Judge

     Ever feel frustrated with Earthly justice? What if the victims could exact their own? This is what the fantasy Judge provides-when crimes against humanity go unpunished by the living the spirit world fights back! Through a series of legal dealings in the upper realm, a prosecutor and defender for the 'bad guy' charged argue whether or not the bad guy should get his via The Judge.

     Sounds great! WRONG. This tale fails on so many levels it is hard to say which was the worst. The animation was poor, the writing was boring and the characters were dull. I watched the first 20 minutes and could barely keep my eyes open. Everything seemed so convoluted. While the premise is well thought out, the actual stories could have been written better. I am so tired of the clichéd bumbling idiot who just so happens to have special powers (The Judge). To make matters worse, the lead character lacks any real charisma forcing the writers to come up with bad guys that can carry the story. They don't. To make matters worse, they just throw things in for convenience, like when one bad dude must face the mirror of truth to answer for his crimes. What the hell was that about? Where did it come from? No explanations, but I guess if it looks cool, it's acceptable. Well, it isn't and neither is an anime that means well, but doesn't succeed.

     I strongly advise anime fans who want a well thought out plot involving supernatural elements I suggest you check out Petshop of Horrors DVD, instead.

Dangaio

     Imagine being a psychic, and being kidnapped by an evil alien scientist. Dangaio is about four young psychics who search themselves after losing their memories in a series of experiments by an evil space scientist named Professor Tahshan. Tahshan now finished with his experiments is looking to sell his test subjects into slavery. Only, Tahshan, didn't count on theim fighting back with their special abilities and Danfighter crafts, which when joined form the ultimate mechanical robot: Dangaio.

     It was strange, but while watching this anime I became strangely uneasy by the fact that I HAVE SEEN THIS STORY TOO MANY TIMES! Feeling rushed, the first episode has no real character development. Plus the dialogue was deplorable and was far from original. While the animation and action were pretty decent, the story was so bad it overshadowed any positive of this series.

     This anime was a really bad cross between Voltron and a horrible mistake.

Giant Robo

     Giant Robo is about the struggles of the Experts of Justice against a global terrorist group known as Big Fire. At the heart of the Experts is Kusama Daisaku, a very unlikable little 12-year-old boy dressed in a suit and tie with shorts, and it just so happens he is the only one who can control Giant Robo.

     Set in the distant future, the series revolves around something known as the Shizuma Drive, a device that is a source of waste-free recyclable energy. Because of this new clean, recyclable, 100% safe energy source, other power supplies like AA batteries and nuclear reactors are abandoned. Mankind enters a new era of peace and prosperity, because Bush no longer needs to attack countries to further his oil reserves (I promised I would not get political). Then explosions start for unknown reasons to be explained as the show goes on. Big Fire, an evil organization rises to power and looks to stop the Shizuma Drives. To combat this new threat to peace, The Experts of Justice, a group of very different soldiers from around the world, gather together with the help of…A Giant Robot. Who would have thought?

     First, let me say this is a very interesting idea for a series. I even enjoyed a lot of the action scenes and certain plot points. I even enjoy the fact that Giant Robo is barely used except for poignant moments when it was actually needed (then again, if he is unstoppable, why not use him all the time?). What really made this anime suck was the animation. It was flat and cheap. The characters were annoying and had no intriguing characteristics. They just look dirty and I hate little boys and their robot friends. In addition, some overly complex scenes, bad music seemingly taken from a perfume ad and the annoyingly slow pace of the show, made me very glad I only spent $1.00 for it.

     Send comments and questions about this article to JMinners@ybfree.com.

Return to YBFREE.com's Main Page