[Anime Review] Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars

Title: Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars, Gakuen Senki Muryou

So the Synopsis:
The day after an apparent alien invasion of Tokyo is repelled by a mysterious being, middle schooler Murata Hajime discovers that his small town holds a strange secret when he witnesses transfer student Subaru Muryou fight another student using psychic powers. Since Hajime himself is relatively new to his town, he has been unaware that the leading families have been protecting the earth from alien invasion for centuries by using the ability of "Shingu," and that the current members of the middle school student council are also the chosen guardians of this generation. He also begins to discover that many of the town's residents are in fact intergalactic diplomats. Hajime is drawn futher into this open secret as his friendship with Muryou and the "chosen" teenagers -- especially tomboy Moriyama Nayuta -- deepens and as he begins to discover that he has a role to play in Earth's future. (Taken from ANN)

So this is yet another underrated sci-fi series. Somehow this series caught my interest as people said that it is more towards the slice of life sci-fi type rather than the action sci-fi type which makes this series unique. After some lurking, I found out that the director for this show, Tatsuo Sato also did Martian Successor Nadesico and Stellvia of the Universe which is another nice slice of life sci-fi series.
  
Let's get to the Story: The main story is about a group of student council which have some kind of special power to protect the village and the Earth as well. To make it more slice of life, they made the main character Murata Hajime, as plain as possible but somehow everyone is interested in him and he gets the job done. And the Earth is somewhat "protected" or should I say watched  by Galactic Federation agents to protect the power of Shingu from aliens which are not associated with Galactic Federation. Oh, and there's also Subaru Muryou which is very powerful but is quite mysterious.

The plot and story development is quite slow since this is more to slice of life type but as a sucker for slice of life series, I was actually quite enjoyed by this. Imagine the first scene you watched is some huge alien appears in the sky and suddenly some huge hero appears to fight the alien and yet the people just act like nothing happened. At first I was like "wait. what?" until I learned about the people of Tenmo village. It seems that the people of Tenmo village has some kind of special powers that came from Shingu. So when there are aliens invading their village, it's the aliens' asses that are going to be kicked! Yeah this is one of the few series potraying that human is stronger than the alien since the first episode though the human are still lack in technological advancement compared to the aliens. Oh another thing is that those guys from Galactic Federation always opt to negotiation first before fighting the invading aliens. So most of it ended quite peacefully.

Basically all the episodes are quite slow, relaxing and not really suspense since you can quite guess about the outcome of the event.It focuses more on the school events like the athletic festival and the development between the characters rather than flashy fights by the alien invaders. So this is what makes it unique compared to the other sci-fi anime.

What about the Art: The art is quite simple and realistic. There are no overly cute drawn characters, no flashy animations or beam spam. This is just a modest early 2000 art style. Quite classic if you ask me. The art really fits the slice of life feeling.

How's the Sound: Overall the backgroud sound is good. It has a good feeling to it and is quite catchy sometime fits the slice of life genre. Though I don't really like the OP song, kinda too melancholic for me. The ED song is just an instrumental piece, kinda have a happy feelings to it.

Who are the Characters: First of all, I thought the main character is Subaru Muryou but no, the actual main character is Murata Hajime, the plain and normal guy that somehow attracts a lot of weird bunch. Almost all of the characters revolved around him although he was outsider at first and the fact that there was really nothing special about him lol. Subaru Muryou is the awesome, almost god-like character that helps the protector of Shingu when they really needed help. The student council or the successor of the power of the Shingu are like the typical character from any school anime. There's the tsundere, cheerful, active, and calm characters needed to fight the aliens lol. Most of them doesn't really stand out much even though they have powers. And there are also undercover alien agent from the Galactic Federation who works as a teacher and that Aloha guy who seems like a free loader. For me, that Aloha guy is the most interesting character in the show. Though I could say that all of the Tenmo people are quite awesome seems they're like don't care when there are aliens invading and they can take care of themselves lol. Kudos to them.

Thereby the Conclusion: Overall I think this show is quite decent as it is a lot different from your typical sci-fi flick. So if you're a sci-fi fan who wants something different or just a slice of life sucker who wants a more than just a slice of life show, you can try watch this show. Though the slowness and take it easy feelings might be the avoiding factor to those who seeks actions and adventure, but I think this is what make it unique compared to the other anime.   

Extras:
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[Anime Review] Coyote Ragtime Show

Title: Coyote Ragtime Show

So the Synopsis: 
Mister is a "coyote" or space faring outlaw who has been sitting in prison for a year for a traffic offence. Ten days from release, he breaks out with the help of his old partners Bishop and Katana. He then seeks out Franka who has been left in his care by her dead father and takes her on a journey to find her father's treasure. On their heels are the federal investigators Angelica and Chelsea as well as the android assassins of the Criminal Guild, Madame Marciano's Twelve Sisters. (Taken from ANN)

Yeah, this is quite an old series (was aired in 2006) but as usual, I've heard about it at that time but somehow didnt have the urged to watched it. Until just recently of course while randomly selecting which anime to watch next.This show is quite underrated as well as far as I know.

Let's get to the story: From the synopsis itself we can tell that this is a Sci-Fi action anime that involved something like space pirate and what not. You would be similar to this genre if you have already watched Cowboy Bebop, just to name a few. Okay, so the story starts with Angelica, an agent from Galactic Federation arrived at the prison with her guide Chelsea in search of this so called Mister aka a Coyote. And all hells break loose just after the first half of the first episode. Mister is breaking out of jail (eventhough it's only a few days to finish his sentence in prison :O) with the help of his two friends, Bishop and Katana right under Angelica's nose. Not only that, there's also Madame Marciano which is Mister's enemy who sent a team of 12 psychotic, emotionless robot assassin to capture him because Mister know something about the treasure that was left by Bruce Dochley, the legendary Pirate King (not Gol. D Roger lol) who stole a hundred million space dollars from the impassable Central Bank.

Now, Mister's mission is to go on a treasure hunt with Bruce daughter, Franca and also Bruce's right hand man, Swamp. Oh it won't be that easy because the Galactic Federation plans to bomb the planet where the treasure is buried in a few days after Mister's jail break and there's also the Marciano Twelve Sisters which follows them everywhere in order to find the treasure. So that's basically the main story though it may sound simple, it is PACKED with action scenes in every episodes. By PACKED meaning it's full of action scenes every minute in all 12 episodes. And there's only little time for explaination about what's going on since they're always get bombarded by the Marciano Twelve Sisters even until they finally get their hands on the treasure.

What about the Art: The character designs are quite cool for the male character. I mean look at Mister. He's old and yet he is still bad ass. Their character really suits the Sci-fi theme. The female characters design are cute as well except that they're heartless robotic assassin of course. Their space ship is kinda lol though but it gets them going. Since this is a Sci-fi anime, the environment potrayed here is quite futuristic is done quite well.

How's the Sound: The OP song which is COYOTE by Naoki with Power Sound is quite nice and so is the ED. Somehow the OST in this series reminds me of Baccano. Not that similar but it kinda have the same feeling to it. The BGM is also awesome especially during the fights or suspense moment as it fits quite perfectly. Well done on that.

Who are the Characters: The characters in this series are very unique though there are only a few characters. Since there's only one story arc in the whole 12 episodes, so these characters played an important roles to make this show interesting. As the main character, Mister is very bad ass even at his age and is quite the cool type Coyote. His assistants, Bishop and Katana is quite brilliant as well as they never let him down. Take Bishop for example, eventhough he always getting in fight with the other members, but he's very reliable and always have his way on setting up the plan. As for Katana, he's kinda a high spirited, hot blooded lad so there's not much problem with him. Franca, Bruce's daughter at first was reluctant to help them find the treasure but finally decides to find out the treasure that her father had left her. And since the death of Bruce, Mister have been taking care of her until he went to prison and he treats her like his own daughter. Though she looks like an unreliable loli, but she is actually an excellent cook! As for Bruce's right hand man, Swamp, he didnt really shine that much because he prefers to sit and watch the man chosen by the Pirate King in action. At first I though the main character would be Angelica and Chelsea but then, they just become a supporting character instead and doesn't really play that much role until the ending part of the series.

As for Marciano Twelve psychotic heartless loli assassins, they're really persistent in getting the treasure. It's quite annoying when I thought that the assassins have died during the insect-tsunami in the first episode but instead their body can be rebuild. So yeah they will be back episode after episode until the end of the series. Oh, and I find it quite interesting to use the 12 months as their name. Even Madame Marciano herself is quite heartless and will do anything to get what she wants and she does get it. The Galactic Federation's role in this story is just to bomb that planet I guess. It's not that much.

Thereby the Conclusion: Overall this show was like a roller coaster ride. It is filled with action in every nook and cranny in each episodes. The plot maybe quite bland but it's the characters and the action scenes that liven up the show. If you like Cowboy Bebop or Black Lagoon, you might want to try this series.

Extras:
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[Anime Review] GEAR Fighter Dendoh

Title: GEAR Fighter Dendoh, GEAR Senshi Dendoh

As the synopsis goes: 
One star filled night, a red light crashes down on an island in Japan, carrying with it 6 data weapons and a turquoise haired girl. Seventeen years later, "Gulfer", a machine empire out to kill all living beings and conquer the universe, plants itself an outpost on the Moon and commences attacks on the Earth. GEAR, a secret organization established to counter the Gulfer, defends Earth from this threat. Dendoh, GEAR's main fighting weapon against the Gulfer, chooses two elementary school kids named Hokuto Kusanagi and Ginga Izumo to pilot it, and with GEAR's and the 6 data weapons' help, they fight to protect the Earth from the Gulfer.  (It's taken from: ANN)

Although this anime is quite old (being aired around 10 years back) I only heard about this series in 2006 or 2007 from a fellow mecha fan but unfortunately I haven't 'converted' to being a mecha fan at that time yet so I just ignore it. Until just recently when I managed to get my hand on this series which is directed by Mitsuo Fukuda of Mobile Suit Gundam Seed fame. This 'unknown' series was his stepping stone for the Seed franchise. But unlike Seed, this is a super robot shows which aims for kids as we can see that even the main characters are kids but that doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable for the adult audiences (especially to the mecha fans).

Now moving on to the story: Basically this show used the monster-of-the-week concept where they fought different enemies every episode for a quite number of episode. Kinda normal for super robot shows huh? But after you watched the first episode, you'll become interested to the characters and would want to know what will happen next. Even the pilots are interesting. It should be noted that Dendoh is piloted by two people or should I say kids, which are Ginga Izumo and Hokuto Kusanagi (Though I always wondered why Dendoh are two seated while the other Gear is only one seated :O). Ginga Izumo is a strong hot blooded, kinda dumb (or more likely is very dumb -.-) kid and Hokuto Kusanagi is your typical good kid type. The story started with Hokuto moving into the neighbourhood and met Ginga at the school. Suddenly, a Gulfer attacked the school and they were forced to flee somewhere else. After being nearly smashed by the Gulfer, somehow Dendoh respond to their called and chose them to be its pilots.

Dendoh is somewhat owned by a secret organization called Guard Earth and Advanced Reconnaissance or GEAR for short. Kinda like Gutsy Guard Galaxy from Gao Gai Gar. So after all those incident, the two kids decided to work with GEAR to protect the Earth from the invading Gulfers with their Dendoh. Most of the enemy grunts are weak of course, being easily defeated by those kids without any problems. Except for the other Gear fighter which is Altair (which is a human who fought for the Gulfer) who piloted Knight Ogre or Phoenix in some other fansub. This Knight Ogre are giving them a lots of headache. And as the story progresses, we can see the development between Ginga and Hokuto, how they matured in terms of fighting and strategy when beating stronger enemies.

Well this story is not like your typical super robot shows where you have infinite energy or shouting makes you suddenly stronger. No. In fact, Dendoh uses two large AA Batteries (lolwut) called hyper batteries or something. The batteries doesn't last very long and after they used their ultimate attack, they'll only have enough energy to go back to the base and if the energy become zero, the Dendoh will automatically shut down. But don't worry, later they'll get an aircraft support which can change their batteries during battle. Another interesting things about this show is about the Data Weapons which consists of 6 mechanized animal which are Unicorn Drill, Viper Whip, Leo Circle, Bull Horn, Gattling Boar and Dragon Flare. These Data Weapons enhance Dendoh's fighting abilities and also acts as a weapon which is usually used for the ultimate attack. Also, these Data Weapons are like their digital pets for these kids to express themselves.


What about the Art: The animation quality is above average eventhough it was produced in 2000-2001 since it was produced by Sunrise. Even Dendoh is very unique in terms of it's design and fighting style. You dont see a lot of mecha which have turbines on the arms and legs and fight like Dendoh right?

How's the Sound: The OP song called W-INFINITY by Hironobu Kageyama(JAM Project FTW) and Hitomi Mieno is very good and same goes to the ED which is Countdown by Little Voice. Though the songs are not that hot blooded compared to other super robot shows, but it is still good. Maybe because their target audiences are kids? Also the song from C-Drive which is a group from this series is good as well.

Who are the Characters: The main characters or the heroes are like mentioned earlier Ginga Izumo and Hokuto Kusanagi. Although they're very different from each other, but somehow they both know that they need to fill the gap between each other especially when someone feels down. And from this their friendship grows. Later, they'll be joined by Eris Williamette which is a leader in Data Weapon research. Oh and Eris is as old as those 2 kids eventhough she is a lead researcher. Other important character is Vega which is the Assistant Commander of GEAR. Later on (or quite earlier) you will know who she really is. These are basically the main important character of the series. Of course there are other characters especially the GEAR staff which I think is quite similar to any other anime which have this sort of military organization.

Thereby the Conclusion: Overall this series is quite enjoyable especially if you're a super robot fan (or Fukuda fan lul?). Though there are some flaws and plot holes in the series which was not explained (or was it because i missed it?), you will be satisfied with the ending. And remember that although it's a kids show, I think the adult will be quite enjoyed with this show as well.

That's all for my first review. Thanks for reading~


Extras:
Download link