Anime Review Roundup

No news, just reviews this week, although in terms of reviewing this week turned out to be something of a foie gras sandwich, that’s if the bread was taken from the cheap no-frills sliced white loaves that supermarkets stock for the poverty stricken. You’d think that Persona 4: The Animation – Box 3 would be one of those branded loaves with all manner of nuts, seeds and grains, or at least a decent, filling healthy wholemeal. It turns out to be cheap and wholly lacking in nutritional value. When it started, Persona 4 looked to be an adaptation of a videogame with high production values and a smart and engaging storyline. Around the halfway mark, those standards began to slip, with the story becoming aimless, and displaying an uncertain identity. With this final volume, that slippage becomes a plummet. Click on the review to be depressed.

At least my week was broken up with the finest, most delectable, and highest quality of anime creations. I watched the first half of Cowboy Bebop... on Blu-ray no less. Cowboy Bebop has achieved what few movies, and even fewer anime has achieved. It’s immune to criticism. Perfect stories, perfect music, perfect characters, every single frame of this classic TV series is to be savoured. Where the show might have faltered is in the presentation, but fledgling anime distributor, All The Anime have delivered a Blu-ray package that made this reviewer weak at the knees. Don’t bother with the review, just buy it, you won’t regret it.

Dragon Ball Z might have been the anime equivalent of the wholemeal loaf fifteen years ago, wholesome, filling, and good for the digestion, but do you know what happens to bread after fifteen years? Dragon Ball Z: Collection 8 turns out to be the anime equivalent of epic mould. This green fungus of an anime release could very well rot the brain, and we get to see, not for the last time, the sight of anime creators milking a franchise until just bloody pus oozes from the abused udders of creativity. The conclusion of the Dragon Ball Z saga begins here, with the Z fighters facing the most awesome threat in the universe... a giant baby.