Anime Review Roundup

Rivers of Blood

No, not that one. This is news instead that the live action Blood: The Last Vampire movie is coming to the UK. It's a familiar story, where vampires prey on humans, and a cute young girl kicks vampire butt. But this is no Buffy, this is instead based on the Blood+ anime series from Production IG. The thing is that we in the UK will be able to see the film this June, while US release dates are yet to be announced. It's poetic really, as the US has had the Blood+ TV series for ages, and we in the UK have been missing out. Details at ANN.

Shippuden Not Shipping This Year

One of Manga Entertainment's big licence announcements at the end of 2008 was the acquisition of Naruto Shippuden, the follow up series to Naruto that is currently airing in Japan and on Crunchyroll. The intimation was that Naruto Shippuden would make its DVD debut in the UK in summer of 2009, following the conclusion of the Naruto DVD releases. It's a bit of maths that had many of us scratching our heads, as there is still a lot of Naruto to be released. Well UK Anime Net has put up an interview with Manga man in the know Jerome Mazandarani, and at the end he states that there will be no Naruto Shippuden in 2009, which is disappointing, but makes sense given the eight or so volumes of Naruto still to go. Click the link for details, and the rest of the interview is well worth a read too.



It turned out to be a bumper week of anime last week, with four titles reviewed. It wasn't a promising start though, with volume 4 of Daphne In The Brilliant Blue. Volume 3 was enough to make me start doubting my obsession, so I wasn't looking forward to more scantily clad fan service nonsense. Strangely, Volume 4 turned out to be a different kettle of fish. Find out why I'm suddenly enjoying a series that I had previously loathed by clicking the link.

















I often wonder why some series get licensed in the UK, while others remain in the US. You'd think that the answer was obvious reading the blurb of Please Teacher. A fifteen year old boy falls in love with his teacher, who happens to be an alien. The two get married, and then have to work to keep their relationship secret from the community. I'm surprised it didn't get confiscated at customs. But I am glad that I took a chance and imported Please Teacher: The Complete Collection, as it turns out to be a sweet, charming and moving piece of animation.
















Then came the debut of a title I have been anticipating for years. Desert Punk is another show that I had lamented would be left in America, but it's finally here, with its irreverent and cheeky brand of dark comedy. It's a desert wasteland out there in post-apocalyptic Japan, and only the strongest and the most cunning survive. Top of the mercenary tree is the Desert Punk, a young handyman who maintains anonymity behind a mirrored mask and under a desert cloak. He's ruthless with his enemies, even more ruthless in his pursuit of money, and has absolutely no ruth at all when it comes to his pursuit of boobies. Who is Ruth anyway, and does she have boobies? Find out in my review of volume 1.














Last summer, I had the particular delight of the individual FLCL releases. It's a fantastic bizarre series from Studio Gainax, a coming of age, freewheeling stream of altered consciousness comedy sci-fi that as you can guess defies easy description. I could find little wrong with it, only a minor hesitation over the release format. Now even that problem has gone away, as David Beckett found that series collections trump single discs. See what David thought of one of my favourite series by clicking on his review for FLCL: Complete Collection.
















It's almost MVM exclusive this week, with Daphne In The Brilliant Blue V4, Desert Punk V1, and FLCL Complete Collection all being released today. Please Teacher has been around for ages, but can only be obtained by importing the Bandai release from Region 1.