Azu Manga Daioh (2002, School Anime, TV) – 7/10 review

Writer Published in Japan by Media Works "Monthly Comic Dengeki Daioh": Kiyohiko Azuma Series Supervisor: Ichiro Okouchi Director: Nishikiori Hiroshi Tomoko Kaneda: Chiyo Mihama Yuki Matsuoka: Ayumu Kasuga Chieko Higuchi: Tomo Takino Rie Tanaka: Koyomi Mizuhara Yu Asakawa: Sakaki Houko Kuwashima: Kagura Akiko Hiramatsu: Yukari Tanizaki Aya Hisakawa: Minamo Kurosawa

Azu Manga Daioh (2002) Six friends go through three years of high school together, each has different personalities, abilities, talents, hopes and dreams but the sharing their experiences will make the time so much sweeter. 7/10 Relentlessly positive and sweet high school comedy drama which … An assertion that school friends will be together forever is a reassuring lie kept in for the younger viewers but most of the remainder is recognisably human. There’s no mistrust, deception or conniving and don’t we all wish we could always think and see the best in others rather than focusing on their faults. This series contains mild swear words, mild adult dialogue and mild ‘fan-service’, sexual references. Classified 12 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 12 years and over.

Tetsuwan Birdy Decode aka Birdy the Mighty Decode (2008, TV, Anime) – 7/10 review

Writer: Masami Yuki Director: Kazuki Akane

Tetsuwan Birdy Decode aka Birdy the Mighty: Decode (2008) Birdy Cephon, an intergalactic police officer, finally catches up with her latest quarry after six months undercover as an idol (famous model) on Earth but her attempts to apprehend him result in a major change of plan. 7/10 Birdy the Mighty Decode is more intriguing, fun and boasts much better action than expected. Character designs and direction ensure that we are instantly familiar with each major character introduced without confusion. There is a story running through all thirteen episodes and though one (episode seven about a serial killer) feels like padding they are consistently engaging and manage to balance fun with intrigue and sinister goings-on. It all builds to the separation of Birdy and Tsutomu (which surprisingly happens before the last episode) and a battle against the series’ threat, Ryunka, which is resolved entirely fittingly. This series contains mild swear words and extreme fantasy violence, unpleasant scenes, unpleasant monster scenes, graphic blade violence, silhouetted extreme graphic violence and mild fan-service, mild non-sexual nudity, sensuality.

Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 (1998, Anime, TV) – 6/10 review

Director: Hiroki Hayashi Writer (Screenplay): Chiaki Konaka Writer (Screenplay): Sadayuki Murai Production Designer: Shinji Aramaki Character Design: Masaki Yamada Original Design Hard Suit: Kenichi Sonoda Production Designer Mechanical and Hard Suit: Shinji Aramaki Christine Auten: English Voice Cast: Priss Laura Chapman: English Voice Cast: Sylia Kelly Manison: English Voice Cast: Linna Hilary Haag: English Voice Cast: Nene Yu Asakawa: Priss Satsuki Yukino: Sylia Rio Natsuki: Linna Hiroko Konishi: Nene

Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 (1998) A Tokyo devastated by the earthquake has been rebuilt as MegaTokyo in record time thanks to amazing advances in boomer (robot) technology. However, such advances don’t come without a price and sometimes a boomer will go insane, twisting itself into a violent maelstrom of metal death. While the AD Police are the lawfully and commercially provided means of response a team of technologically-advanced vigilante boomer killers called Knight Sabers have exploded onto the scene, dealing rapidly with mad boomers, embarrassing and infuriating the AD Police at the same time. 6/10 Though this gets progressively weaker and more baffling as it goes on, it definitely earns itself an above average rating thanks to well-drawn characters that convincingly develop throughout the show both in themselves and their relationships with others. As well done as it is, oddly, it isn’t quite enough to make you care about the characters and so hanging their fate in the balance for the last few episodes is surprisingly uninvolving. Outside of the overall character arcs, episode seven Look at Yourself stood out as getting all the elements of the show (pretty girls, robots, intrigue and relationships) to gel but it was really the only one. This series contains mild swear words and graphic violence, strong unpleasant scenes and full non-sexual nudity, sensuality. Classified 12 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 12 years and over.

Pom Poko (1994, Movie, Anime) – 2/10 review

Director: Isao Takahata

Pom Poko (1994) When raccoons find their habitat being systematically destroyed, they decide to break out their ability to transform into just about anything in an effort to scare the humans away. 2/10 Somewhat critically, this fails to keep your disbelief suspended. It’s all fine when the raccoons (actually raccoon dogs or tanuki) are transforming themselves (!) but when they start transforming other objects or producing objects from nothing transforming into things much larger or smaller than themselves or walking on the ceiling, the movie breaks. It also becomes bizarrely dull long before the end. Despite being a film about shape-shifting raccoons, it somewhat miraculously still manages to get an upskirt pantie shot in there and, as a bonus, it probably features the most testicles (confusingly referred to as pouches in English) in any film ever made. This movie contains unpleasant scenes and very brief female nudity in magazine. Classified PG by BBFC. Parental Guidance.

Little Norse Prince (1968, Anime, Movie) – 7/10

Producer: Hiroshi Okawa Writer (Conception): Masajiro Seki Writer (Screenplay): Kazuo Fukazawa Writer (Creator): Yasuo Otsuka Animator: Hayao Miyazaki Mijikiro Hira: Grunwald Eijiro Tono: Ganko Etsuko Ichihara: Hiruda Masao Mishima: Village Leader Director: Isao Takahata Hisako Okata: Horusu

Little Norse Prince (1968) Horusu is told by his dying father that he is the last survivor of a village destroyed by a demon and he is urged to go and find other humans and try and unite them to fight against the demon to stop it happening again. Hurusu’s early efforts pay off well but then he finds an orphaned girl, Hiruda, with a beautiful voice and, inexplicably, things start to go badly. 7/10 Considered as the first modern anime by some, this is great enough, often enough to offset the occasional story-telling bumps and pacing issues. Though referred to as a conscious effort to break away from Disney and, particularly, Toei’s contemporary childrens animations, it feels highly reminiscent of the first few Disney films Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs through to Fantasia as it is clearly a movie with complex characters, good versus evil motifs and something for all audiences. Despite budget cuts and the non-animation of the village attacks by the wolves and the rats, the animation is frequently excellent with the character work on Hiruda particularly nuanced. This movie contains violence and mild non-sexual nudity. Classified U by BBFC. Universal: Suitable for All.

Haibane-Renmei (2002, Anime) – 8/10 review

Writer (Series’ Creator) Charcoal Feathers in Old Home: Yoshitoshi Abe Producer Pioneer LDC: Yasuyuki Ueda Director: Tomokazu Tokoro Writer (Screenplay): Yoshitoshi Abe Ryo Hirohashi: Rakka Junko Noda: Reki

Haibane-Renmei (2002) It’s an exciting day for the Haibane – an group of beings with halos and wings who live inside a walled world and are supported by a generous town – as a new cocoon, an unusually large one, grows. Inside is Rakka, the newest Haibane and she starts to learn about her new existence and new friends. 8/10 This is what I love about Japanese animation. Haibane-Renmei tackles big topics – such as death, motivation, redemption and salvation – in a gentle, intelligent and never condescending manner. Even more than that, though, it connects emotionally and it always intrigues me that I find it easier to become lost in animation than in live-action drama. (Almost all my favourite films are animated.) It is sweet and positive and thought-provoking. For instance, where do the Haibane come from? Are they children who have killed themselves accidentally or on purpose? On top of the questions raised by the show’s setting (and, generally, left unanswered), we have the global existentialist and moral questions. For instance, even if we start to do good for selfish, or the wrong, reasons, will those reasons be consumed by the good deeds? Does that constitute redemption and is that enough for salvation? Haibane-Renmei manages to be both deep and light at the same time; a remarkable combination. This series contains mild gory scenes, unpleasant scenes and mild non-sexual nudity. Classified 12 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 12 years and over.

Battle Doll Angelic Layer anime HD wallpapers

HD wallpapers for the wonderful Battle Doll Angelic Layer anime (my review).

These are massively resized DVD captures. The orange one (matches some Linux distributions nicely) is of Hikaru when she has been first constructed and the other is of the post-ad interstitial from the second half of the series.

The original Angelic Layer logo from the interstitial didn’t survive the resize and so I removed it and created a new sharper logo by taking the logo from a high quality scan of a DVD cover. The wings took more work than expected to carefully cut out of the original image but the end result are good large wallpapers with a soft but clear main image and crisp logo.

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New Captain Scarlet (2004) comment and HD widescreen wallpapers

In 2004 Gerry Anderson resurrected two of his iconic franchises: Captain Scarlet and Thunderbirds.

The latter was an expensive major motion picture and forgot what was good about Thunderbirds by, somewhat remarkably, spending most of the time ignoring the Thunderbirds and sidelining the international rescuing aspect of the International Rescue organisation. Instead, Ben Kingsley arrived in a funny costume and, well, that was it. While it wasn’t exactly bad, it certainly didn’t work and, despite a modest budget by Hollywood standards, it lost lots of money (probably about $100 million after it’s worldwide cinema run and taking into account marketing / production costs and cinema distribution cuts).

Though destined for television, Captain Scarlet’s remake was also going to be expensive (about $1 million per episode) and produced using computer animation and design much better than we normally saw on television. Now the original show was about a dude who gets killed or, at least, horrifically injured in almost every episode. While you could get away with that kind of AWESOMENESS in the Sixties, you couldn’t in the Noughties. Brilliantly, Anderson set up a private finance venture to produce his new version. The show looked incredible, Scarlet still got killed or horrifically injured in at least half the episodes and the show was largely brilliant. Did I mention it looked incredible? Unfortunately, it got dumped on by ITV who waited a year, then tucked it away in a Saturday morning kid’s marathon show (they even missed out an episode here and there) and it, too, ended up losing money. Big, big shame. If they’d stuck it in Saturday evening prime-time slot, as the BBC did the same year with their Doctor Who reboot, maybe they’d had seen the same kind of immense success.

Nevertheless, let’s never forget the clearly passionate and brilliant work of the artists involved (though they should definitely have brought back some of Barry Gray’s iconic music). I really, really enjoyed it. If you are an action anime fan, it’ll certainly appeal to you. While the original Thunderbirds was Gerry Anderson’s best ever idea, both the old and new series of Captain Scarlet were his best ever work.

So here are two wallpapers for New Captain Scarlet.

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You can buy the 1967 Captain Scarlet on DVD and the 2004 Captain Scarlet on DVD and both are well worth it. You can also buy the Thunderbirds movie on DVD but it’s not. The thought of a Blu-ray HD re-release of New Captain Scarlet is mouth-watering and I look forward to revisiting it.

Chobits (2002, Anime) – 8/10

Writer (Original Comic): Clamp Character Design: Hisashi Abe Animation Director: Hisashi Abe Director: Morio Asaka Rie Tanaka: Chii Tomokazu Sugita: Hideki Motosuwa Tomokazu Seki: Shinbo Hiromu Motoko Kumai: Sumomo Houko Kuwashima: Minoru Kokubunji

Chobits (2002) Country boy Hideki comes to Tokyo for prep school and is impressed by, and envious of, the prevalence of people with persocoms, PC’s designed to look and act like animals or humans. While he wishes he could have one, there is no way he can afford it but then he discovers a really cute, full-size persocom in the garbage near his building. 8/10 While it certainly takes a bit of thought to work out what was going on in the end and the reason for Chi being in the garbage is never made clear, the emotion always worked and that was absolutely critical. The theme of the series, you love someone (or something) because of what they can and can’t do and because you are happy to see their happiness, is nice and not hopelessly romanticised. In between the story elements, the show was interesting, fun and sweet while deftly and sensitively dealing with some surprising subjects including sexual exploitation of minors, the existentialism of artificial intelligence, human / android relationships, the responsibility of AI coders (just because you can doesn’t mean you should), the future of mobile phones, MMOGs and, er, yummies. This series contains adult dialogue and mild adult references including references to photobooks and sexy magazines and sexual exploitation, non-sexual nudity, ‘fan service’. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over. Available on The Chobits Collection DVD.

Tokyo Godfathers (2004, Anime) – 7/10

Tokyo Godfathers (2004) Christmas Night: a trio of homeless bums find a baby abandoned in some rubbish. Hana declares it a Christmas miracle and a gift from God. It seems that the big guy upstairs is certainly working in mysterious ways this Christmas as the trio put everything on the line to protect the baby, Kiyuko, and return her to her parents. 7/10 A tale of Christmas miracles told with pace, invention (you will not predict a single sequence) and wit by Satoshi Kon but this fairy tale certainly won’t be to everyone’s taste. It’s brilliantly animated (the Japanese are the current masters of character animation) and Kon uses perfectly delivered comedic moments to puncture the dark and unflinching events his characters go through. It ends with the Tokyo skyline dancing along to the closing credits song and that whimsical thread of magic is wonderfully woven throughout. This movie contains mild swear words, adult dialogue and a homosexual character and strong violence and breast-feeding. Classified 12 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 12 years and over. Available on DVD.

Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro HD widescreen wallpaper 1920×1080

Hayao Miyazaki is the animation director genius behind Studio Ghibli and all its best movies. His first movie was a TV spin-off of Lupin III and is, by some way, the best Lupin III adventure produced. You can see all of Miyazaki’s enthusiasms and characterisation mannerisms even here in The Castle of Cagliostro.

The wallpaper is constructed from  DVD capture but Lupin himself has been recoloured by hand to sharpen him up.

These two wallpapers are identical except the left one is encoded at JPEG95 and the right one as lossless PNG. The PNG definitely looks better but it is a much larger file size.

JPEG95

PNG

Vexille (2007, Anime) – 6/10

Vexille (2007) After ten years of self-imposed isolation and total electronic blackout, a SWORD unit gets a tip off about a secret meeting being held with a principal of Japanese heavy industry giant Daiwa. The meeting is intercepted, apparently successfully, but an illegal android body part featuring technology beyond their imagination means that a covert incursion into Japan will be the only way to discover the truth and extent of what the mysterious nation is planning. 6/10 Visually impressive CG animation in a style that is considerably more successful than the freak shows that American animation under Robert Zemeckis are currently producing. The story also has a number of good ideas and strong action sequences but, like Appleseed before it, has a story that is not kept in clear focus. The visuals and ideas are good enough to carry the movie but when someone marries narrative, character and this animation style together, the results are going to be breathtaking. This movie contains graphic violence against androids, violence. Classified 12A by BBFC. Persons under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult..

Speed Racer (2008, Movie) – 6/10

Speed Racer (2008) Speed Racer has known only racing his whole life, first in the shadow of his ruthless racing brother, Rex, who was killed in a rally accident and, secondly, as a star racer himself with a shot at the big-time and the season finalé Grand Prix. He is offered lucrative sponsorship but every silver lining has a cloud. 6/10 Speed Racer is little man versus big business against-all-odds racing cliché presented with eye-popping vividness and colour. While the family dynamics are well done, the racing sequences are near-broken with only Michael Giacchino’s exciting score coming to the visceral rescue (though it only works in the movie). In any action sequence you need to be able to discern instantly who is doing what to whom and whether it is good or bad. None of this can be discerned during the racing sequences and so it’s left to a couple of brief but well-done martial arts sequences to hold the action end up. Note: if my ears didn’t deceive me, this is also the first BBFC PG-classified film to include the F-word. This movie contains a sexual swear word and extremely unpleasant peril, violence. Classified PG by BBFC. Parental Guidance.

Millennium Actress (2001, Anime) – 8/10

Millennium Actress (2001) Documentary maker Genya Tachibana has secured an unheard of interview with popular actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, now retired for thirty years, with the return of a precious object that has shaped her life in every way. 8/10 A bit brilliant, then, as master animation director Satoshi Kon delivers a moving and uniquely told romantic tale with humanity and humour. The performances and animation are consistently terrific but it’s Kon’s astonishing method of telling his story that is entirely unforgettable. Though it doesn’t sound like much, he also supplies the best heart attack in cinema history by making it feel like you’ve had the heart attack. This movie contains violence, unpleasant scenes. Classified PG by BBFC. Parental Guidance.

Death Note: The Last Name (2006) – 7/10

Death Note: Last Name, The (2006) Having manufactured Shiori’s death and eliminated Naomi Misura, Light has got himself into a position where he may be able to get himself onto the Kira Investigation Unit and get close to L. Then a second Kira announces their presence to the world and to Light. This second Kira has the Eyes of a Death God and only needs to see a person’s face to know their name. Second Kira offers this ability to Light so all he has to do now to win is introduce second Kira to L. 7/10 Successfully squishing all the major plot points from the remainder of the story into 140 minutes, this also brings back the methodology of the manga ending (which the anime changed slightly) but delivers a different message to either (here Kira good, manga Kira bad, anime Kira meaningless). The changes made were, I feel, absolutely right for live action which does have to stick to more traditional entertainment clichés but there isn’t the tension in Light and L’s battle of wits that was present in the anime and so the triumphs of either party (particularly the mobile phone scene) have less impact. This television contains mild swear words and unpleasant and very gory scene, unpleasant scenes, brief graphic violence.

Death Note (2006) – 7/10

Death Note (2006) Yagami Light is a very intelligent star pupil who intends to follow his father, who is a Chief Detective, into the police force. Light comes into ownership of a book, a Death Note, which has the power to kill anyone whose name he writes therein. Once he realises the Death Note’s power he decides to make the world a better place by destroying all the criminals that keep escaping justice. 7/10 Surprisingly good for a Japanese television movie (the first of two for this story) and while that is mainly down to the staggeringly brilliant story (from a manga by Tsugumi Oba and Takeshi Obata), the acting (Kenichi Matsuyama’s L aside), music, pacing and tone are all good and the memorable design of Death God (or Shinigami) Ryuk is superbly recreated. The only significant thing that’s missing from this adaptation is the scene where Light decides that his mission to rid the world of evil is worth any cost but it doesn’t undermine the astonishing impact of his remarkable machinations. This television contains mild swear words and violence, unpleasant scenes.

Death Note R: Visionary Deity (2006, Anime) – 8/10

Death Note R: Visionary Deity (2006) Ryuk sums up his experiences on earth with Light Yagami, an interesting human who tried to become a god on a planet of boring people doing boring things. 8/10 While it, unavoidably, doesn’t have the tension or sense of bravado and joyous intelligence of the full anime series, this two-hour digest version does remind fans of all the astonishing and wonderful sequences it boasted. Fans are also reminded of the superb production values, voice-acting, animation and music (the opening credits, the capture of Higuchi / return of the Death Note and the climax of the battle between Light and L are thrillingly visceral). Curiously, like the live-action movies, it skips the entire Near and Mello story arc and changes the inferred end of the anime to the end of the manga. Knock two stars off if you haven’t seen the series (the first twenty-five or so episodes!). This television contains mild swear words and strong gory and unpleasant scenes.

Death Note (2006, Anime) – 9/10

Writer (Original Comic Book): Ohba Tsugumi Writer (Original Illustrator): Obata Takeshi Director: Araki Tetsurou

Death Note (2006) Death Note: How to Use It. 1. The human whose name is written in this note, shall die. 2. This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected. 3. If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack. 4. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds. 9/10 An outstanding, thought-provoking, very thrilling, and relentlessly intelligent series, Death Note is an instant classic anime (based on a manga by Tsugumi Oba and Takeshi Obata). While the show was never as effective after episode twenty-five as it had been (it no longer generates the gripping edge-of-the-seat tension from the battle of wits), it remained interesting, entertaining and well-produced until the end. In any case, the central question regarding clearing out the murderers and criminals from the world is an intriguing one. The show does take a definite side on this issue and explains why in the final episode but compelling arguments could be made for both sides. This is a remarkably impressive and entertaining way to tickle the mind. This series contains sexual swear words in opening song from episode 20 onwards, sexual swear words and a graphic and very gory scene of violence, an unpleasant and very gory scene, violence, unpleasant scenes and mild nudity.

Death Note Week

Death Note is a manga created by writer Tsugumi Oba (thought by some to be a pseudonym for a more experienced writer usually known for lighter fare) and illustrator Takashi Obata.

It is a remarkable story brilliantly told in all formats (though I haven’t read all of the manga). An indication of this is that I devoured the thirty-seven episode anime in just a few days, then immediately sought out the live-action movies and recap anime movie. So, this week I shall be presenting my reviews for the anime, anime recap movie and the two live-action movies.

Najica Blitz Tactics HD widescreen wallpaper

Recently watched Najica Blitz Tactics and produced these miraculous 1920×1080 HD widescreen wallpapers from the artwork during the show’s title sequence. Why miraculous? No pantie shots!

I have no idea why Najica is drawn with black hair in the last wallpaper.

Images hosted at Shareapic.

Solty Rei (2005, anime) – 8/10

Solty Rei (2005) Widowed bounty Hunter Roy Revant is only just managing to keep his life together after a tragedy that took his daughter twelve years ago during a catastrophic explosion known as Blast Fall. One night on the job he is saved by a young green haired girl who has fallen from the sky. She follows him around much to his annoyance but proves to be helpful when she again saves him using her superhuman powers. This unlikely meeting is the beginning of an unusual relationship that may allow Roy to know happiness again. 8/10 Despite a difficult-to-follow plot for a handful of episodes in the run up to the climax, this is a well-produced and acted animation which is beautifully-written and, unexpectedly, highly emotional. This series contains mild swear words and graphic violence, some extreme violence, gory and unpleasant scenes and mild non-sexual nudity including mild non-sexual nudity of minors. Links Full Review HD wallpaper

Lupin the Third: Castle of Cagliostro, The (1980) – 8/10

Lupin the Third: Castle of Cagliostro, The (1980) Master thief Lupin the Third, grandson of the legendary Lupin, has just finished liberating a casino of its proceeds when he discovers that every note is a goat bill, a virtually perfect counterfeit note. He heads to the Duchy of Cagliostro where he believes the notes are coming from but on his way he gets entangled with a beautiful young bride fleeing from some of the Count of Cagliostro’s heavies. 8/10 Soon-to-be legendary animation genius Hayao Miyazaki makes his feature debut with this action adventure romance comedy that works brilliantly and is great fun from beginning to end. The animation is largely excellent and despite our lead character being a thief he makes an agreeably nonchalant hero. This movie contains mild swear words and violence, unpleasant scenes. Classified PG by BBFC. Parental Guidance. Available on DVD.

Najica Blitz Tactics (2001) – 6/10

Najica Blitz Tactics (2001) Najica Hiiragi is a top secret agent who gets assigned, against her will, a new partner in the form of Lila, a Humaritt, an advanced android. 6/10 No mission too hard. No skirt too short. No swimsuit too small. While that’s not Najica Blitz Tactic’s tagline it might as well be but the show is definitely more than just an endless (and I mean endless) parade of lovingly drawn female crotches in white cotton panties. The existentalist story and characters are strong enough and thought-provoking and the action is occasionally imaginative. This is a decent anime series on any level but the details do seem to get somewhat obscured across the last four episodes. This series contains mild swear words and violence, some strong violence, some graphic violence, a torture scene, gory and unpleasant scenes and full non-sexual nudity, extended ‘fan service’. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

Solty Rei HD widescreen wallpaper

An HD wallpaper for the rather good anime constructed from the smaller wallpapers supplied on the official Solty Rei website.

Roy and Solty Revant

Update 16 February 2008: Image host changed to Shareapic.

Battle Doll Angelic Layer HD widescreen wallpaper

An HD wallpaper for the wonderful Battle Doll Angelic Layer anime (my review). This is a massively resized DVD capture of the post-ad interstitial from the second half of the series. The original Angelic Layer logo didn’t survive the resize and so I removed it and created a new sharper logo by taking the logo from a high quality scan of a DVD cover. The wings took more work than expected to carefully cut out of the original image but the end result is a good large wallpaper with a soft but clear main image and crisp logo.

Battle Doll Angelic Layer anime review – 9/10

Writer (Original Story): Clamp Series Concept: Ichiro Ookouchi Director: Hiroshi Nishikori Animation Director: Takahiro Komori Writer (Screenplay): Ichiro Ookouchi Producer: Shinsaku Hatta Producer: Taihei Yamanishi Producer: Masahiko Minami Copyright Holder: Clamp

Battle Doll Angelic Layer (2001) Twelve-year-old Misaki Suzuhara arrives in Tokyo and watches in amazement as a televised fight between two women is won by the significantly smaller of the two. She is thrilled when she learns that the battles are between Angelic Layer dolls and that she can buy one of her very own from a store. Miha, er, no, Icchan, a strange young man in a white coat, agrees, for some unknown reason, to take her under his wing and teach her how to train and nurture her own battle doll. 9/10 Any way you slice it, this has been a wonderful show. It is positive and good-natured. It contains worthwhile sentiments for children and adults alike and can be recommended to anyone. This series contains battle doll violence. Classified PG by BBFC. Parental Guidance.