Padraic Walsh

Entry level Anime, 10 Jun 2006

Generator Gawl is an outstanding series purely from a plot perspective, and the perfect show to introduce someone to Anime. To be honest it feels a little rushed at times, as if maybe with about 3 or 4 episodes the story could really have been fleshed out, getting that fifth star. As it stands it's still an excellent series. Initially the series seems a bit derivative, mecha, mutants, fighting, but it quickly becomes apparent that "Generator Gawl" is far, far more.

I have to say what really makes this series for me is the story, and the characters. the designs are solid, but nothing spectacular. The animation, again, it's solid, but there are plenty of anime series out there with… Read more

If batman were Japanese..., 10 Jun 2006

"Karas: The Prophecy" is not a movie to see on a whim, but it is a movie that absolutely everyone must watch. I'd even go so far as to say that you cannot appreciate movies until you've seen this, and if you're a otaku who hasn't seen this....you must be a little bit dead on the inside.

Karas is a mind-blowing tale, (and this is just the first part), which is part-rendered in amazing 3D, and part-traditional animation, blended to perfection. Where rendering is employed the characters look superb, and loving attention has been lavished upon the tiniest details to produce the perfect character models. Even better, the bulk of the 3D animation is limited to the absolutely amazing… Read more

Mecha Mecca, 12 May 2006

The animation of this Appleseed re-make is nothing short of breathtaking. The mecha scenes, and all the battle scenes are epic, with every single piece of this feature choreographed to perfection. My only gripe is that some of the human animations seem to be a bit choppy. Here and there I notice certain movements, (which would be the hardest to produce using CG), have been cut, or are traded for more economical movements, and shots, or just look plain wooden. These are in the vast minority though, and often I can see where choices to economise certain shots pay huge dividends in other pieces where the additional detail, or the extra frames now available resulted in some of the most fluid,… Read more