The first thing that strikes you about The Clear Card is how little has changed. It’s incredible just how much this feels like 90s CCS. The character designs have been updated ever-so-slightly, but this is definitely a show designed to appeal to people who grew up watching the original. The background art is where the biggest difference can be seen, with some beautiful 3D work and contemporary lighting techniques. Madhouse animation studio has created the perfect visual update.

The story is a reboot of sorts. There are more cards for Sakura to tame, a new mystery to unravel. Like the original series, however, it’s not the kind of show that’s in a hurry to advance the ongoing plot. The day-to-day struggles of life in junior high are the focus, as Sakura and Syaoran get – gasp – serious (or at least as serious as junior high relationships can be). This would be my main criticism – the story isn’t moving fast enough. There’s also a strangely obsessive focus on food. I don’t remember the characters being quite so food-oriented in the original show, but it’s on full display here. Be prepared to watch everyone cooking, looking at, anticipating, eating and then finally reminiscing about food.

The one thing I’m glad they ditched is Sakura’s continued surprise that the source of any one episode’s chaos is a card. The number of times she expressed shock when someone said, “Hey, maybe this is the result of a Clow card?” was mind-boggling.

At this point in the show, 11 episodes in, I have no idea if 2019 Cardcaptor can be more transparent in presenting the non-heteronormative relationships portrayed in the manga. Toya and Yukito seem to know where the other one is and what they’re doing at any one time – as if they were a couple – yet the show never actually says as much. I suspect that, in the interests of maintaining canon with the original anime, they will continue to simply insinuate, rather than be as up front as the manga was.

It’s – ahem – clear that The Clear Card isn’t simply made for grown-up fans of the original show. This is still a kids’ show, and as such don’t expect any complex stories or challenging plot twists. As an exercise in updating a dormant story without reinventing it, however, The Clear Card is excellent.

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By the time you start part two, you’ve already had 35 episodes to gather a vast array of characters, many of which are kick-arse, unique heroines (who rarely, if ever, need saving – a shōnen rarity, in my experience.) Top of this list would be Izumi, teacher of the Fullmetal Alchemist. Despite being a powerful alchemist and martial artist, she constantly refers to herself as a housewife, and only ever seems to wear toilet slippers, like she just left the house in a hurry. There’s Riza Hawkeye, a sharpshooter in the military who serves under Colonel Roy Mustang; Lan Fan, masked bodyguard to Lin Yao; and May Chang, a young princess of Xing. All of them have depth, are capable and have their own ambitions. Last but not least, we have Olivier Mira Armstrong, Major General at the Briggs Fortress, which looks more than a little bit like the Wall in ‘Game of Thrones’.

And at this stage of the plot, it’s the supporting characters that really come to the fore. We know all about Ed and Al’s personal goals, and the evil plan that they need to thwart along the way. All that remains is a resolution of such things. And boy – does Brotherhood do its best to provide a suitably epic conclusion to the saga. The climax of the story, believe it or not, takes place over 18 episodes, give or take. It’s truly stunning just how many pieces are on the board at this point, and how deftly the series hops from plotline to plotline, all whilst keeping the same sense of impending doom hanging over our heads. That the pacing never slips up is remarkable.

The only disappointing part of all of this is that the final two episodes are…fine. Just fine. I didn’t sit back and think, “wow, the end of the story really knocked it out of the park” a la Steins;Gate, but neither was it disappointing.

As an action show, Brotherhood never fails – I regularly marvelled at its ability to up the ante – and the quality of animation, the music and the acting all contribute to slick piece of storytelling. There is less philosophical musing in this half of the story – whether that be concerned with the repercussions of civil war, or the moral implications of trespassing God’s domain through alchemy – but that’s to be expected, I guess.

This collection includes the four OVAs, each of which are only 15 minutes long. These are one-off side stories that either take place before or during the bulk of the series. Out of the four, three are excellent (particularly the one focussing on Izumi) and one is a strange misfire. They are definitely worth watching, particularly if you want to go back to the simpler times, when the fate of the world wasn’t hanging in the balance. It’s much like those who prefer the simpler, story-of-the-week episodes that featured in seasons 1-3 of ‘Buffy’, before it became quite so epic and arc-focussed.

That Ed and Al are the least interesting part of this concluding half of Brotherhood is the only sticking point. It didn’t bother me much because the supporting cast are so fun, but I can see others finding it frustrating.

That we can see the entire series, from start to finish, in two huge box sets is a blessing. It’s a marathon, but it’s one worth setting out on.

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For those who don’t know, Brotherhood is the second anime adaptation of the popular manga. This version sticks closer to the source material than the first, however. The alchemist in question is Edward Elric (Romi Pak). In a classic Promethean move, Edward and his brother Alphonse (Rie Kugimiya) attempt to bring their mother back from the dead – with terrible consequences. Edward loses limbs in the process, whilst Alphonse’s body is utterly destroyed, leaving his soul imbued in a suit of armour. The two of them set out on a quest to undo the damage they did to their bodies, no matter what it takes.

The fantasy setting is reminiscent of Industrial Revolution-era Europe, whilst the military have uniforms could have been designed by Hugo Boss in the early 30s, if you know what I mean. Very quickly, the show establishes the rules for its magic. Taking its cue from alchemy, the powers are all about transmuting the essence of the elements around the caster, whether that be turning water to steam (granted, most of us use a kettle) or extracting the iron from blood to make metal weapons.

My initial thoughts on the opening few episodes were that the writing team knew exactly how to move things forward without filler, perhaps because this was a second shot at the story. But since discovering it’s practically a 1:1 adaptation of the manga, all credit should go to the creator, Hiromu Aarakawa.

This is shōnen anime but it doesn’t fall victim to the worst excesses of the genre. I feels like this is a result of having a female creator. There are many interesting and varied female characters, and so far I haven’t seen any egregious damselling. Considering that even the all-female studio Clamp seemed to confuse shōnen with ‘the female characters must be useless’ for a good portion of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, it’s impressive that Fullmetal Alchemist isn’t aimed at teenage boys purely at the expense of the women in the show.

The action explodes onto the screen. The show strikes a great balance between detailed animation and fluidity. It isn’t afraid to use deformations/chibis for the more comedic moments, either, which took a moment to get used to in the face of such a serious story.

I’ve spoken before about how I classify science fiction (taking a cue from Mary Shelley). And Brotherhood is pretty much a literal reiteration of those themes. Time and again it speaks of man harnessing the power of God, and being punished for such hubris. As far as this collection goes, I don’t feel like they’ve got the humility bit down pat yet, as the Elric brothers are continually striving for new magical methods to regain their bodies.

The pacing, action, humour and visuals are all excellent in Brotherhood. This collection contains the first 35 episodes (along with commentaries) and as usual with Madman discs the visual and aural presentation is top notch. In fact, the only complaint I have is the arbitrary end point of the collection. Perhaps in an effort to make the two collections of equal size, this one stops abruptly, which is strange because there’s a natural narrative pause about six episodes earlier.

If, like me, you never got around to watching this show, now’s the time.

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So season 2 starts with a bang…and never lets up. A horde of Titans is on their way to wall Rose, and Eren and the other scouts set out to meet their enemies head on. Except, this being Attack on Titan, it isn’t long before plot developments flip our understanding of the world upside-down.

I can only assume that Hajime Isayama is making this stuff up as he goes, because the narrative shocks frequently feel like writing challenges. It’s all so completely nuts, and the show doesn’t pause to spend too long on any of these revelations, instead moving onto the next gory plot point.

And boy, does the gore come thick and fast. The titans are as horrific as ever, and there’s some pretty amazing dismemberment on show. The action is incredible also, and it never fails to get your pulse racing during the battle scenes.

You want to know how else AoT s2 was catering specifically to me? They gave us a Sasha episode! That’s right, the potato-obsessed scout is the focus of possibly the best episode of the season, which gives her a decent backstory too. As much as we all love Mikasa – who, make no mistake, is amazing – I love that a character as offbeat as Sasha gets her time to shine.

The narrative of season 2 overall is strong…up to a point. When we get to episode 34, the pace suddenly grinds to a halt, and the dreaded labored exposition rears its head once more. It’s almost as if the make-it-up-as-you-go-along technique has run out of steam, and the writer felt explanations were in order. As such, the season crawls over the finish line. It’s frustrating because, as I said, the first eight episodes are pure, unadulterated fun.

It goes without saying that the Blu-ray presentation is excellent. This is top-shelf animation, and the action practically leaps from the screen. The audio is excellent, although we only get a 2.0 mix in Japanese (which is, naturally, the One True Way to consume anime!) There are also commentaries, interviews, a quiz, galleries…basically it’s like the early 2000s back when everyone was competing to see how many special features they could cram onto a disc…

Somewhat disappointing conclusion aside, this is a strong season. Anyone who was on the fence the first time around should give this one a go…

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The premise is about as basic as you can get. Saitama is a superhero that’s so overpowered that he can defeat any enemy with a single punch. That’s it.

If you’re confused as to how they manage to eke a series out of that simple concept, well…so was I. Saitama has fought high-powered villain after high-powered villain, and all have fallen before him. He’s, quite frankly, bored with it all. The story has a definite make-it-up-as-we-go feel, with no real sense of foreshadowing aside from the hook at the end of each episode.

And yet…it somehow all works. Saitama’s disinterest is always entertaining, and the heroes and villains that grace the screen are all uniquely bizarre. The humour is simplistic – occasionally sophomoric, and one particular character brings with it the stench of homophobia – but I have to admit the show frequently raised a chuckle. It’s the unpredictability of the story that keeps One Punch Man going…and the idea that anything goes.

Whilst the character art is lacking in detail, it matches the punk-rock aesthetic of the storytelling, and the fact that, depending on how you look at it, this is a pisstake on the superhero genre. It feels specifically to be riffing on Western comics, though it’s skewering manga conventions also. The presentation itself is as crisp and clear as you’d expect from a Madman Blu-ray, whilst the disc also includes 6 OVAs that are exclusive to the disc releases, each about half the length of an episode.

Someone more knowledgeable in anime and manga than me could pick up on each of the archetypes and clichés that One Punch Man takes glee in subverting. The show has no depth whatsoever – it’s proudly simplistic and the humour is idiotic – yet it never becomes boring. You’ll no doubt quickly pick your favourite hero – mine is the pure-of-heart and completely-underpowered Mumen Rider – and be keen to see where the oddball plot will take things next.

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Set on the massive “seed ship”, the Sidonia, the series sees the remains of humanity deserting Earth after devastating attacks by the alien Gauna. The interior of the ship features thousands of houses all clustered together in vertiginous towers, closely resembling the architecture of the “Gravity Rush” game series. The massive Gauna entities regularly attack the ship, so the specially trained knights are sent out in their Gardes – mechs to you and I – with their Higgs-particle cannons and specially-designed Kabizashi lances for close combat.

Basically, we have Kaiju, we have mechs, and we have a bunch of clichés we’ve seen before. It’s hard to ignore the particular similarity between Knights of Sidonia and Attack on Titan, however. Sidonia’s source material began publication in April 2009, and the AoT manga began in September 2009, whilst AoT beat Knights of Sidonia to the screen, with a series beginning in April 2013. Regardless of which came first, it’s clear that they are aimed at similar audiences. With one exception…

Knights of Sidonia’s biggest flaw is that it’s clearly aimed at straight teenage boys…and no one else. We have the usual situation where the young male protagonist (Nagate Tanikaze, played by Ryōta Ōsaka) is the only person who can defeat the enemy, but then they surround him with female characters who are all desperately in love with him. There’s one scene where three of them are literally falling over each other to get to him. The show has no qualms about its status as a straight teenage boy fantasy. (And I’m not even getting into the amount of phallic symbolism that features in the show…)

Even worse, the female characters are constantly damselled. Just about every time one of the women suits up in their Garde, you can be certain that they’ll need rescuing. It’s tiresome and predictable.

The show also dabbles in the idea of a future society that isn’t bound to the gender binary. There is “third” gender that we meet in the very first episode. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do anything really interesting with the idea, and the idea slowly loses its significance as the show goes on.

So what’s good about Knights of Sidonia? Well, the production values will knock your socks off. There’s a lot of 3D animation, but rest assured that the technology has progressed a long way since 2006’s Freedom. There’s enough high-octane action set pieces to keep everyone happy, and strangely enough this isn’t offset by minutes of introspection by the characters (unlike the aforementioned Attack on Titan, which clearly balanced its expensive animation with cheaper scenes.)

The show has another ace up its sleeve too, and that’s the sound design. Knights of Sidonia will make your neighbours think you’re listening to dubstep, such are the bass drops that explode through your subwoofer. The sound effects themselves are instantly iconic too, rivalling the work of Ben Burtt in Star Wars. The DVD has a 5.1 mix in both English and Japanese, and the picture quality is exceptional, such that it looks great on an HDTV, unlike your older DVDs…

Series 2 has the narrative change gear, with some plot revelations that continue to be eerily similar to that other extremely popular anime of the moment. And once you get to climactic end of the season, be ready for an epic three-episode long fight that’ll have you on the edge of your seat, despite your misgivings.

Watch Knights of Sidonia for the incredible production values, the top-notch action sequences and the great setting. You’ll have to turn a blind eye to the disappointing writing of the female characters, though.

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Set a year after the events of the series, we rejoin our characters in their Future Gadget Laboratory. The timeline shenanigans from the series have calmed down, the microwave time machine is *ahem* ancient history, and all of Rintarō Okabe’s friends are safe. But his actions still have repercussions, and before long, there’s another timeline crises looming.

Let’s be clear: there was no need for this movie. The series wrapped things up perfectly, especially with the one-off final episode (that felt like the equivalent on an English TV show’s Christmas special.) That being said, Load Region of Déjà vu is nothing like the catastrophe that was The Last Dark, the feature film that was a massive letdown after the stellar Blood-C series. Here, the story comes back for a third helping, and the time spent in the world is worthwhile.

That being said, it doesn’t soar to the same heights that the show did. This is a subtle tale that squeezes the last little bit of narrative out of the concept, and it doesn’t really deserve the 90-minute runtime.

If you’re a Steins;Gate fanatic, however, then you’ll still enjoy the film. Right from the opening scene, the dialogue crackles and the characters are as funny as ever. The film provides a little more depth for both Mayuri Shiina and Kurisu Makise, and – without spoiling anything – having Okabe take a narrative back seat is a great idea, letting other characters take the spotlight. The pacing can be sluggish, however, and there are many moments of introspection. We don’t reach Attack on Titan levels of inner monologue, but there’s still too much.

The animation looks as good at the TV show, and the lines and colours are beautifully crisp on Blu-ray. There’s never been anything flashy about Steins;Gate, and the same blown-out bright white visual style remains here. The disc features a commentary from the US voice dub team too.

The worst you can say about Load Region of Déjà vu is that they could have squeezed the story into another episode of the TV show. It is an enjoyable little coda, however, and if you liked the show you’re bound to enjoy this.

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Having done that, this is the point where I say I’m finished with the franchise. Tokyo Ghoul VA (technically √A, as in root A, which doesn’t translate so well to URLs) commits all the sins of the first season, and then some.

What we have here is a string of well-made sequences that had zero emotional impact because I cared not one jot for the characters involved. I’ve sat through uninspiring anime many times before, only to be stunned by a heartfelt sequence out of nowhere (I’m looking at you, Tales of Earthsea and Guilty Crown). That didn’t happen here, however.

Tokyo Ghoul starts off with vague character outlines, and then instead of colouring in those lines, giving us a bit more to work with, it simply introduces more characters. And more. And more. So when the show is aiming for operatic tragedy (which it attempts on many occasions in this collection) it simply falls flat.

When we left Kaneki, he had joined Aogiri Tree in an attempt to both embrace his monstrous half and protect the ‘good’ ghouls of Anteiku. In √A, we get no real explanation of how he thinks this will pan out. Nor does it deliver any twists and turns. The narrative meanders aimlessly, with ghouls murdering the people of the CCG (Commission of Counter Ghoul) and the CCG murdering the ghouls.

I mentioned in the review for season 1 that the show flirted with the question of who the real monsters are, especially considering how unhinged some of the ghoul hunters can be. This could make for some interesting moral quandaries. Alas, in √A it means that I hate both sides – ghouls and hunters. They’re equally dislikeable, so I’m just left to soak in the senseless violence.

The animation is impressive, however I’m not a fan of the general approach, which is to prioritise speed a fluidity over everything else. Characters are often clearly moving against flat backgrounds with little regard to their placement in the space. That being said, it all looks and sounds brilliant on Blu-ray. The commentaries with the English-language voice cast are always entertaining on Funimation releases, and the ones here are no exception.

Getting through these 10 episodes was such a struggle for me. If you were particularly enamoured of the first season, then you might enjoy this one, but I’ve lost interest in this property.

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The film was directed by Isao Takahata, he of Grave of the Fireflies fame, but before you start sobbing in despair at the mere mention of that film, let me assure you that this film is not in the least bit traumatic. The film follows 27-year-old Taeko, a Tokyo office worker who takes a holiday in a country, visiting her brother-in-law’s family in order to not only take a break but help with the safflower harvest. Whilst there, she reminisces about her youth back in 1966.

As far as a plot goes, that’s just about it. The flashbacks are episodic in nature, and are actually the only parts of the film taken from the source material, the manga title by Hotaru Okamoto and Yuko Tone. But they are so true to life, full of the innocence and heartache of youth that it’s impossible not to be affected by such scenes. I’d be hard-pressed to even suggest that the film has any particular themes or driving narrative. In true slice-of-life fashion, it feels like we’re dropped straight into Taeko’s story, then depart before it’s truly finished, but you still leave the film immensely satisfied.

The non-conventional nature of the film perhaps explains why it wasn’t even released in the west until 15 years later, in 2006. And even then, no English dub was commissioned until 2016, which is why the English audio track on this new disc includes the likes of Daisy Ridley and Dev Patel.

The animation is beautiful, as you’d expect from Ghibli. The flashback sequences look more like storybook illustrations, with the colours drained from the edges, whilst the present-day scenes are as vibrant and detailed as you’d expect. The Blu-ray presentation is stunning, with some brilliant features. The interviews with the English voice actors (Ridley et. al.) aren’t particularly interesting, but the 16-minute interview with the dub team is much more entertaining, as they talk about the difficulties they have translating the Japanese. There’s a 45-minute Japanese doco which is equal parts cute and informative, whilst you also get the entire storyboards and the ability to watch them picture-in-picture.

When it comes to the Studio Ghibli catalogue, this is the perfect example of a hidden gem. It mightn’t entrance kids as much as some of their other films (although maybe I’m not giving them enough credit) but it’s well worth your time.

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In between season 1 and 2 of the show came Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie. It was set during the summer holidays and saw the characters holidaying in Hong Kong during a narrative that could easily sit to one side of the main show. The second movie, The Sealed Card, has its job cut out for it: to neatly tie off the loose plot strands that were left dangling at the end of episode 70 of the show. What this really means is some kind of closure for Sakura’s love life, not to mention…umm, actually that’s about it.

First off, seeing Cardcaptor Sakura in wondrous widescreen with bigger than usual production values is thrilling in itself. The first movie retained the 4:3 aspect ratio, but this one looks much more impressive on a big TV. Surprisingly, the audio mix (5.1 in both the English and Japanese versions, finally!) is exceptional. It may seem unlikely, but this is the first time in a while I’ve been really impressed by DVD audio, perhaps because you don’t have very high expectations when it comes to this sort of thing. The subtitled text is ugly – huge letters in a strange font, rather than the usual yellow – but this is a small quibble.

If only the film had a decent story to fill out the 80 minutes. As is often the case with feature-length sequels to anime TV series (see Blood-C: The Last Dark), The Sealed Card feels like an afterthought. (And would be pointless to watch if you haven’t seen the show before.) In a premise that conjures up memories of Highlander 3: The Sorcerer‘s “oops, there was an Immortal trapped in a cave that we forgot to mention earlier” plotline, it concerns a card that has, up until now, been sealed away from the world. As lame as that sounds, the exciting thing is that it’s easily the most powerful antagonist Sakura (Sakura Tange) has ever faced. As her own powers begin to dwindle, the sense of impending danger is keenly felt.

When it comes to Sakura and Syaoran’s (Motoko Kumai) love story, however, the film is less successful. I understand the characters aren’t even out of primary school, but waiting the better part of an hour for Sakura to get over her shyness really grates.

The DVD presentation is exceptional, and there’s a ten minute short, ‘Leave it to Kero’ that recalls the fun segments that the little cake-obsessed flying lion (Aya Hisakawa) had back in series 1. The case art means it’ll look great on your shelf next to the rest of your CCS discs, that’s for sure.

At the end of the day, there is barely enough material here to fill an episode. In fact, they could have made this episode 71 and I would have been happy. For fans of the show, then this of course is a must, and at least it looks and sounds impressive. Otherwise, there’s nothing else to make it stand out.

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