Secret of the Cerulean Sand - Review

When I first started liking Japanese animation (Like a year and a half after I finished High school) I had the good fortune to be treated to unusual/mostly obscure series and movies. So, instead of the usual shit like Evangelion or the sort that first gets shoved into an anime newbie, I ended up seeing some others like Macross plus, Miyazaki's movies and others.

This was by no means one of the first I saw, but came shortly afterwards. I have fond memories of it, and would hate this series to be forgotten. I've always been a fan of Steampunk and Jules Verne inspired works, I myself am trying to get that adventury-feeling for the Videogame I'm producing. Secret of the Cerulean Sand manages to nail it and keep to it while pumping sweet doses of awesome adventure antics.

The story is as follows: Jane, a young lady of the buxton family is a jolly lassie whose biggest dream is to build a machine to fly trough the sky (as most steampunk characters). She's got a great family, lives in comfort and makes a haven out of his blissful existence.

But not for long. The arrival of a terrible letter informs her that George, her eldest and most beloved brother was executed for high treason to the crown. His stepbrother William leaves the family in anger and her father is charged for embezzling. The family suddenly is wrecked and left to wither.

But one day, Jane receives an envelope sent anonymously with a tiny piece of cerulean stone inside, that shows very mysterious proprieties.

Convinced that his brother might be alive, Jane embarks on a quest to find his missing brothers. A quest that will lead her to the far ends of the earth and the dark places below it.

The whole series is inspired by two of Jules Verne´s stories: "Facing the flag" and "City in the Sahara". The style is reminiscent of old series like Future boy conan and the character designs have the exact and healty combination of traditional anime and american flavour.

And It's a great series, it takes off slowly but the tiny details from the beginning (like the tempestous relationship between brothers and the strange complexes William exhibits) add to the outcome of an epic series that spans travels around a mythical 19th century world.

I really recommend this series. The old styled drawings and clumsy 3d might turn some away. The lack of distribution (both electronic and on DVD) will turn away most. But the series is a truly heartwarming epic that'll always stay in my heart. It's an endearing story for everyone.

Secret of the Cerulean Sand gets 4 out of 5 stars of adventuring girls with disobedience issues.

And you get the youtube previews:
Intro:

Ending:

Anime Season Fall 2007

This season's series can be described in one simple word:

Shit.

Not only does everything look about the same, there's nothing really outstanding about the whole season. Really, We've had some great stuff lately! Chevalier D'eon, Claymore (good action at least), Dennou Coil and many others that were either great or had one special quirk that saved them from being called crap.

Really, the only things that look fairly interesting are Moonlight mile and that one about the mahjong players (at least the style is original). But Moonlight Mile is not a new series, it's a SECOND SEASON. After a truly wonderful animated year (so far) I'm truly dissapointed.

I do have a flint of hope for Ghost hound. Still, I guess the only ones that are happy for this shitload of crap are anime junkies, pervs, moe fans and lolicon freaks.

Psalms of the planets Eureka Seven - Review

I guess the conception for this series was decided in a drunk-stoned frenzy. Else they wouldn't have come up with an idea so totally whacky and outrageous. I mean, it had to be thought about in some sort of booze-party, this is not just the kind of concept you have an epyphany about.

They had to be stoned, yet they actually made the Idea work.

The strangely named "Psalms of the planets Eureka seven" is a media franchise created by studio Bones. It encompasses (so far) a manga series, an anime, 3 videogames and all sorts of paraphernalia. The long-running (+50 episodes) animation series features very high quality animation, nice character designs and funky 70's references everywhere.

And the story goes something like this:

In the future, on a newly colonized planet: Renton Thurston, son of the legendary war hero, Adroick Thurston; Despairs and whines about his simple and meaningless life in a small town. Baffled with boredom and with a yearning for freedom, his future looks really grim.

That is, until Eureka drops from the sky one night. And things go helter-skelter.

Turns out Eureka is the rouge pilot of the legendary Nirvash Type-0, a sort of alien lifeform encased in a robotic body. A piece of equipment that is very valuable to the goverment forces.

And it also turns out Eureka is part of a rebellious anti-goverment terrorist group called "Gekkostate" which Renton idolizes. Also turns out Eureka is a bit weird, also turns out Renton's grandfather has a very important piece that the Nirvash needs, also turns out the leader of the rebels had a relationship with his sister, and also turns out Renton is madly in love with Eureka.

Boy, is he up for a wild ride.

But that really doesn't cover anything about the story. Not by a long shot. Heck, it's not even a proper summary, since the premise and direction changes so much during the series duration, it's one of those series that has to be seen to understand the underlying charm that runs trough every sweet piece of 20 minute cel drawn frenzy.

Now, I can't really say I'm a fan of Gigant robot anime. I mean, I do like the robots and the rampage, but there's gotta be more on it for me to appreciate this kind of anime. I'm very sensitive against cliches. And even trough Eureka Seven can be catalogued in the "Gigant robot controlled by young pilot with severe mental trauma" genre... Eureka Seven manages to spell a fresh and fruity cliche-free smell.

Heck, there's angst and personal sacrifice there as this kind of anime requires, though it's not so over-the-top that it ends up feeling cheesy. The revelations and underlying story are top-notch and the series does get very cryptic and grim near the end. (There's a bit of gore every now and then, so the faint of heart might suffer a slight distaste in watching some episodes).

Eureka Seven is a good example that with enough originality and style, you can take concepts that have been done again and again, and re-paint them again for a new generation, turning cliche into awe inspiring coolness and style.

It's like when they grind stale bread in supermarkets to make that icky-looking sweet-tastin' delicious bread. You don't remind yourself about the ingredients, you just eat it.

By no means Eureka seven is a classic. I wouldn't even say it's artistic (even trough the character designs are very pretty) But it's one hell of a series. Definitely recommended.

Eureka Seven gets 5 out of five stars of teen angst.

And you get sweet youtube love:





Oh... Did I mention the robots surf? No I didn't.