Hitoshirenu Reviews

Naruto (2002–2007)

NOT A DBZ RIPOFF

[10/10 · 1 October 2004]

OK, so I've watched 103 episodes so far of this series, and I have to say it, Naruto is original. Yes Mishimoto was a big follower of Toriyama, and in many ways Naruto is a sort of homage to him. But Naruto has a lot of things that DBZ was missing. First off, when characters die, THEY STAY DEAD!!!!! There is no special way to wish them back. Once they're gone they're gone. Second, music: the music in Naruto is 100X better then anything heard in DBZ. Dbz did have some cool themes, but Naruto is the only series where I have actually imported the soundtrack. There's almost nothing wrong with the soundtrack other then the usual soft theme. Granted it isn't a Yoko Kanno piece, but in essence not everything should be compared to the work she does because it invariably falls short. Thirdly, character development:

The characters develop feelings for each other, and you will find yourself developing feelings for the characters. There are animes that do that, but not to the extent Naruto does. I have cried multiple times while watching Naruto because of the pain that Naruto and Company have to go through. Mostly Naruto in his quest to become Hokage. In DBZ, I couldn't care less about what happened. Fourth, fights: There is nothing wrong with the length of the fights in Naruto. They're not too fast and they're not too unbearably long. The average fight lasts about 4 episodes. There is an exception to this in the 70s, but only because there are two fights going on at the exact same time. In short, download the first 20 episodes, which takes you through the first saga. Yes, 103 episodes is a lot of time, but the story will keep you engrossed. Also of note, Happy Birthday to the anime which turns 2 years old on Sunday Oct. 3rd. I give this a 9/10

Wolf's Rain (2003–2004)

This show rocks (some spoilers may be included)

[7 April 2004]

My anime club just got done watching this show and i must say i was deeply impressed by it. It had some of the best characters and storylines i have ever seen in anime. Not to mention the fact that the opener "Stray" and the closer "Gravity" were composed by the goddess of anime music Yoko Kanno. See this show when it comes out April 17th on Cartoon Network, you won't regret it. Just be prepared because the ending of the show is kinda hard, even for an anime fan like myself to take. I won't spoil all of it, but let's just say that I was moved to tears during the final episodes. Also a little production note, the series is originally 26 episodes. The last 4 episodes were done as an OVA to officially end the series.

Battle Royale (2000)

unreality-may contain spoilers

[13 February 2004]

The following review may contain spoilers.

One of the things that I saw on various websites was a comparison to "Reality TV" in the reviews for this film. I have to say that that assumption is wrong. This film has nothing to do with reality TV. Granted in the manga version it is broadcasted live to the population, but the director left that out.That being said, this was a fantastic film. It gripped by tightly and wouldn't let go for the 2 hours I was watching it. The concept is like a morbid twist of "The Running Man" and "Lord of the Flies" directed by either David Lynch or Danny Boyle. In a bleak future Japan has collapsed. Growing tired of nothing happening, the students rebel against the school system. As many as 800,000 students abandon school. This forces the government to enact the "Battle Royale" Act. Each year a class is chosen to participate in Battle Royale. The rules are simple: You have three days to kill your classmates. If a day goes by without any deaths, everyone dies. If there is more then one person alive at the end, everybody dies. Oh yeah, you only have three days. Whoever's still alive at the end of that period dies. You kids have fun !:) I do have one qualm about the film. Why did everyone suffer from Monty Python Syndrome. No one wanted to die in this movie. Granted I can understand why, but people had entire clips unloaded into them and were still standing. This led to an ending that needs to be redone. The teacher gets shot SEVEN times. His phone rings, he gets up, answers his phone, and then dies. I was like what the hell just happened? But the Monty Python aside, this film was truly wonderful. I give it an 8.5 out of 10

The Butterfly Effect (2004)

Chaos and Time-travel(may contain spoilers)

[8/10 · 24 January 2004]

It is always hit or miss with time-travel movies. Either they hit it spot on as in Star Trek 4 or it misses as in T-3:Rise of the Machines. Now add in the complexity of the Chaos Theory and you have a premise for an interesting movie to say the least. The movie opens near the end and gos back to the beginning, a device that seems to me to becoming increasingly common in movies today. After the opening sequence, we are treated to a series of small episodes setting up the blackouts that must be corrected. The worse moments of the blackouts are, of course, blacked out. We don't see what really happened until later on in the movie, when Ashton's character tries to change things. My reaction to this movie was strange to say the least. This movie takes Donnie Darco to a whole new level. The performances were amazing, but I felt Ashton was a little flat at times, sometimes going back into his persona on Punk'd. Amy Smart an Ethan Suplee on the other hand gave amazing performances. I walked away thinking this was one of the better movies to come out dealing with a difficult subject to write about. Instead of having the audience remain blissfully ignorant of the inherent paradoxes in time travel, we are taken on a ride to see what would happen if we were able to go back and change the past. Bottom line: 8/10

Peter Pan (2003)

Awesome film

[7/10 · 14 January 2004]

Nowadays, it is so rare for me to see a film that moves me. Peter Pan is one of those rare gems that can make an adult feel like a kid again. There were wonderful performances and visual effects. Jeremy Sumpter who plays Pan did a wonderful job, despite his passage into manhood during the filming of the movie. Rachel is very talented as Wendy, and Jason can make an character seem creepy. In fact, the only problem I had with the film was Sumpter's speaking problems. This only happened in one scene, but it did stick out in my mind. The reason it did was because it is probably one of the most famous lines from the book: "Second star to the right and straight on till morning. For some reason I detected a slight Irish accent which made it sound like marning when he said it. Also his lisp came very prevalent in another line in the same scene, but it was forgivable.

Jason Isaacs was a superb choice as Hook. He made him a monster when he was a monster, but he gave him an interesting human element when it was necessary. It was so good that I almost pitied him when i came to the realization that he truly is alone. This makes him hate Pan all the more and he begins to discover Pan's weakness. All in all it was an enjoyable film. I give it an 8/10