spicedwolf

Story; 8/10
First off, Kiki's Delivery Service is a children's movie. It is not meant to be scrutinized to the point of absurdity, but from a general viewpoint this is a well-done movie.  The story is about a young witch named Kiki going through a rite-of-passage, if you will. She departs from her home with her mother's broomstick, a radio, her cat friend Jiji, and a small bag resembling a purse to engage on what is a journey of the spirit, a quest to find herself and develop her magic powers. The themes Miyazaki presents are well-done, such as female individuality and independence, though... See full review

Story; 9/10 Let me start off by saying although this is an anime produced in the late 90's, it's characters and story arc deserve praise. So, the story it takes off by introducing us to the main character, Jinto, as he was a child. This anime wins points by introducing us to character backgrounds off the bat; Jinto is the son of a politician who sold out to the Abh empire during the invasion of his homeworld Maritime, and Jinto inherits the opportunity to be an Abh noble. Jinto meets the series' second protagonist Lafiel, an Abh noble, when he is a few years older and is undergoing training to be an Abh... See full review

Story; 6/10 So, there are dragons of two types, those of Heaven and those of Earth, the dragons of Earth want to destroy the world and the Dragons of Haven want to prevent this from happening. Decent, but why? No backstory is given to this; all we know is the main character Kamui has to choose between the two as he is the chosen one or something.  The relationship between Arashi and Sorata was the best story, yet it was a subplot. Their romance was a little too fallacious to suspend my disbelief entirely, though they had an interesting relationship and their resolution was unexpected. The entire... See full review

Story; 8/10 Here's the thing about InuYasha; it's so damn long. The story revolves around Kagome breaking a sacred jewel stolen by InuYasha, the pieces scattered all across the world, and the epic journey to find and re-assemble the jewel. Along the way Inuyasha and Kagome make friends who travel and fight with them as they go through struggle after struggle with their arch-nemesis Naraku, a demon composed of a bunch of demons. The story in InuYasha is good; I'll talk more about characters and their development later. The lore and adventure of the series hooked me from the start, along with the romance... See full review

Story; 7/10 When I began watching Voices of a Distant Star, I was expecting another heart-tugging tale of distance and lost love like Shinkai presented in 5 Centimeters Per Second. VoaDS did not exceed my expectations, but it did not fail to meet them either.  Whoever broke Shinkai's heart and made him write all of these sad tales of lost love owes him an apology. VoaDS essentially bears the same premise as most of his other works; two people fall in love, have their moments, and then are suddenly split by the hands of fate. This is a story type Shinkai does well; rather than focusing on settings... See full review

Story; 10/10 Originally this anime did not catch my eye at first; I am a sucker for modern animation. However, do not let the age of this anime fool you; it is a wonderfully told story far ahead of its time. The story's main protagonist is Shu, who randomly finds a girl named Lala-Ru at the top of a smokestack one day and is thrust into a world of despair, war, and cruelty. The first episode is fairly light-hearted and cheerful; beyond that, the rest of the series descends into darkness. The tone and themes of this story are based on reality. Its setting in a distant time and place prevents it from... See full review