Anime of the Year 2004-I Winter - Interlude

Among three titles with score of 9 only Interlude is a new title, so it takes the upper hand over sequels Koukaku Kidoutai: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG and Innocence , plus there's this great little series Mousou Dairinin that deserves a mention. 

1. Mousou Dairinin Paranoia Agent 妄想代理人 [Madhouse] (Finished 13/13) Tags: Detective, Psychological Avant Garde, Drama, Mystery, Supernatural, Suspense The infamous Shounen Bat (Lil' Slugger) is terrorizing the residents of Musashino City. Flying around on his rollerblades and beating people down with a golden baseball bat, the assailant seems impossible to catch—much less understand. His first victim, the well-known yet timid character designer Tsukiko Sagi, is suspected of orchestrating the attacks. Believed only by her anthropomorphic pink stuffed animal, Maromi, Tsukiko is just one of Shounen Bat's many victims. As Shounen Bat continues his relentless assault on the town, detectives Keiichi Ikari and Mitsuhiro Maniwa begin to investigate the identity of the attacker. However, more and more people fall victim to the notorious golden bat, and news of the assailant begins circulating around the town. Paranoia starts to set in as chilling rumors spread amongst adults and children alike. Will the two detectives be able to unravel the truth behind Shounen Bat, or will the paranoia get to them first? I generally don't like mystery, but can't say the show exists solely for the sake of unveiling a mystery. Rather than inserting filler middle, it usually devotes each episode to some character, and there are a lot of connections between different characters. Compared to Tokyo Godfathers, everyone is much more pleasant, all the nonsense luck motive is gone, and a much wider array of interesting tricks is used. Can't deny I enjoyed it both times I watched it.   Overall Rating: 7/10

2. Koukaku Kidoutai: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG 攻殻機動隊 S.A.C. 2nd GIG [Production I.G] (Finished 26/26) Tags: Seinen Adult Cast, Detective, Mecha, Military Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi Following the closure of the "Laughing Man" case, Section 9 is re-established by Japan's newly elected Prime Minister, Youko Kayabuki, to combat the persistent threat of cyber-terrorism. A group calling themselves "The Individual Eleven" has begun committing acts of terror across Japan. While Motoko Kusanagi, Daisuke Aramaki, Batou, and the other members of Section 9 investigate this new menace, the Japanese government faces a separate crisis, as foreign refugees displaced by the Third World War seek asylum in Japan. But as the members of the special-ops team continually encounter Gouda Kazundo—a leading member of the Cabinet Intelligence Service—in their hunt, they begin to suspect that he may be involved, and that the events of the refugee crisis and The Individual Eleven may be more connected than they realize... I decided from the start that sequels can't get the same score as original season in order not to clutter genius masterpiece score. And that's the only reason this series is not getting top score. Fantastic.   Overall Rating: 9/10

3. Maria-sama ga Miteru Maria Watches Over Us マリア様がみてる [Studio Deen] (Finished 2/13) Tags: Drama, Girls Love  When Yumi Fukuzawa entered the Lillian Girls' Academy, a prestigious all-girls Catholic school in Tokyo, she never imagined she would catch the eye of beautiful and demure Sachiko Ogasawara, one of the school's most popular students. Now Sachiko has offered to be Yumi's soeur, her "sister" and guide for all her years at the academy. The whole idea has Yumi completely flustered—after all, they hardly know each other! The entire campus is abuzz with rumors about the two of them, but Yumi is conflicted over accepting Sachiko's offer. While she admires Sachiko, being her soeur would also mean constantly being at the center of the entire school's attention! Is it a good girls love story? Probably. But it's totally alien and heavy to me, so I need something on the side to enjoy like comedy plus cuteness of Yuri Yuri.   Overall Rating: 6/10

4. Futari wa Precure Pretty Cure ふたりはプリキュア [Toei Animation] (Finished 4/49) Tags: Mahou Shoujo Action, Comedy, Fantasy Middle school students Nagisa Misumi and Honoka Yukishiro are the epitome of dissimilarity. Popular with their classmates, Nagisa is the school's energetic star lacrosse player, while Honoka is the soft-spoken "Queen of Intelligence." As unrelated as they may seem, Nagisa and Honoka live double lives as the "emissaries of light": Cure Black and Cure White of Pretty Cure. With the assistance of two fairies, Mipple and Mepple, the girls fight against the Dotsuku Zone—an evil force that has invaded the Garden of Light. In order to prevent the Dotsuku Zone from taking over the Garden of Rainbows as well, the pair must work together to find seven Prism Stones and restore the Prism Hopish to drive out the vile forces. With strong foes standing in their way, Nagisa and Honoka learn to work together and harness their newfound powers in order to save the worlds from further ruin. A more realistic and down to earth mahou shoujo compared to Sailor Moon, also never understood the need to implement half a dozen of similar looking heroines - here it's totally different. A good setting to serialize and pass time on everyday basis, but killing time was never among my interests, and story arcs don't seem to vary much from Sailor Moon at a glance.   Overall Rating: 6/10

5. Gokusen ごくせん [Madhouse] (Finished 13/13) Tags: Josei Delinquents, Organized Crime, School, Workplace Comedy, Drama, Slice of Life Kumiko Yamaguchi is smart, enthusiastic, and ready to start her dream job as a math teacher at Shirokin Academy. But as her first day opens on atrocious students and cowering teachers, Kumiko realizes that the all-boys high school is a cesspool of delinquents with no intention of improving themselves. However, what her rowdy students don't know is that behind her dorky facade, Kumiko is the acting head of a powerful yakuza clan, and she has the skills to prove it! Capable of overpowering even the strongest of gangsters in seconds, Kumiko must keep her incredible strength and criminal influence a secret in order to keep her job. Unfortunately, with the vice principal constantly trying to get her fired and Shin Sawada, the leader of her class of delinquents, suspecting she's stronger than she lets on, Kumiko has a difficult teaching career ahead of her. An obvious imitation of Great Teacher Onizuka, reversed version. But character designs are rather bad, and a bunch of Beavis and Butthead types with one bishounen confident are in the center of attention, so I could not enjoy it despite finishing it.   Overall Rating: 6/10

6. Yumeria ゆめりあ [Studio Deen] (Finished 3/12) Tags: Harem, Super Power Action, Comedy, Ecchi On his 16th birthday, Tomokazu Mikuri had a realistic dream where he sees a girl battling a giant floating monstrosity. When he wakes up, he is surprised that the girl is actually sleeping next to him... Whenever he sleeps from now on, he ends up back at the dream world, and more and more people that he knows keep showing up there too. He finds out from a mysterious masked woman in the dream world named Silk that they are fighting against one named Faydoom, and he is the one who provides the powers to those girls so that they can fight these monsters. And so it goes... It's a shameless imitation of Chobits in SOL part, but all the other parts like fighting and harem feel hugely borrowed as well. It only has value for those who like harems, but it's also a miss for me.   Overall Rating: 5/10

7. Mezzo DSA メゾ [Arms] (Finished 13/13) Tags: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Mystery, Sci-Fi  Mikura, Kurokawa, and Harada are the 3 members of the Danger Service Agency (DSA). Mikura is the brawns of the group, Harada is the brains, and Kurokawa is just a bitter ex-cop that likes to think he's in charge. They'll take on any job as long as it involves lots of danger and, of course, money. If you want to live long enough to eat dinner, you better not cross them. Their biggest case, however, could prove to be finding out why someone wants Kurokawa assassinated. Decent action with good visuals. But I never got to like characters which happened even in Armitage III that I never declared a masterpiece. There is also dolls theme here, by the way. Some talks and fanservice are repulsive.   Overall Rating: 6/10

8. Hikari to Mizu no Daphne Daphne in the Brilliant Blue 光と水のダフネ [J.C.Staff] (Finished 5/24) Tags: Detective, Psychological Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Ecchi In the future, water has covered much of the Earth due to the effects of global warming. The orphaned Maia Mizuki, 15, just graduated from middle school and has already applied for employment in the elite paramilitary Ocean Agency, part of the futuristic world government. Only the best, most intelligent, and physically fit students are eligible for admission. Maia, the series' protagonist, is set to become one of the few. But her ideal life quickly falls apart. To her disappointment, Maia unexpectedly fails her entrance exams. Making matters worse, she promptly gets evicted from her house, pick pocketed, taken hostage, then shot. She is "saved" by two women (Rena and Shizuka) that are part of an unorthodox help-for-hire organization called Nereids (inspired by the Greek mythological Nereids ). With nowhere to go, Maia joins up with Nereids, taking jobs from capturing wanted criminals to chasing stray cats, often with unexpected results. Gloria and Yu later join up with Nereids. "Daphne" in the title refers to a subplot that starts midway into the series and eventually become important to Maia. "Brilliant Blue" refers to the fact that this is a world covered by water with almost no land. The world consists of vast oceans, a few islands, and floating cities. Focus on fanservice and lack of story episodes don't do any good here. Characters are straight up irritating. Can't find anything to hold up to here.   Overall Rating: 5/10

9. Area 88 (TV) エリア８８ [Group TAC] (Finished 1/12) Tags: Shounen Military Action, Drama, Romance Deep in the sandy plains of the Middle Eastern kingdom of Asran, Japanese photojournalist Makoto Shinjou travels to the remote airbase Area 88 to document the activities of the mercenaries who destroy the country's enemies for a living. Among their ranks is Shin Kazama, a Japanese ace pilot who was tricked by his former best friend into signing a contract with the Asran's fighter squad. Because of this, he lost his career as an airline pilot and the chance to marry his fiancee Ryoko Tsugumo. Now, Shin has three choices in order to leave Area 88 and return to Japan: serve the mercenary group for three years, earn US$1.5 million, or desert the base, risking imminent death. I absolutely hated its OVA and movie at the ancient times for anime. Watching this lousy story for the third time is beyond my patience.   Overall Rating: 5/10

10. Yuugo: Koushounin Yugo The Negotiator 勇午 ～交渉人～ [Artland] (Finished 3/13) Tags: Seinen Military, Psychological Action, Drama, Mystery, Suspense "Negotiation means, you turn words into weapons" This is the realization of the popular comic Yu-go that was published in Kondasha Afternoon Magazine over a period of 10 years. Beppu Yuugo is the world's most successfull negotiator. His only weapons are "words." Yuugo doesn't kill people. Neither does he threaten them with brute violence. With rich knowledge and a calm judgement, he believes in the humans inside them. Doing only that he has managed many dangerous negotiations successfully until now. Now two of the many episodes have been chosen very carefully, one taking place in Russia, the other one in Pakistan. In the burning desert and the freezing Siberia Yuugo begins his negotiations. Entrance story is ok, but further one falls into mediocrity. Too many simplifications. Such stories are a  disgrace for the seinen genre.   Overall Rating: 6/10

11. Juubee-chan 2: Siberia Yagyuu no Gyakushuu Jubei-chan 2: The Counterattack of Siberia Yagyu 十兵衛ちゃん2 ～シベリア柳生の逆襲～ [Madhouse] (Finished 1/13) Tags: Martial Arts, Samurai Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama Three hundred years ago, in the frigid land of Siberia, Jubei Yagyu engaged in a fierce battle with Kitaretsusai of the Northern Yagyu clan. The duel was costly, as his daughter Freesia was frozen in suspended animation. As a result of global warming in the present day, Freesia breaks free from her icy grave and moves to Japan as a middle school transfer student, where she befriends Jiyuu Nanohana. Little does Jiyuu know that Freesia is targeting her to acquire the coveted Lovely Eye Patch, which Freesia believes is rightfully hers. Sequel coming after five years has not really improved the idea.   Overall Rating: 5/10

12. Burn Up Scramble バーンナップスクランブル [AIC Spirits] (Finished 5/12) Tags: Detective Action, Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Ecchi AD. 2023, Tokyo. Because of the change of the society such as internationalization and enlargement of the trading, the dark side of the society also continues changing. The criminals are getting deep, and their organizations are increasing its size, then the peace and security is getting worse. The government takes it seriously, and decides to introduce an innovative system. In order to cope with the special criminals, an extralegal police is founded. It is a special criminal team, Warriors, which consists of a few elite members. Yet another Bubblegum Crisis imitation, and a really poor one this time.   Overall Rating: 5/10

13. Kita e.: Diamond Dust Drops Diamond Daydreams 北へ。 ～Diamond Dust Drops～ [Studio Deen] (Finished 1/12) Tags: Drama, Romance  If a couple sees the diamond dust together, then they will certainly find eternal happiness. Or so it is said. This is a drama about the romances, friendships and conflicts of six girls from Hokkaido and how the diamond dust affects them and eventually links them together in the search for happiness. Can't stand sentimental nonsense while the anthology form and questionable source only aggravate things.   Overall Rating: 5/10

14. Choujuushin Gravion Zwei Super Heavy God Gravion Zwei 超重神グラヴィオンツヴァイ [Gonzo] (Finished 1/12) Tags: Mecha Action, Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi  After Gravion was able to use its ultimate attack, the Zeravire threat seemed to have temporary stopped. However when it rises back up all of a sudden, the Earth Gult and its trump card, the super robot Gravion, is needed to defend this world again. All this while, the EFA is planning to create their own weapons to counter the Zeravire, the Grand Trooper. Now as they attempt to fend off the Zeravire, the people of the Earth Gult and EFA must protect their future as well as confront their pasts, and unveil the mysteries of the Zeravire. Mecha with a sequel is a rare occurrence. Good mecha sequel is something impossible .   Overall Rating: 5/10

15. SD Gundam Force SDガンダムフォース [Sunrise] (Finished 1/52) Tags: Mecha Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy  The land of Neotopia is attacked by the Dark Axis, evil invaders from another dimension who wish to conquer this land. Neotopia's answer: the secret Super Dimensional Guard and their defenders, the Gundam Force. Led by Captain Gundam, the Gundam Force and its team of Gundams with special abilities are aided by a boy named Shute as they stop at nothing to defend the land from the Dark Axis and to defeat them once and for all. Sadly, this title is not a joke. I don't know where to start, so I won't.   Overall Rating: 4/10

16. Chou Henshin Cosprayers The Cosmopolitan Prayers 超変身コス∞プレイヤー [Imagin, Studio Live] (Finished 8/8) Tags: Super Power Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Ecchi  Koto unknowingly seals away the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, and now she is in a different world and can't return. Meeting priestesses who combat the evil in this strange place she learns that Black Towers throughout the land keep Amaterasu sealed away and are guarded by evil monsters. Koto must now find a way to help defeat these monsters and return the world to the way it was. Experimental title sounds like swearing to me already. We're getting thrown unbearable nonsense that might get clearer and might get a decent score if we watch the whole trilogy and get to understand the director - blah blah blah - or it might not. Or we can just dump this trash where it belongs to.   Overall Rating: 5/10

17. Divergence Eve 2: Misaki Chronicles Misaki Chronicle: Divergence Eve みさきクロニクル 〜ダイバージェンス・イヴ〜 [Radix] (Finished 1/13) Tags: Mecha, Military, Space Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi Through the long distance warp called the "Exodus Project", Worns, Ryer and the other crew members of "Watchers Nest" manage to escape from the Earth. Misaki, who was attending the final battle with "Ghoul" at that time, isn't present there and before her eyes, the earth changes and gets enclosed by a time barrier. Ryer and the others search for a way to escape from this space time maze, but the earth changes to various forms. Innumerable "Nows" appear due to varying time axes. And also Misaki, who should have disappeared because of the Exodus Project incident, still afortiori. Before Ryer and the others, different forms of Misaki appear. The Misaki from training school, the Misaki from her childhood days. Are these reflections caused by the conflicts that exist inside Misaki? She awakens a second time and when she derives the response, that history is leading into a completely differnet direction now. Will Misaki, Ryer and the others be able to find a real happy end?! Original season was too weird in trying to combine eternal fanservice with serious sci-fi. I could not finish it, so just a glance into sequel is more than enough for me to forget about it forever.   Overall Rating: 6/10

18. Transformers Superlink トランスフォーマー スーパーリンク [Actas] (Finished 1/51) Tags: Mecha, Space Adventure, Sci-Fi It has been 10 years since the fateful battle with Unicron. Many of the Decepticons who fought in the battle against Unicron have joined forces with the Autobos to mine for Energon, an alternate energy source. But a new source of evil has a risen, Alpha Q who plans to steal the Energon from the Autobots with the help of Scorponok and the Terrorcons. This new evil is trying to revive Megatron and Unicron in order to rekindle the old flames of war. At least it's staying true to itself... because I fail to find any strong points.   Overall Rating: 5/10

19. Kaiketsu Zorori かいけつゾロリ [Ajia-do] (Finished 1/52) Tags: Adventure, Comedy Adapted from the popular storybooks of the same name by Yutaka Hara, Kaiketsu Zorori follows the adventures of a scheming fox named Zorori, who is determined to become the King of Mischief with his very own castle and beautiful bride. Although Zorori is notorious for his pranks and tricks, his conniving plots often backfire and end up helping his targets, and despite appearing to be villainous and immoral, he is actually caring and sentimental. Nevertheless, Zorori has the wits, intelligence, and dexterity to always find a solution out of the most hopeless of situations. Travelling with a pair of twin boar bandits, Ishishi and Noshishi, he continues on his journey to make his deceased mother proud. Kids anime not marked properly.   Overall Rating: 5/10

20. Monkey Turn モンキーターン [OLM] (Finished 1/25) Tags: Shounen Racing Action, Drama Based on Kawai Katsutoshi's manga of the same name, published in Weekly Shounen Sunday, Monkey Turn is a sports anime based around professional speed boat racing. The anime's protagonist, Tadano Kenji, is too short to follow his dream of becoming a professional baseball player, but his baseball coach recommends him to boat racing. One day Tadano-san unexpectedly meets his old girlfriend and they exchange promises: in return for her being faithful to him, he is charged with becoming Japan's best racer within three years. The eponymous "Monkey Turn" is a boat maneuver Kenji-san thought up while visiting his girlfriend. The Monkey Turn gives Kenji quite the advantage over other boaters, but is it enough for him become the best? Racing spokon is combination of two things I can't stand, and this representative is particularly bad.   Overall Rating: 5/10

21. Taikong Xiha Zu Space Hip Hop Duck 太空嘻哈族 [-] (Finished 1/26) Tags: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi - Not translated and not in Japanese. Abstract nonsense for kids.   Overall Rating: 5/10

22. Wolf's Rain OVA ウルフズ・レイン [Bones] (Finished 4/4) Tags: Psychological Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Supernatural As the world accelerates toward its own destruction, Kiba and Cheza—with the help of Tsume, Hige, Toboe, and Blue—race to reach true paradise before the entire world is rendered uninhabitable. Now reunited, Cher and Hubb decide to accompany the wolves in hopes of seeing the journey through to its end, while a distraught and confused Quent wanders aimlessly into the wasteland with his mind fixated on revenge. Meanwhile, Lord Darcia the Third has finally put his plot into motion and pursues Cheza, pitting him against the pack. As everything falls apart yet simultaneously falls into place, the wolves struggle to survive in an increasingly dangerous environment. Though the end draws near, paradise seems further away than ever before. Wow, they managed to pull the same old stunt again, that means a penalty to the score.   Overall Rating: 5/10

23. Phantom The Animation Phantom: The Animation ファントム THE ANIMATION [Arcs Create] (Finished 3/3) Tags: Organized Crime Action, Drama Zwei was an ordinary person, until one day, while walking the streets a night, he witnessed a brutal assassination. He managed to avoid the sniper, a young girl named Ein, but was soon captured, and had the memories of his former life erased. He is spared death only by accepting a condition: to train to become an assassin alongside Ein. Now, he must find a way to free himself from this shady world and reclaim his life once again. Having read visual novel, can say that anime is enough to get into this story as what's dropped is like 30 bad or neutral endings.   Overall Rating: 6/10

24. Interlude インタールード [Toei Animation] (Finished 3/3) Tags: Adventure, Horror, Mystery  The unnamed main character has been having strange dreams, seeing strange things, and meeting strange people. He investigates these events and finds a strange girl named Aya. With her help, he discovers that his world may not in fact be real and many of the people he thinks he knows may not exist anymore. I love anime version more than the game one due to the ending that gives an additional meaning. I would not go that far to call it a genius masterpiece, but it's not without food for thought, so it qualifies for a nine.   Overall Rating: 9/10

25. Animation Seisaku Shinkou Kuromi-chan 2 Animation Runner Kuromi 2 アニメーション制作進行くろみちゃん 2 [Yumeta Company] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Otaku Culture, Parody Comedy, Drama Following Studio Petit's popularity for Time Journey's, the crew is now faced with 3 anime at the same time. Rushing to fill the quotas, the owner of Studio Petit hires Takashimadaira, a veteran producer to help Kuromi. However, all Takashimadaira cares about is making deadlines, severely hurting the quality of the images. Shihonmatsu, who has been helping Kuromi, gets angry at the new producer and leaves, leaving Kuromi with a difficult choice: to choose between the quality or the deadline. Studio Petit managed to survive the production of "Time Journeys," but now that show's finished, and in its place they've got no less than three series to animate, with just four artists, one manager and one director - not to mention one very bedraggled animation runner. And it doesn't help that Shihonmatsu picked this week to quit smoking. As the staff starts to fall behind their crushing deadlines, the owner calls in an old "pro," Takashimadaira, to get production back on track. But once he starts putting speed above quality, the Petit team has to choose between following orders and doing their jobs right. Decided to rate sequels lower, and again that's the only reason this little thing is outside radar range, but sequels are easy to discover anyway.   Overall Rating: 6/10

26. Tokyo Daigaku Monogatari 東京大学物語 [Shinkuukan] (Finished 2/2) Tags: School Comedy, Drama, Romance, Ecchi Murakami Naoki is the most intelligent student at his high school, but he can't stop obsessing over a girl named Mizuno Haruka. He finally asks her out, and to his surprise, she accepts. After several months of a loving yet obviously doomed romance, it comes time for them to take the entrance exams for Tokyo University. But what would happen to their relationship if only one of them was accepted. Rushed and weird in motivation romance.   Overall Rating: 5/10

27. Hijikata Toshizou: Shiro no Kiseki 土方歳三　白の軌跡 [Studio 4°C] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Historical, Samurai Action, Drama A biographical sketch of the life and ideals of Hijikata Toshizou, Vice Commander of the Shinsengumi, fighting to uphold the Shogunate during the Meiji revolution. A short 30-minute biography sketch on a historical figure is welcome, but such format does not fit for a greater score.   Overall Rating: 6/10

28. Dai Yamato Zero-gou Great Yamato No. 0 大ヤマト零号 [JCF] (Finished 5/5) Tags: Adult Cast, Space Sci-Fi In the galactic group there are more than 100,000,000,000 galaxies, and the Milky Way galaxy, the one which includes Earth's solar system, is only one of these... one of many in the immensity of outer space. This story starts in the year 3199, when a mighty enemy attacks the Milky Way from a neighbouring galaxy. The enemy engages the combined forces of the Milky Way, an Alliance of many stellar nations, and defeats them one after another. The remaining Milky Way Alliance forces are reduced to just six fleets. After the Alliance headquarters is destroyed, and when the collapse of the central Milky Way Alliance is imminent, the Great Yamato "Zero" surprises everyone and embarks on a mission to assist the Milky Way Alliance in one last great battle. This Yamato is so great that it's not even translated... Decent space battleship action in alternative setting, but ugly CGI and lack of sense. Overall, quite good, but in current untranslated state hardly watchable.   Overall Rating: 6/10

29. Innocence Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence イノセンス [Production I.G] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Adult Cast, Detective, Mecha, Military, Psychological Award Winning, Sci-Fi With Major Motoko Kusanagi missing, Section 9's Batou is assigned to investigate a string of gruesome murders—seemingly at the hands of faulty gynoids, or sex robots. But when a faulty gynoid leaves Batou a cryptic message, he begins to question the cause of their malfunctions. Suspicions of politically motivated murder and an illegal "ghost" quickly crop up, drawing Batou and his partner Togusa into a perilous web of conspiracy. As their investigation goes on, the line between man and machine continues to blur, and reality and perception become indistinguishable. Confronting strange and dangerous foes, Batou and Togusa explore a futuristic world filled with machines and living dolls but utterly devoid of humanity. Again, great sequel to the original movie, and only being a sequel inqures a penalty score.   Overall Rating: 9/10

30. Dead Leaves デッド　リーブス  [Production I.G] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi  Shortly after waking up in an unknown street with no clothes or memories, Retro and Pandy team up and begin a life of thrill chasing and violence. Retro's wild antics and Pandy's carefree personality make them the perfect partners in crime to cause mayhem wherever they strike. When an accidental mistake lands them behind bars, Retro and Pandy are sent to Dead Leaves—a high-security prison on the Moon. Once there, they soon discover that the other inmates are clones, all products of genetic mutation experiments. With nothing better to do, they escape from their cell and lead a prison break with the other captives. Armed with a crew of mutants and a hunger for havoc, the chaotic duo begins their wacky escape. It's schematic in the way that it avoids showing details , it sketchy in the way it tries to mimic manga strips, it's visually chaotic, also more absurd that I'm willing to tolerate, contains some really bad humor. I refuse to acknowledge this as something good.   Overall Rating: 5/10

31. Nitaboh NITABOH 仁太坊―津軽三味線始祖外聞 [WAO World] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Historical, Music At a young age, Nitaroh is stricken with an illness that leaves him blind. He inherits the shamisen once used by his mother and is taught its basics by a blind traveling shamisen player. In time, with the help of friends old and new, he walks the paths that leads to his ultimate fate—that of founder of the Tsugaru style of shamisen playing. Great, another special movie about disabled people. At least it's not a tearjerker this time, and those people are showed as strong and finding their place as equals in the society, plus it's partially a musical. But I can't enjoy such a story.   Overall Rating: 6/10

32. Hudie Meng: Liang Shan Bo yu Zhu Ying Tai The Butterfly Lovers: Leon and Jo 蝴蝶夢：梁山伯與祝英台 [-] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Historical Drama, Romance The Butterfly Lovers is an animated re-telling of the classical Chinese story of two lovers, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. Not translated and in Chinese. I'm not a fan of traditional Chinese tales, and this one is rather poorly done. Musical part is super cringy.   Overall Rating: 5/10

Share this: