Anime of the Year 2000-IV Fall - Hajime no Ippo

Can't call anything masterpiece , but Hajime no Ippo is the closest to it. 

1. InuYasha 犬夜叉  [Sunrise] (Finished 3/167) Tags: Historical, Mythology, Time Travel Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural Kagome Higurashi's 15th birthday takes a sudden turn when she is forcefully pulled by a demon into the old well of her family's shrine. Brought to the past, when demons were a common sight in feudal Japan, Kagome finds herself persistently hunted by these vile creatures, all yearning for an item she unknowingly carries: the Shikon Jewel, a small sphere holding extraordinary power. Amid such a predicament, Kagome encounters a half-demon boy named Inuyasha who mistakes her for Kikyou, a shrine maiden he seems to resent. Because of her resemblance to Kikyou, Inuyasha takes a violent dislike to Kagome. However, after realizing the dire circumstances they are both in, he sets aside his hostility and lends her a hand. Unfortunately, during a fight for the Shikon Jewel, the miraculous object ends up shattered into pieces and scattered across the land. Fearing the disastrous consequences of this accident, Kagome and Inuyasha set out on a challenging quest to recover the shards before they fall into the wrong hands. I honestly fail to understand what to like here at all. Just less funny Dragonball with female protagonist and jokes as if from Urusei Yatsura.   Overall Rating: 5/10

2. Hajime no Ippo Fighting Spirit はじめの一歩 THE FIGHTING!  [Madhouse] (Finished 3/75) Tags: Shounen Combat Sports  In his father's absence, teenager Ippo Makunouchi works hard to help his mother run her fishing boat rental business. Ippo's timid nature, his lack of sleep, and the sea smell make him an easy target for relentless bullies who leave him bruised and beaten on a daily basis. Mamoru Takamura, an up-and-coming boxer, rescues Ippo from a violent after-school incident and takes him back to the Kamogawa Boxing Gym for recovery. Takamura and his fellow boxers, Masaru Aoki and Tatsuya Kimura, are stunned by Ippo's powerful punches—a result of strong muscles developed through years serving his physically taxing family business. Following brief training under Takamura, Ippo impresses the other boxers in a practice match against prodigy Ichirou Miyata. He gains a rival in Miyata and a coach in Genji Kamogawa, the gym owner and a former boxer himself. As Ippo takes the first steps in his official boxing career, he faces off against a series of challenging opponents, each more powerful than the last. Victory, loss, and a cycle of dedicated training await Ippo on his journey to achieve greatness. With his tough body and unstoppable fighting spirit, the kind young man seeks to take on the world. Never tried it as it's spokon, and the only thing that interests me here is what makes it special, just like in all the other famous anime in the genres I detest. And my answer is that there is nothing special, just a little talent and a lot of diligence , practice and endurance, thus the title. Concept is basically taken from Ashita no Joe where enemies were more interesting than protagonist. But Joe was an adult hooligan dealing with homeless children , so he was rather difficult to empathize with. A totally normal kid is a better material for a lasting story. And with that I'll consider this gestalt closed.   Overall Rating: 6/10

3. Gakkou no Kaidan Ghost Stories 学校の怪談 [Pierrot] (Finished 3/19) Tags: Horror, Mystery, Supernatural Years ago, all of the ghosts in a haunted schoolhouse were banished by a certain student. Now, they're back—and they want revenge... Satsuki and Keiichirou Miyanoshita are two siblings recovering from the tragic loss of their mother. After moving to their mother's hometown, they learn that the local school they have transferred to is an old building—one said to be haunted. Despite initially brushing it off as a silly rumor, the two soon discover that ghosts are indeed real and that they're after them! Gakkou no Kaidan is the creepy tale of the lives of these siblings and their newfound friends as they try to survive the school's ghosts—with a little help from their pet cat along the way. Could not care less about dub, original anime is trash with the only redeeming quality being that it tries to be bright and even humorous for the most part and gets dark only around climax.   Overall Rating: 5/10

4. Vandread ヴァンドレッド [Gonzo] (Finished 2/13) Tags: Mecha, Space Action, Sci-Fi, Ecchi  In Vandread, men are from Mars and women are from Venus! Well, not quite. Technology has allowed mankind to colonize the entire Milky Way galaxy, and in one star system, the men and women live on two different planets, Taraak and Mejere. A bitter and very literal gender war rages, to the point where they don't even see each other as the sames species anymore! Hibiki Tokai, a male third-class laborer from Taraak, ends up stuck on a battleship after a botched attempt at stealing a robot. When female pirates capture the Taraakian Vanguard, things don't look like they could get any worse for Hibiki. Unfortunately, they do; when the male crew of the Vanguard fire on their captured vessel out of desperation, they created a giant wormhole, which sucks the Vanguard and the Mejeran pirate's ships into itself! Now, stuck far away from their home planets, these men and women must learn to work together if they ever wish to make it back home. This anime knows well that it's going to be silly mecha with CGI, so it adapts absurd plot and is ready to go to extremes such as flattest possible gender humor. Need to have an ability to turn off head to keep watching it to the end without any loss of self-respect.   Overall Rating: 5/10

5. Argento Soma アルジェント ソーマ [Sunrise] (Finished 4/25) Tags: Mecha, Military Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi In the year 2059, the earth has been plagued by aliens for several years. In an effort to learn more about these aliens, Dr. Noguchi and his assistants Maki Agata and Takuto Kaneshiro try to revive the professor's experiment, a large Bio-Mechanical alien named Frank. During this process the alien comes to 'life' and the lab is subsequently destroyed leaving Takuto the only survivor and the alien disappearing into the wilderness. While Frank roams the wilderness he meets Hattie, an emotionally distressed young girl whose parents are killed in the first 'close encounter' war. Oddly enough she is able to communicate with Frank and soon after they are taken into custody by a secret agency known only as 'Funeral'. Meanwhile, Takuto wakes up in a hospital bed with his life in shambles, and his face disfigured. Motivated by vengeance and heart break, Takuto accepts an offer from the mysterious 'Mr. X' and receives a new identity as a ranking Funeral officer named Ryu Soma. Sunrise original always sounds very suspicious, because it usually means targeting as large audience as possible, and the easiest way to it is imitation of already popular products, namely, Eva. Maybe it changes drastically on the way, but first four episodes don't leave the slightest desire to keep going.  .   Overall Rating: 5/10

6. Jinzou Ningen Kikaider The Animation 人造人間キカイダーTHE ANIMATION [Radix] (Finished 3/13) Tags: Shounen Mecha Action, Drama, Sci-Fi The genius robotics professor, Dr. Komyoji has created Kikaider—a humanoid robot tasked with the protection of Dr. Komyoji's son and daughter. Gifted with the conscience circuit, Kikaider is given the power to simulate real emotions that helps to distinguish between "right and wrong." Can Kikaider protect Dr. Komyoji's children and battle against the evil Dr. Gill and his army of androids? The fight against world domination lies in the hands of Kikaider. It feels so terribly old... because its source material is kids only and lies in the early 70s. The result is slow, boring, cliché series.   Overall Rating: 5/10

7. Shoubushi Densetsu Tetsuya 勝負師伝説哲也 [Toei Animation] (Finished 2/20) Tags: Shounen Historical, Strategy Game  In the year 1947, the people of Shinjuku are down on their luck. With little money to buy food or necessities, some resort to gambling in order to survive. Traveling Tetsuya chooses to spend his time at Mahjong parlors where he is wiping the floor clean with his adversaries. However, when Tetsuya meets the intensely skilled Boushu-san, he realizes that his skills are still lacking. I'm at a total loss when it comes to mahjong anime, because it looks and sounds total gibberish. And since there's not much besides gambling, can't even evaluate it. Watching an anime that relies on luck and momentum after Kaiji... feels so wrong.   Overall Rating: 5/10

8. Sci-fi Harry サイファイハリー  [APPP] (Finished 4/20) Tags: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi  Harry is definitely not your average American teenager. Instead, he is the epitome of an "alienated youth"—friendless at school, extremely weird, and nervous to the point of paranoia. But a chance occurrence causes Harry to start to demonstrate what appear to be psychic powers—yet he neither believes in them nor consciously controls them. However, there are other ominous forces at work who do believe in Harry and attempt to make use of him in ways that are threatening and frightful. It's once again collection of elements I can't stand. Ugly drawn psychic detective thriller with protagonist so indecisive that he can't tie several words together.   Overall Rating: 5/10

9. Dotto Koni-chan .Koni-chan ドッとKONIちゃん [Shaft] (Finished 1/26) Tags: Comedy  Koni (whose character is based on the famous Sumo-wrestler) and his gang have lots of crazy and incoherent adventures in their town. From fighting with their "Lovely-Teacher" and dealing with Samurai fish, to confirming if "The Armored-Guy's" wife has an affair and saving the world, Koni, High, Moro, Nari and Afro, the Afro-dog, do the craziest and funniest things to have fun. Not translated to English. Absurd episodic comedy with three stories inside each episode. Feels horrible like any absurd comedy.   Overall Rating: 5/10

10. Gear Fighter Dendoh GEAR戦士 電童 [Sunrise] (Finished 3/38) Tags: Mecha, School, Space Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi The story takes place in the future where war machines from evil mechanical alien empire Garufa finally reaches Earth. In order to protect earth, an Earth defense organization called GEAR (Guard Earth and Advanced Reconnaissance) is formed. GEAR has an ultimate weapon in a form of war mecha, GEAR Fighter Dendoh, which is piloted by two elementary school students, namely Kusanagi Hokuto and Izumo Ginga. Can the friendship between Hokuto and Ginga unleashed the full potential power of Dendoh in order to fight Garufa? Kids would have a hard time watching Argento Soma, so to milk this audience as well let's make another mecha just for kids. Terrible as everything Sunrise does specially for kids.   Overall Rating: 5/10

11. Karakuri Kiden: Hiwou Senki Hiwou War Chronicles 機巧奇傳　ヒヲウ戦記 [Bones] (Finished 3/26) Tags: Historical, Mecha Action, Adventure 8 years ago, Western Civilization visited 19th century Japan. Mechanized dolls and new steam-powered creations began spreading throughout the country. The Wind Gang is a group of doll and steam users who believe in using their creations to violently bring about a new Industrial Era. They attack and destroy the peaceful village of a young doll user named Hiwou one day. Hiwou and his friends escape with a giant doll named Homura. Hiwou now wants to find his father, so that he can help defeat the Wind Gang, and bring peace back to Japan. Pre-school kids accompanied by giant mecha in Edo period competing in clockwork dolls with Wind Gang - what could possibly go wrong? So much effort is wasted on a nonsense concept like that.   Overall Rating: 5/10

12. Mutekiou Tri-Zenon Invincible King Tri-Zenon 無敵王トライゼノン [E&G Films] (Finished 3/22) Tags: Mecha Sci-Fi During the Edo Period, 3 mysterious space capsules were sent down to earth. Fear that it might bring chaos to the earth, the humans at that time buried these 3 objects down beneath the ground and entrusted a piece of descriptive map to the Kamui family. Today, these 3 objects were awaken one by one. The first to awaken, Tri-Zenon, one of the Zenon Guardians is now driven by the descendant of the Kamui family, Akira Kamui, his brother Ai Kamui and his friend Kanna. Aliens who descend to earth with a purpose will now have to face Tri-Zenon. Another nonsense mecha for kids with plastic characters antics. It manages to be both stupid and absolutely undistinguished at the same time.   Overall Rating: 5/10

13. Sin: The Movie  [Phoenix Entertainment] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Detective Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Supernatural In Sin, Blade must unravel a series of mysterious kidnappings. As he delves into the city's merciless underworld, an elaborate mystery unfold; at is heart, the SinTEK corporation and its leader, the ruthless and beautiful Elexis Sinclair. A Brilliant biochemist, Sinclair will stop at nothing to achieve her goal: a plan that could force the next step of human evolution-or spell doom for mankind. It's mostly just violent fighting action with poor explanations, and after another action cycle it just ends. I've seen worse.   Overall Rating: 5/10

14. De:vadasy Devadasy 創世聖紀デヴァダシー  [Studio Gazelle] (Finished 3/3) Tags: Mecha, Psychological Action, Ecchi For young men like Kei, life is still plagued by nothing but homework and girl trouble. When an unknown force besieges Earth with robotic war machines, however, it is Kei who is chosen to defend the human race. Another weird game adaptation. Peaceful SOL constantly interchanges with bloody mecha fights and masturbation needed for that. It tries to mimic EVA mental distortion and ends with a fluke.   Overall Rating: 5/10

15. Grandeek  [Group TAC, animate Film] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Adventure, Fantasy  This is a tale of swords and sorcery as the young warrior-woman Tia Allbright and her hapless assistant, Luke, battle demon assassins in a fantasy land. Tia arrives on the island of Marcleida with her trusted sword 'Grandeek,' which holds a spirit within that helps her on her quests. She is soon turned away however. Determined to get on the island, Tia searches for a way past the fences that guard the entrance, as another stranger arrives on the island to take on a mysterious job. Someone has been killing the inhabitants of the island and has the ability to appear and disappear at will. Seems the sword 'Aihorn' has been stolen and the spirit that resides within it seeks vengenance on those who killed its master 50 years before. As Tia makes her way inside the island, it becomes clear that both she, and the stranger, are after the sword Aihorn, hoping to bring to an end its bloody goal. But the sword has the ability to possess the person who wields it - putting Tia and the stranger at a great disadvantage. Based on the manga by Kohime Ohse, Tia and Grandeek will have to face their most difficult challenge yet... Hard to weave a good story in 40 minutes... especially with no efforts applied to make it coherent. Narration constantly jumps among different stuff with unclear time sequence. There's a girl who seeks a way into town, there are two swordsmen who investigate murders and search for a girl, there are cadavers, scenes with swordsman getting wounded, some women at unknown location , some girl behind bars and it just goes on and on... By the very end all the characters get somewhere close to each other and sword evil nature is getting dealt with somehow. Such lousy directorship should not exist at all .   Overall Rating: 4/10

16. With You: Mitsumeteitai With You ~みつめていたい~  [Arms] (Finished 2/2) Tags: Love Polygon, School Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance Based on a H-game with the same title released by Cocktail Soft in 1998, With You: Mitsumeteitai focuses on love triangle between the main characters who were childhood friends. They were separated because one of them had to move to Myanmar (an Asian country formerly known as Burma). After six years, they are re-united again and the story begins... Never finished the game, so was glad to learn about all the connected mythology stuff. Quite a typical early visual novel plot, but good to know the basics.   Overall Rating: 5/10

17. Blood: The Last Vampire BLOOD THE LAST VAMPIRE (ブラッド ザ ラスト ヴァンパイア) [Production I.G] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Gore, Vampire Award Winning, Horror, Supernatural  Teropterids are evil beasts which pose as humans and live only to drink human blood. Fortunately for the human world there are groups dedicated to destroying them. A brooding and mysterious girl named Saya is the best teropterid slayer there is, and now, in 1960s Japan, she is sent to a U. S. army base which may be infested... It's pure fighting action, so can't be rated too high.   Overall Rating: 6/10

18. Aa! Megami-sama! Movie 劇場版　ああっ女神さまっ [AIC] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Seinen Comedy, Romance, Supernatural For centuries, a god named Celestin has been imprisoned on the moon for betraying the kingdom of Yggdrasil. Released by the fairy Morgan Le Fey, Celestin travels to Earth to reunite with his former pupil, the goddess Belldandy. Things go awry as Celestin erases Belldandy's memories of her boyfriend Keiichi and uses her as a catalyst to wreak havoc on Earth and Yggdrasil. I was glad that it's continuation and not retelling, but OVA was dealing with departure for last episodes and movie ... deals with departure again, just great. I'm not fan of this franchise or anything, and this probably is a logical ending to TV series, but after OVA it looks really bad as it's almost the same ending, just with more communication with Heavens. And if you ask me right now what the series is about, I'll say that I don't know because all forces in the world are constantly trying to separate main characters so they hardly have a chance to talk at all .   Overall Rating: 5/10

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