Hello again. Over the weekend I was able to watch some stuff and I guess I'll end up reviewing some things I didn't plan on reviewing, but here goes.
First of all:
Inuyasha the Movie 2: The Castle Beyond The Looking Glass
Animation: ****
Music: ***
Story: *
Overall: **
Oy. I mean, I've seen a fair share of Inuyasha, so I know what I'm getting into. I guess I should have figured the plot would be redundant, but still, there were some things where I was just like, "What?"
The premise is pretty simple. After killing Naraku, a new evil takes his place to through the world into darkness. This demoness, Kaguya, enlists the help of Kagura and Nanna to break her out of the mirror she's imprisoned in. After that, because Inuyasha and friends are so much trouble, Kaguya takes Kagome in an effort to fight Inuyasha. She offers him his wish of becoming a full-demon, but, as anyone would know, Inuyasha just wants Kagome back.
First of all, the animation was good, as one would expect from a movie. They really went all out and had some pretty awesome stuff. And, as always, the music was very stirring and enjoyable. I've always liked what this composer has done for the series.
But, the whole story seemed off. Here comes the spoilers. I should have figured Naraku would have stayed dead, but man! coming from Kohaku's back? That, to me, seemed a little out there, even for the series. There was no reason why. It just seemed a dumb way to bring Naraku back into the story, especially at the climax like that. It was a serious let down for me.
This is majorly why I gave the show 2 stars. While the animimation and music were fine, the story tanked and didn't really amount to anything. Even the whole "This is the only time they kiss" bit wasn't as great as I thought it would be. So, overall, I sort of felt that I didn't need to see this movie. The first one was better, in my consideration, but the whole Inuyasha series I tend to watch with my tongue in my cheek.
Now, on to the other thing I did over the weekend. As I have stated before, I will review manga. However, I failed to mention how I rate them. Instead of breaking it down, like I do with the anime, I just give one score from 1 to 5 stars (*). The numbers' meaning is unchanged.
R.O.D. Read Or Die (the manga)
Score: ***
I understand this to be an interesting and unusual anime series, but I figured I'd give the manga a shot first. While I did expect it to be weird, it was a little weirder than I had first thought.
It begins with a society that goes out of its way to protect books and their authors. This Library of England has enlisted the help of a woman named Yomiko Readman. Her code name is Paper, entirely because of her ability to manipulate paper into whatever she needs. In fact, she's the best at it in the world. This series covers two of her missions.
I'm rating the series as all four graphic novels. It was short, but it was still a lot, especially as things get tense at the end.
The first mission is Yomiko protecting what turns out to be her favorite author from another fan with more malicious intent. The action is face paced and definetly quirky as Yomiko's cheerfulness is never unhinged. This really makes the battles very entertaining. Ultimately, she must overcome the various traps and villians set before her in her unusual way.
The second mission is a little more intense. Yomiko is sent to find an underground library for a private school with some severe teaching methods and rules. She finds herself fighting students with unusual powers of her own. However, her mission gets complicated when her dead boyfriend sends her a letter to go for a different reason. Driven by this, she becomes conflicted between following the mission and seeking for her old lover. What is the true intentions of the Library of England? There are a lot of mysteries and back-stories uncovered in this story that covers the latter three graphic novels.
While I can't say to you "Read or Die," this series was fun to read. With lot's of quirky battles and some intense situations, it's easy to see how this could become a cult hit. It definetly is a step above most other stories, but it is short and leaves you with a feeling of a roller coaster ride that stops before it should. Maybe I need to watch the anime.
Well, I'm glad I was able to get this off. I don't know how much more I'll watch and/or read this week. I'm kind of buried with homework. However, I should update by next week with the third Inuyasha movie. I hope it's better than this second one. I may also have reviews of Elfen Lied and Soul Hunter. It depends how things go from here until next Wednesday.
Until then, thank you for reading and check back again.
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