Legend of the Otakufiend

The past few evenings have been spent sampling some older Geneon titles. Some good, some okay, but none were particularly ‘bad’.

Star Ocean EX: A sci-fi/fantasy series involving the son of a famous Commodore and his wacky adventures on a planet far from his father and the rest of the ship’s crew. When he’s discovered my a native girl, she recognizes him as the Warrior that legends had foretold of. I thought this was worth at least pickin up the second volume, so we’ll see where it goes from there. The dubbing isn’t great, but isn’t entirely unlistenable either. I switched to subs by the second or third episode.

Last Exile: Gonzo’s 10th anniversary series. Beautiful production design shows off an elaborately imagined setting with interesting characters. While the CGI integration may not be seamless, it’s not obnoxious either. A pair of pilots deliver messages between people (thinking Pony Express with a plane), and stumble upon a dying messenger and his mission. The young pilots take the man’s mission upon themselves - the safe delivery of a mysterious little girl to a notorious captain and his rebellious crew. Recommended.

Gad Guard: Imagine the mood, style and pulpy goodness of Batman: The Animated Series combined with Mega-Man looking mecha (or techodes), and you get Gad Guard. A select group of children were fortunate enough to discover a Gad, a cube of material, when activated creates a Techode. The Techodes are all curves and rounded edges with no pilot seats. The mech’s “controller” is forced to ride upon the back or shoulders of their Techodes. There was something about this show that instantly grabbed my attention (probably the pulp factor, complete with domino masks!) and I will certainly be picking up the other discs and the artbox. Recommended.

I still need to try Ergo Proxy, Texhnolyze, and Haibane Renmei. Maybe next time.