the plot. As great as it could have been, there's much to be said that Metropolis leaves only a blue print of its potential. There are two primary approaches a robot anime can take: the machines may occasionally clash with humans, but on the most part their... See full review

Story
I've always had a certain aversion for series-based movies. It never fails that the movie would be a waste of time; more often than not, it's nothing more than an elongated version of any given episode of the series. The Escaflowne movie doesn't really fall into this trap. Oh, it's a waste of time, but because the series had no fillers, it would have been quite difficult to make such a movie. Instead, it's a miniscule recap of the series events, an alternate reality version in which the characters are stripped (and in a certain case I mean this literally) to unrecognizable... See full review

Story
Ever see that horrendous movie Romeo + Juliet with Leonardo Dicrapio and Claire Danes? The movie was horrendous not because of the anachronisms, but because it failed to truly update the classic tragedy by maintaining Shakespeare's dialogue. (By god, his words are not meant to be screamed in the midst of some crack-pot rock song). Ever see the excellent movie "O" (based on Othello) with Mekhi Phifer and Julia Stiles? By no figment of the imagination is Gankutsuou a true, faithful representation of Alexander Dumas's (père) masterpiece, The Count of Monte Cristo, but... See full review

Story
Gonzo is bloody brilliant. They have a talent that no other studio possesses. Their anime has perhaps the most potentially awesome stories I've ever seen.  Last Exile looks like a million bucks. It has a stellar soundtrack. The intricate universe and characters are intriguing. Handled by any other studio, Last Exile would have been an anime of epic proportions. But it's too easy to make a masterpiece with such material. Gonzo's ambitions are a bit higher than that...they want to do something much more challenging: with my widened, amazed eyes and dropped jaw I witness the... See full review