One Punch Man | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

Dry Comedy & Absurdity in It's Pornographic Action
One Punch Man (12 Episodes Single Season 6 OVA's 1 OAD) 7.9 out of 10 Stars


While almost being in the midst of One Punch Man's second season, which has been reported to be slated until 2019 & to be produced by J.C Staff (a different studio none the less) I'd really like to follow up on my Death Parade revisit and harken back to my ongoing process of reviewing Madhouse's back catalogue and the history of the animation giant. In my Death Parade review it houses a lot of detailed & important information on the studio summarizing some of their history and the legacy they've left over the past 10-20 years, and it goes without saying that I highly recommend you guys check it out. In that it offers so much contextual information that'd be important to understand the production aspects behind this series as well, which I don't want to go on repeating once again.

Shingo Natsume
[Director]

Behind all the hype and buzz over One Punch man, which I'm also also partly guilty of as well, is a very humbling story behind the scene's both from a production and author's standpoint. In that One Punch Man originally was an amateur webcomic from the pseudonym "One" which quickly blew up overnight garnering millions of hits, and not because of the skill and nuance shown in "One's" illustrations, as they're awfully crude and somewhat funny, but because of the absurdity and imagination he was able to pour into its text. It's really that keen sense of idiosyncratic and witty humour that sparked both the populace and it's culture, alongside others in the industry such as Shingo Natsume and Murata Yuusuke along with those over at JUMP now that his manga is being revised to be serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump. Which I imagine most saw so much creative opportunity within the insanity of One Punch man's story, later on becoming an artistic and creative endeavour showcasing the awe inspiring freelance talents and industry veterans that Shingo Natsume was able to gather under one banner. It's really an awe inspiring story of how success can be found  just about anywhere, as I find it really strengthens the sense of independent entrepreneurship and if you build the land of dreams, people will come.

As I find that One Punch Man's ridiculous story of success, is also a testament to the story of Saitama itself. Being able to craft humour and gags from contradicting expectations and poking some fun at the modern cliche's we see in about every battle manga or comic book, with a dead simple character such as Saitama who's just as unassuming as his actual physical ability is deceiving. Really contrasting the original roots of the story and it's humble beginnings, to it's confounding story of success.

Kara No Kyoukai (The Garden Of Sinners) | Q's Anime Review

A Complete Series Anthology - Mythical, Complicated, Yet Beautifully Compelling
Kara No Kyoukai (8 Films - 2 Shorts/Specials) 8.34 out of 10 Stars

Kara No Kyoukai was a incredibly breathtaking & mythical production for it's time, marking Hikaru Kondo's Ufotable breakout animation that garnered national attention with team Ufotable's dazzling post production digital effects and CGI - First alongside the rise of it's other peers such as the revamped Shaft with team Shinbo on Bakemonogatari & Naoko Yamada's K On from Kyo Ani. Lately I've talking alot about the early & mid 2000's transition period into incorporating digital colouring techniques (Otherwise known as Digipaint) & CG - And while it certainly was a rough transition, that changed everything from broadcasting standards, production flows to introducing the beginning of the Bluray and DVD format wars, it also so happens to mark the rise of yet another animation tour de force in Ufotable's heavily emphasized post production digital effects and CGI, animating the hesitant Nasu Kinoko's Kara No Kyoukai light novels originally self published online some 18 - 19 years ago. You see, in the years following Nasu Kinoko's amateur debut as a writer, his work was later on edited and refined for official release by the publisher Kodansha in 2004. In that the popularity of his works garnered interest from the animation industry to adapt his works, though he was quick to decline, citing that he just felt that Kara No Kyoukai was never meant to be filmed or animated, being that he felt, if it was animated in to a TV series, audiences attention spans would wane & it would be hard to understand, having to condense and compress way to much of the original story, into enjoyable 20 minute segments that could carry on from a weekly basis -

"Certain people have been wanting to make Kara no Kyoukai into an anime for a while now, but it isn't a story which really lends itself to being filmed, so I always turned them down." - Kinoko Nasu [Akiba Blog September 2007]

The same could be said of a standalone movie as well, though later on he was approached by Kondansha's Oota Katsushi with an offer Kinoko Nasu couldn't refuse - 

"..."I was thinking of teaming up with Aniplex and ufotable and making Kara no Kyoukai into a consecutive seven-movie release; what do you think?" It was such an off-the-wall idea that I got caught up in the enthusiasm; the offer was so awesome that turning it down seemed rude, so I agreed readily." - Oota Katsushi's offer according to Kinoko Nasu [Akiba Blog September 2007]

Kinoko Nasu
[Original Creator]

Hikaru Kondo
[President & Producer]

10 years later, after much confusion & negative press over the non linearity of Kara No Kyoukai's lack of a chronological order, we're left with a modern day classic & a touch stone to the one of few animation breakouts within the 2007-2009 that challenged the entire industry to eventually make the full transition into incorporating the related digital processes into animator work flows. Not only that, but now that the dust has settled, and we have each of the 10 films (depends on how you count) laid out before us, has it really held up to facet of time? Does our unexpected heroine Shiki & Kokuto's story of finding identity, navigating morality & reconditioning the heart still hold it's same magic as it did once before?

Today were taking a special deep dive here to find out exactly what up - 10 years later

Bokurano: Ours | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

An Interesting, Salacious & Juicy take on a Myriad of Individuals 
Bokurano:Ours (24 Episodes Single Season) 8.58 out of 10 Stars


Bokurano Truly just about has a little bit of everything, there's a dash of a darker taboo of romance, has family dynamics, a little bit of comedy along the way, as well as being heavy in drama in it's science fiction & physiologically idiosyncratic premise. Though there's also more plush and sublime moments of happiness and peace, enough to actually bring me to tears on occasion, having the depth and urgent subject matter to sway my heart into a state of emergency. In Bokurano we have a full cast of characters that initially had me intrigued from the first episode, you'll find yourself asking " who's he/she, there's something interesting going on there, I want to learn more about his/her story" etc. Especially since the character designs are so humanely depicted in the most ordinary sense of the word. From the lush green environments, the city gardens, to the giant robots, this is something that you just look at and accept, and I feel that's a very key component to have.

From the start we're introduced to a gorgeous opening theme, with great lyrics, vocals, percussion, a tickle of synth & some guitar, just a little bit of every thing. I stepped back thinking "yes I've heard this somewhere before" such as Neon Geneiss Evangellion's soundtrack, or "Cyber bird" from Yoko Kanno's work on Ghost in the shell SAC. Coincidently, if you've watched both of those series, with both of their heavily Sci fi, idiosyncratic and psychological premises, you should absolutely check out how much Bokurano has to offer.. 

Kabaneri of The Iron Fortress!! Stuff We like!! Quick Review & Commentary

Nicely Solid Storytelling chops, Pulp Action Scenes & it's Compelling & Satisfying to Enjoy 
Kabaneri Of the Iron Fortress (12 Episodes Single Season Ongoing) 8.34 out of ten

            Having concluded a pretty much a week ago, I thought it'd be a great idea to do some commentary on this popular high grossing series. I was pretty stoked to find out that Wit studio was going to be coming out with a new series, especially being witness the the greatness of what Attack on Titan accomplished. So in the early Spring I decided to take a glimpse of what so many people were pumping and hyping up.

            I wasn't all to impressed or pumped, but I did stick around and it was worth it. Around the 7-8th episode is when things actually started to get interesting and when it concluded I felt pretty content about it, though the ending was somewhat predictable. For the first few episodes also had sort of cheesy heroics and a bit of basic narrative, the drama and regular interactions between characters were nothing special, just what you'd expect, I found myself rolling my eyes at some of the more cliche moments, as I was very on point with my predictions since this fiction is quite obvious and predictable.

Black Lagoon: Stuff We Like!! Quick Review & Commentary

High Octane Action, With Lively Charisma, Juicy Kicks & A lot of F*%# 
Black Lagoon (29 episodes 2 seasons + Ova) 7.89 out of ten

            I figured I shouldn't frequently post Q inductions all the time since by the time I'm finished with them since people will start to draw away since I'd only primarily be doing "Stuff we like" recommendations all the time. Also obviously people probably are looking more forward to my Q inductions rather than just series that I simply recommend or like. But hey, I don't want my readers to expect every post to be an induction, or to get addicted or used to that sense of "high all the time" So from here on out, I'm going to mix it up a lot more & so today, I'd figure that Black lagoon would be another good High octane action series to do some short commentary on.

Black Lagoon starts off with Rock, a Japanese businessman on the job, that sadly gets abandoned and left to the dust by his employers, left in the hands of pirates. After being introduced to the crew of the Black lagoon, he himself figures he'd join their ranks after witnessing the exciting action that they endure day to day. This series is one of the very first to start the 8 B trend (Bullets, Babes, Boobs, Butts, Booze, Blood, Blades and Bitches...8 B's..Bombs..9 B's) so please be advised that there is indeed mature content in this series containing mild nudity, blood and gore as well as mild language, so PG 14 content folks. Black Lagoon was initially released in 2002, so the animation is rather homey and has some vintage to it, particularly when you compare it to more modern works, personally I believe this has been done since and better (Jormungand) though this anime of course offers it's own unique characters and unique premise and after all I'm collector of all things media since I'm a whore for variety so, this one will definitely stay in my collection.

Samurai Champloo | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

A Fusion Frenzy of styles and cultures, that's a warm and comical journey of desiring closure
Samurai Champloo (26 Episodes 2 Seasons) 8.35 out of ten

There's something that's to me that's so openly nostalgic about Samuria Champloo, it's something about it's relatively conservative film grammar, emphasizing diegetic continuity, in addition to a comical spin on it - With plenty of dry gags, jump cuts and a character first priority on scriptwriting. 13 years later, Shinichiro Watanabe's Samurai Champloo, while still decently popular, I feel is one of Watanabe's most slept on works along with Sakemichi No Appollon (Kids on The Slope), being that for a 2004 T.v animation, in terms of character animation & art direction, Samurai Champloo is a production at a fine eye point, the apex of it's era - A masterpiece given the time of production and circumstances. In other regards though, Champloo is an episodic classic, set in a comically idealized version of the Edo period within Japan, where characters such as Jin & Mugen are the last generation of the declining Age of The Samurai, where they randomly stumble into a restaurant & meet Fuu, a waitress - From there on, the dysfunctional bunch set out on a seemingly aimless and coincidental journey, in Fuu's search for a Samurai who smells of sunflowers, slowly realizing that Fuu's ambitions to find him are more dangerous and involved than they actually realize...

Attack On Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) | Q's Anime Review

Robust Characters, Transient Dynamism & Action Packed Intensity
Attack On Titan - Shingeki no Kyojin (37 Episodes 2 Seasons 5 Ova's - 8.56 out of 10 Stars)

Attack on Titan skyrocketed into ethers of popularity, penetrating pop culture after it's anime debut & with good reason because it's Jam packed with stimulating and excellently choreographed high action animation scenes. Being absolutely fearless when it comes to the  acrobatic like camera movement & tracking, as Attack on Titan being adapted from the popular and well off manga illustrated and written by Hajime Isayama. First let me just tell you that S*%# happens... Fast.... Though rest assured I'll try my best not spoil any of the fresh produce. I do feel this series got a good jump start, lots of things going for it, and since the Second Instalment has been released, I thought I'd revisit and spend more time with this series.

On the surface Attack on Titan seemingly is an eventful roller coaster of brutal violence, eye blinking impact & neurotic intensity, where  humanity lives in fear of these towering humanoid cannibals - dubbed the Titans/Kyojin - An innumerable horde which dedicate their existence to solely prey on their much smaller human counterparts, which makes for plenty of failed heroics and desperate sacrifice. Though later on Attack on Titan begins to allude to the mysteriousness of the Titans origins and the Secrets of Humanity & possibly how a larger conspiracy may be at play, leaving a lot more than initially meets the eye...

Jormungand | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

Invective & Seductive, With Magnetic Excitement & Dynamic Action 
Jormungand (24 Episodes II Seasons) 8.35 out of ten stars


Jormungand is a fast paced, high octane anime, with lots of gun porn, bullets, blades & babes. Often times, I find myself stacked on all too many slice of life series now a days, so it's refreshing to take another look at Jormungand - An anime that's action driven, violent and always exciting. Back in the day, I only primarily watched anime series that were preferably more action driven and had enough urgency to demand that I watched episode after episode, since I feel back then, I had far less tolerance for a story just to "dawdle" around - Being that I pretty much prohibited myself from watching Moe Moe type anime. Though this has changed entirely, as more and more Slice of life/Moe anime keep getting released and pilling up in my room, Jormungand is an anime that'll give you that extra kick you need or perhaps are used to, such as more progressive titles such as Ghost in the shell S.A.C, Fate Stay Night UBW, or perhaps Samurai Champloo - All beloved titles here at RedQStudios and Jormungand is no exception...