I'M RANTING: Just DIE already!

Shut up and FINISH THE JOB!!! Make them stop talking!


(A collection of anime deaths put to music. That's a little creepy, but perfect for this topic.)

Let's start with a generic example:

Two men who’ve been fighting a bloody fight for roughly six ACTUAL hours of your viewing are now chatting like pals as one bleeds to death in the street after the good guy punched clear through his opponent's chest, his fist wet with dripping red remnants of life after bursting from the bad guy's back. This bloody exchange being the final punctuation in an epic tale leading to the ultimate closure with a gruesome reward.

The character dying has caused the death of the other character’s goldfish, wife, fifteen children, best friends, dog, cat, parents, horse and llama. Yet, the surviving character, a heroic protagonist, is holding the evil bastard’s hand patiently listening to his dying words while a tear forms at the edge of his eye and a flashback sequence shows that the bad guy was sexually abused by reindeer as a kid and blames the protagonist for having a yard full of grass and our protagonist appears to mourn the baddie's passing.

This is a typical event used by lazy anime and comic writers to characterize a bad guy in their final moments and eat up screen time in order to stall for additional production time or a way to write themselves out of a corner. Not that the Japanese are the ONLY culprits guilty of this cop-out, but they are one of the most consistent culprits and certainly the most successful in spite of their wanton misuse of this particular gimmick. Also, this is an anime blog first and foremost so I'll pick my fights accordingly.

The De-Evilfying Deathbed Confession typically appears in the twilight hours of a storyline, but it is used most frequently in fighting anime like the infamously shallow Dragonball franchise as well as better written shows like Yu Yu Hakusho and Bleach. But let's be clear, it’s not limited to whiz-bang style action, in fact it’s the same BS used at the end of powerful girly drama, Fushigi Yuugi (AKA Mysterious Play), where an incredibly evil character dies revealing that as a child his pretty face ensured a life of ceaseless rape and abuse (It's Japanese, after all) at the clutches of a creepy royal type, which is why the baddie murdered, tortured and manipulated members of his own team while he happily butchered the good guys in a sadistic fashion, writhing in delight as they suffered. Ultimately, so he, like many anime cliche types, can exercise his nihilistic tendencies and end the world instead of wishing for a better life or something.

So he was misunderstood and now we feel sorry for the bad guy suddenly? Well… No, not really. His actions were the very definition of unforgivable. It's not terribly effective when blurted out near the end of the story when the satisfaction of the baddies' satisfying demise is already on your mind.

Here's a positive example of what these guys are trying to attempt: Darth Vader's change of heart and tearful reunion with his son making for a heartwarming redemption to the most evil character imaginable bringing a powerful saga to a close in its third act. It's not a random change of heart either, everything from body language, to the way they fought, to specific choices in dialogue show Vader's hesitation, affection and pride in reacting to how far his child has come as the movies have developed him into a very human character in spite of the evil acts we see him doing (like choking someone to death every 15 minutes). Vader was a complicated dude and the audience needs to see that if they're going to feel the same sense of loss that anime tends to attempt to convey.

In anime, it’s a clichéd and desperate gamble to toy with the audience’s heartstrings while a supposedly integral character is played offstage and the protagonist that made the fatal blow is made into a fucking saint because they showed emotion at seeing their foe perish. Since the writing was obviously only planned so far in advance, production has to step in to make up for the story’s shortcomings by throwing in flashbacks, flowery visuals and strange visual ticks to make the scene impact the audience and the two never seem to meet on the same page so it's stupid and it looks weird.

When used in moderation there’s no problem, in fact it’s often an amazingly effective tool in high end drama that, when used properly, causes a rift in the audience’s ability to judge a character painting the entire story leading up to this one character’s loss in shades of an uncomfortable gray. See in THAT context, it’s no problem! It’s even flexible enough to be used to twist things making a hero into the worst villain imaginable.


There’s no shame in admitting you’re not b-b-bulletproof. However, when you cram in a really cool idea as a method of covering up your inadequacies you cheapen EVERYTHING that your touch.

For instance, Dragon Ball Z doesn’t necessarily milk the revelation/twist aspect of death too hard, but Bleach won’t stop. They kill bad guys all the time in Bleach (A cast of thousands fall on Ichigo & Co's weapons liek they're raking motherfuckin' LEAVES), while with DBZ it doesn’t require a much save for a lot of balls to just shrug off a terminal condition like say… DEATH.

On the other hand, Bleach can’t decide how BAD the bad guys are supposed to be as every evil dude’s death triggers a pace-killing flashback that can run for a few minutes or an entire set of episodes and that’s not even counting how long it takes them to actually freakin’ die! DBZ baddies essentially give their own eulogies before croaking and these guys wipe out three planets before lunch—Lunch being a tray of live babies, because DBZ baddies are rarely ambiguous about their moral orientation.Vegeta being their only shade of gray.

Basilisk chews at the bone of this problem like the marrow will cure it’s wholly stupid ending. Basilisk in particular doesn’t know how to keep dead people DEAD or stay with the fact that hideous, evil, cannibalistic; rapist scumbags were inherently vile from the start. It even goes so far as to have heartwarming flashback episodes before the conflict that killed them all, showing them in cute settings like trying to cure hiccups, playful mischief kicking a fat man down a mountain, etc. After all this they STILL try for the mid-death flashback to a tragic origin that explains why the architect of everyone’s horrific misery acted as he did because his family was caught in the crossfire leaving him orphaned.

Does it soften your anger? Does it stifle your rage? Does it do anything to really hinder your loathing for the character? Not if you're human and have a functioning brain! Lots of orphans have gone through life without going on hundred year murder sprees so that scarcely gives this asshole an excuse for literally murdering clans over and over for generations.

Tuning in to Bleach I felt it necessary to peck at this particular gripe after seeing it abused so eagerly in anime for years. After seeing a guy who was SO evil he changed form into some monstrous fly-thing and in his final moments after having his throat gouged out… he managed to have a brief chat(?!) with two heroic characters who knelt at his side somberly mourning his imminent demise without ONCE holding the character accountable for HIS actions.

So in Japan's eyes, there's no such thing as personal responsibility? There's no reason to be held accountable for all the evil shit you do in life as long as you had a horrific past or some measure of trauma? Is morality like some intangible credit program?

Anime is the epitome of action, style, drama combined and as a genre it holds the yoke to a larger audience than that of its entire home country (Japan, not Korea where it's ACTUALLY animated) now, but with its commercial success the writing and genius that made anime so amazing has died out and become a cookie-cutter industry making half-assed products that put their predecessors to shame.

You may wonder just what the hell I'm asking for? Well, I'm not asking for much. I just want people's deaths to mean as much as their lives. I want writers to really consider the factor of humanity into what they create and I'd like to care about characters again. It's not impossible, Fullmetal Alchemist had an appropriately complicated plot with villains as likeable as the heroes and it constantly forced our wide-eyed young heroes to choke back their tears to walk a path of grey that made them more intriguing characters every step of the way. It can be done. Quality products last longer than piles of shit, Fullmetal Alchemist was SO well received they had to bastardize it as much as possible by milking it with a spinoff series much like Dragon Ball Z Kai and the recent Slayers series.

Creative bankruptcy is ravaging the economy as much as financial drought. Studios and their parents corporations need to reconsider some of stuff they churn out if only so long as to consider if they're creating job security for themselves or jumping right into the toilet. Think a bit about what you're doing before you do it. Just THINK.

Dragonball Z is absolute horse crap, but there's a reason it went on FOREVER and was recently resurrected as a zombie. It's not because Akira Toriyama can't write (because he's a hack writer and an artist so high on cocaine that even his art screams "REHAB!"), but the mere personality of his art and characters possessed such incredible charisma that it devoured everyone it touched in any country it's translated in. Dragonball is fun, it's classic action with adventure with heroic heroes and devious villains. It doesn't require an ounce of thought because it's pure entertainment with fighting that constantly runs the risk of burning itself out as they go from laughing off bullets to casually using the sun like a folding chair as a wrestling prop.

Stuff like FLCL, Dead Leaves, Gurren Lagann, and Panty & Stocking w/ Garterbelt are gaining in popularity and there's a reason for it. They look AWESOME for one and they're not afraid to take chances. Lots of stuff makes no sense, but they don't give a crap because they're telling a story THEIR way. It's berserk enough to make one froth at the mouth, but it makes Dragonball Z look like as serious as a college thesis.

How can weird ass shows like FLCL connect with anyone? Easy!

1) They connect visually with the audience: The moment you wonder what the hell is going on, you're trapped gazing into their works of madness. It's too late to look away, you're already wondering if that robot is eating a monster, if a guy's eyebrows are made of seaweed, how someone can be stabbed with underwear or what the hell is wrong with a woman's eyes you're practically their plaything and they know how to keep you watching.

2) They keep it simple: A good complicated story is the mark of genius writing, but it's difficult to keep that kind of pace in such a competitive industry! So they find one simple theme and ride it into the ground with unyielding brutality, but they have enough brains to weave it into the narrative than make it one 26-episode diatribe about big drills or shiny guitars, instead it's a fight for genetic survival with the spiral of fate and a long sought symbol of power that draws cosmic forces so powerful they threaten to wipe out existence. See what they did there? They created AWESOME from a nothing more than a prop concept.

3) They draw on humanity: Real human emotions drive drama! Writing that someone feels guilt in something like Claymore is different than SHOWING someone feeling guilty in Gurren Lagann, ditto for showing that someone loves another character, but can't express it out of a childish sense of shyness and fear like in FLCL as opposed to THOUSANDS of anime out there. The Gainax amalgamation making these treasures isn't TELLING you a damn thing, they're showing you what's happening and keeping you attached to the characters in direct spite of the batshit things occurring in front of you and that means a lot when they go through the trouble of conveying emotions rather than telling you through clumsy dialogue.

I know, some of you are begging me to stop, but the house that Evangelion built is the BEST example of fresh creativity on the market. They do whatever the fuck they want. Maybe you missed that last comment, THEY DO WHATEVER THE FUCK THEY WANT and they still manage to make fistfuls of yen while collecting accolades, applause and fandom by producing bizarre original works. They kill ANYONE they feel like and it works as though they were humans instead of a bunch of lifeless puppets and it sticks because they have a functional narrative flow. Good guys, bad guys, civilians caught in the middle are all on the menu and after they're dead there's drama to be discussed and it's always powerful, intense stuff that makes you FEEL things no matter how weird the premise giving gravity to the events occurring.

Most anime deaths end up being lazy moments of poor, misguided writing. A character lay dying and suddenly a story will take a break to catch its breath, the same character who is dying (with their throat ripped out sometimes) is suddenly so talkative that everything comes to the surface for the duration of half an episode or more. I understand wanting to give an audience a chance to say goodbye, but fuck you.

The point of a character's death is to fortify a purpose in the cast to propel a story forward, NOT to slow things down to screeching halt so they can whip out the family album and it is certainly not to sit there dicking around in mourning with a dangerous villain still standing there reloading for another killshot since everyone's conveniently in one place. Even if the villain is chased off or runs away laughing or whatever, stopping the show in a way that puts story progression on hold is the option of the lame.

Here's a positive example: In Gurren Lagann the first major death is one that defines the rest of the series as it is constantly referred to, but it's actually the catalyst that changes everything: Loss is only the beginning of their problems as our heroes fumble around in the dark working through pain, anger and frustration as power struggles ensue to fill a vacuum that our primary hero is too afraid to fill.
 Granted, this loss also makes for a lot of screwing around (fixing stuff, meeting new faces, growing up), but events HAPPEN and they happen fast on both sides as our heroes grow in dramatic ways you can SEE while they work towards something better. This particular guy's death turns out to be almost more important than his life was because it inspires a movement bigger than himself and that's truly epic. Hell, I'm still coming to grips with the fact that they killed him and I didn't even CARE about the guy!

If a character's death can't mean as much as their life within the scope of the story then why should any of these characters bother living? Just get your shit together Japan and stop making it hard to enjoy new anime.

Soul Eater: THIS IS HALLOWEEN!

(Note the madness ensuing in the Halloween Town-like "Death City" in the opening for Soul Eater, the show boasts some sharp visuals that never fade throughout so it looks consistently crisp and spastic.)

So, to sum up the image of Soul Eater it's like Harry Potter meets Bleach wherein students learning at the bony feet of the Grim Reaper as they slay tainted souls before they become something worse and try to upgrade their human/weapon partners to be worthy enough to be wielded by Death himself!

Let's cover some significant aspects that might entice you to watch this:

-A Zombie Commando is amongst the primary faculty for the school. He's got a female mummy for a partner that turns into a heavy duty combat knife. No joke.

-Death talks funny, acts silly and wears a mask to keep the kids from being afraid.

-The Legendary sword Excalibur is revealed to be pampered snob who demands to bore everyone to tears with constantly contradictory tales of his exploits, youth and preference in beverages.

-Death's son is OCD and obsessed with symmetry, to the point that he will run home to make sure he flushed something properly or that his picture frame is aligned in perfect symmetry.

-Blackstar the assassin is unable to approach his targets in silence without screaming wild boasts at the top of his lungs.

-There's a Twin Peaks reference that is consistently present throughout the show wherein Maka's partner soul enters the Red Room where a devilish little man dances out of time with Jazz music and spouts cryptic attempts at temptation for Soul to turn to the dark side.

I'll blather more on the matter at another time, but I wanted to get this thing out there ASAP. I would have had this on sooner, but my entire Halloween weekend was spent picking fights with a Honda dealership. This is a fun series to enjoy around Halloween and even more so with it on Netflix's Instant watch in four separate sections.


(This closing give a good look at the main characters & human weapon pairings including Maka/Soul, Blackstar/Tsubaki, Death the Kid/Thompson Sisters, Crona/Ragnarok and a look at the opposition that develops around the second primary story arc.)

Giant Robo: Unleashing retro mecha fury!

Over the last 10-20 years Japan has realized the substantial value of nostalgia. Astro Boy has seen all kinds of attention, most notably in TV series and complete bomb of a motion picture, Cyborg 009 went from hokey old anime to distressingly serious drama punctuated by death and despair with its reboot.

It’s difficult to express the cultural relevance of Giant Robo to the Japanese since it was a hokey live action show originally about a boy in short shorts who would summon a hideous abomination distinguished by its ugly pharoh-esque head to do battle with equally ridiculous robots.

But that's NOT entirely what is shown, in fact the deal in making the series was that one manga artist/writer would be able to fold his original characters into the Giant Robo mythos and populate the entire cast with completely original characters and integrated ones.

So I’m going to explain it this way: Imagine if Magnum P.I. were turned into a 7 episode cartoon with a ridiculous budget, a world renowned orchestra contracted to perform the ENTIRE soundtrack in an epic homage to the Hawaiian-based, private detective portrayed by Tom Selleck as he punches holes through mountains, stabs someone with his mustache, drop kicks a Godzilla into the sky, takes a catwoman to bed and hops into a spaceship to fight space crime with Cyborg Higgins.

That’s a weird image, right? Good, because that’s what the anime essentially represents in terms of its accuracy and "wtf?!" factor.

It’s retro appearance is a smokescreen to hide an epic story behind the illusion of a unique homage to a Japanese classic. Don’t get me wrong, it’s goofy as all hell when you consider the basic premise, but there’s layers to this thing which border on genius and the action doesn’t leave you wanting considering that at least 2-3 entire cities are laid to waste as a result of a few scuffles.

As an amalgamation of an artist's considerable library of characters and stories (since they couldn't use the original characters from the live action tv show) it's very similar to the franchise bridging works of CLAMP. For instance, the primary antagonist, Big Fire, is actually badass alien-inheritor psychic Babel II, complete with his giant robot, bird monster and tar-like black panther. Additionally, characters from the Romance of Three Kingdoms game series populate much of the ranks of the Experts of Justice.

Let's talk about genius for a moment though...

For instance, I owned the first VHS tape of this back in the mid nineties. It was a copy of the original US Renditions English dub, which was actually pretty damn good for that bunch of goofballs. I’m watching this thinking about how iconically goofy it looks and imagining the budget behind it when… Out of nowhere… Shit got REAL.



(Von Vogler unleashes his beautiful night in the original US Renditions dub)

I had to watch and re-watch this scene about twenty times. I didn’t even care about the rest of the series because nothing was going to top this scene! And this was just a flashback of all things! This was the epitome of anime mad science, with magnificent music permeating every inch of this snapshot in time, painting a vivid descent into madness coupled with the single best delivery in both voice and dub script for this intensely disturbing moment of horror and confusion shattering the preconceptions of this show's Mighty Mouse-ish exterior.

What. The. Hell?!

This particular moment only gets more disturbing as the series progresses because when you first see this, it makes no sense. Probably as little as it does to you right now. The event is fleshed out and explained, then re-explained as the series progresses, but this entire scene is the defining moment of the story that only becomes more crucial to understanding the characters and the world they live in. Hell, this single event practically turns the damn series in Rashomon as lies become half-truths and truths become excuses all covering a rather surprising little series of details neglected in the first taste of Bashtarle's tragedy. Furthermore, this specific english dub simply comes off as the single best representation of this scene and that probably made it a strong incentive to include this audio track alongside AnimeWorks’ new, better refined dub.

That’s not to say that the rest of the series doesn’t have its own strengths, after all there’s a pharaoh-headed robot who still needs to punch the hell out of things; Never mind all the freaky, superhuman bastards fighting over the attache case that holds the key to revisiting the horrible event in question that could destroy the world.

Giant Robo is an amazing series that simply MUST be experienced as majestically re-imagined Japanese icon and as a totally kick ass anime. It's not perfect though, even in only 7 episodes they found a consistent detriment to the epic level of cool this series wields.

It's... it's those damn kids again.

Like in Evangelion, the protagonist is an insufferable fucking whiner, but without all the likeable human complication. Watch Daisaku piss, moan, bitch, whine, cry, sob, mewl, mope and sniffle his way through 6 and a half of the 7 episodes while he keeps company with guys whose very expressions can quite literally slice through mountains, whose fingers can fire laser beams and whose fists can puncture the very heavens. While it's easy to appreciate the thoughtful contrast of a mortal fighting amongst the Gods as their ace-in-the-hole, that doesn't require him to do everything he can to bring down the rest of the show be being a less compelling character than his giant robot.

To make things completely insufferable dub-wise, Animeworks' Daisaku is the screechiest little bastard ever. He sounds like he's crying AT ALL TIMES! Even when he's happy he sounds like he's sobbing his eyes out or he's got a rabid ferret biting away in his short shorts! He makes the effeminate Professor Go look butch by comparison. I get that for the sake of accuracy he sounds like a child, but no child with a giant robot is that much of a fucking crybaby. There's laws against that kind of thing. By comparison, the original Daisaku dub wasn't remotely as annoying voice-wise.

There's also the ending. I won't spoil it, but good god... It's like a knock-knock joke that had explosive shrapnel and artificial laughter to make light of your fatal wounds as you bleed out, confused and alone.

The differences between the US Renditions (USR) dub and the Animeworks (AW) dub are like night and day. USR seemed to have a twisted, campy style that showed up in a lot of their dubs like Ambassador Magma and Macross II, be it intentional or as a result of inexperience in acting/writing. AW corrects the camp issue entirely, making it a slightly more serious affair with something called "acting".

Well, alright that's not fair because Giant Robo was probably one of the finest dubs to come out of USR (it was good enough for Manga Video when they bought the domestic rights to it because the camp feels appropriate in a retro cartoon way), but with the exception of the Tragedy of Bashtarle, the USR versions pales in every respect to the new AW english dub which feels dramatically more powerful and generally more likable than USR's.

Fortunately, since AW is precisely THAT cool, the USR English Dub was bundled in with the plethora of audio available for the entire series. Add to that the Ginrei Special OAV tossed in and you have a perfect collection that puts all previous to shame. Mine came in a typical DVD case except that it stores 4 DVDs, I was tempted to go big and get "Eye of Volger" boxed set which comes in the ominous Volger Eye though I'm sort of short on room, but that's still one of the coolest things I've ever heard of!

The BEST thing about this is that it includes the Ginrei Special, a collection of three OAVs that are all gag-filled spoofs mocking Giant Robo and other anime while casually resetting character deaths so that the entire cast is at their whimsical disposal. There's a lot of goofy sexual humor and Daisaku even switches sides at one point to work for Big Fire, or rather "Blue Flower" as they refer to them in the OAVs. As awesome as Giant Robo is on its own, to have the Ginrei Special bundled in is to have your cake AND eat it.

So find yourself a copy of the set and eat up because treats this tasty are unheard of. Anyone with the Vogler Eye please send pictures. Seriously.

Stinks like hope.

There's good news and bad news. This post is all GOOD though.

I've come across some new stuff: Kaze no Stigma (AKA Stigma of the Wind), Samurai 7, Full Metal Panic: FUMOFFU, Gankotsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, DNA2 and some classic OAVs.

This is good news because the above stuff is pretty swanky and swanky is good. So I'll have some glowing stuff and lower amounts of venom on tap for these upcoming spiels. Currently clogging the pipe is the Catgirl Nuku Nuku franchise, or rather its two spinoff series (TV & DASH, respectively).


(US Manga Corps trailer)

Additionally, I'm trying to finish up my articles regarding Project A-ko, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Compiler and a loving look at the now-defunct Central Park Meda, AKA US Manga Corps.

There's still plenty of venom and some genuine cheer to go around and I'll have this stuff up and running soon.

Keep the faith kiddos.

Buying time

I'm behind on like 7 posts on writing... Sooooooo let's distract ourselves, shall we?

Check after the jump if you dare.

Testing something - Be wary of dangling participles

Trying to work stuff out with the new design thing.

Bear with me as I get the hang of this stuff.

Trust me, I'm a professional.

Bubblegum Crisis: Retroactive Roundup of Stuff

Prep yourselves guys, it's time for a cop out. Let's sum up my take on the Bubblegum Crisis Franchise with a review of mah' frothy babble:

Bubblegum Crisis

An 80's piece of genius that took from the films Blade Runner and Streets of Fire with both hands making for a fun and unique vision of the future propelled by granting humanity to the inhuman to the sound of eighties pop rock as a group of lady mercenary/vigilantes fight the good fight against boomer manufacturer Genom, rogue Boomers loose in the city, fast & furious speed demons in android-cars, vampire driven mecha and vengeance craving rock stars. This is one of my favorite anime series of all time.

Bubblegum Crash

Following the lawsuit that killed the series, half the staff from the original came back to give us closure we never found. In this heavily disliked portion of BGC an old enemy comes back from the dead and manipulates Mercenaries, AI scientists and every boomer in MegaTokyo in his attempt to permanently end the Knight Sabers and humanity. This 3-part series is meant to give closure, but it leaves more issues hanging than it can resolve.

A.D. Police Files

Set before the original BGC, Leon McNichol is a rookie paired with a somewhat disturbed lady cyborg partner in his rise from ADP shock trooper to detective. Steeped in sex and violence, ADP strays pretty far from the mark of the original series making for a very disturbing experience.
It's not clear why Leon's pinning down a boomer with grunts in the same episode as he's running investigations, but who needs that "accuracy" crap, right?

Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040

The Knight Sabers get a new lease on life with a TV series that gives a clear beginning and end to a great story that takes a few artistic liberties with the original story and cast. Putting BGC back into pop-culture relevance and opening the door for a potential follow-up series and bringing the girls in armor back into the pubic eye.

A.D. Police: To Serve & Protect

RUmblings of an ADP tv series made my pants explode, unfortunately the actualy result was a 12-episode mini series that has no ties to any BGC continuity. Genom City is rough place, but if you're chasing rogue Boomers it gets much harder to live there as for ADP officers Hans & Kenji soon learn in their wild antics endangering the innocent, killing partners and otherwise being some of the worst cops ever animated. There's so much I wanted to like about it, but you can't polish a turd. This my friends... is a turd.

Parasite Dolls

The most recent BGC entry to date. There's no Knight Sabers and the ADP are essentially an eyesore as in three episodes we learn of a shadowy investigative branch of ADP known only as "Branch". Yeah, kind of redundant... Anyway, these guys make life for Genom and Politicians difficult in Genom City, and making those kinds of ways makes for some high-profile enemies. It's basically a desperate grasp at the series' Blade Runner origins that serves to add more pointless sex and violence in lieu of an actual story and ironically that same intention takes it further away from its origins than ever.

BGC... the movie?

It's said that an asian/caucasian cast has been assembled as of 2009 to release a Bubblegum Crisis live action film! Rumors persist saying that we can expect its arrival sometime in 2012. Given all the disappointing events surrounding BGC, I can only hope that this one film can galvanize the efforts of the former staff members in either remaking or finishing the original series as it deserves. My hopes and prayers have been going out to this effort since I first heard of it.

I bitch and moan, yeah. It's kind of my thing. It's cathartic! But you see, BGC is possibly one of my most important anime favorites. It molded my appreciation of anime throughout and gave me critical insight throughout the very legal drama that tore it apart.

I could make all kinds of wild accusations that it was its greatness that killed it and all the pale imitators are to be expected given its fine pedigree as they grasp into a light so bright it blinds them and they keep coming back empty handed... So I will! That's right! It was THAT damn good.