Anime You Should Watch But Haven't!!

This week I decided to do something different because..... I wanted to! :D So yeah, I was thinking about some anime that not alot of people in the states have watched either because they never heard about it or because they might have started to watch it but got bored along the way. One anime that I found alot of Otaku have never heard of was the,
"Gankutsuou-The Count of Monte Cristo"

Animation Produced by: Gonzo
Genre: Suspense, Romance, adventure, drama, science-fiction, thriller
Released in America on DVD by Geneon: October 2005-September 2006- Was re-released by Funimation this year and a complete box set is currently available.
Rating: Pg13- R (nudity, drug use, graphic violence)

This is classic worthy anime at it's best!! Gankutsuou-The Count of Monte Cristo is based on a french novel only titled The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas. It's tale of revenge, stolen love and maybe even the naivete of youth. The original novel takes places in France during the 1800's; the anime on the other takes place during the 51st century A.D. primarily in France but also in other worlds and other galaxies.

The tale begins with a young man named Viscount Albere de Morcef and his friend Baron Franz d'Epinay on Luna looking for some fun. They meet a charismatic self made nobleman by the name of the Count of Monte Cristo and befriend him. Albert thinks that the Count is an amazing and kind individual and their meeting ends up leaving a strong impression on Albert. So strong in fact that when the Count visits Paris, Albert ends up acquainting the Count with the city's most powerful families. Therefore setting things in motion for the Count's plans...

This series is beautiful...The cover shot up there is basically what the series looks like. Everything has beautiful textures! From the fabrics on down to the jewelry, all the textures and colors are eye popping. And I've got to say also that the costume design was by Anna Sui, a well known costume designer and the quality shows. Granted there was one dress that one of the characters wore which irritated me but everything else looked immaculate.

This series was critically acclaimed and many people both praised and bemoaned the the eye popping textures and coloration used throughout the series. Seriously, there are times when the bright colors and textures can make watching it a pain after watching a few episodes. But the story is awesome and by the middle your anxiously waiting to see who else will fall by the sword that is the count's revenge and also how... It's a must see and like I tell anyone who watches anime and wants to watch something truly epic; watch Gankutsuou~ The Count of Monte Cristo and prepare to go on the best roller coaster ride!!!!! EVER!!!!

Kampfer-A guy turning into a girl!! uuhhh...

Title: Kampfer
Genre: Action, reverse harem, romance, comedy, ecchi
Animation Production: Nomad
Premiered: October 2009 on Japanese television
Rating: Pg-Pg13

This week I am reviewing this interesting/weird/yuri-esque-but-not-really anime called Kampfer. Kampfer starts off weird by the first episode. A boy named Natsuru Senou thinks he was just dreaming when he realizes that he was a girl fighting another girl who was shooting at him/her. Well when he wakes up and finds that his body has gone through some additions as well as a notable subtraction well...things get weird. Turns out that he was chosen to be a "kampfer" which is an elite who was born to fight but the thing is a kampfer can only be female. So unfortunately (or is it fortunately) Natsuru is transformed into a girl whenever another kampfer is nearby.

At first I was worried that this would be another fanservice laden anime with the Ranma 1/2 aspect of guy turning into a girl but it's really funny. The characters insult each other by saying things like "you a person who sounds like Yui Horie!" Yui Horie is a voice actress and other things more along the pop culture side like "Even though you are a kampfer you're not a mobile suit!", because the girl was dodging all the other girl's bullets. It's funny and they go through the trouble of explaining some of names and such!

I've watched up to the 2nd episode and it looks like girl-girl/guy relationship is going to develop so something to look forward to any yuri fans out there...It's just odd because one character is both a girl and guy but the girl is in love with the girl and not the guy...So yeah.

At the moment the music is not anything memorable to me it's just there so I will not be scouring the internet for music from this series. As far as the animation goes it is impressive and fluid. It's not Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0 but it's is cool and when a fight happens it isn't the cliche still scene followed by another still scene, there is animation and it's cool.

Right now Kampfer has my attention so I will be watching more episodes of this if nothing stupid happens. My rating is a 3 out of 5. It's not life changing but it's definitely amusing to watch.