![]() Instead, they're planning on coming to the surface and destroying everyone else. Now, many of The Company aren't the friendly, co-habitating types. Known as The Company, they were the subjects of scientific experiments which have given them the power to manipulate the elements, be it gravity, electricity, wind etc. Tokyo Underground Collection Release Date: August 20 RRP: $59.95 Genre: Action / Adventure Deep beneath Tokyo, cut off from the rest of the city, live a group of unusual humans. It's all delivered with Clamp's unique visual punch. xxxHolic's set-up is interesting enough, but it's the humour that will keep you coming back, whether it's the way Watanuki falls all over Himawari Kunogi, the subject of his affection, the deadpan delivery of Shizuka Domeki, Watanuki's supposed rival, or the antics of Maru and Moro, two young girls that live with Yuko. Naturally enough in the world of anime, Watanuki ends up working for the enigmatic Yuki to pay off his debt, and hilarity ensues. Driven by a power beyond his control, he ventures into the house behind the fence and meets Yuki, a Dimensional Witch, who offers to cure Watanuki of his affliction… for a price. As they knock him to the ground and threaten to crush him he reaches out and touches the fence by the footpath and they disappear. The series opens with him being pursued down the street by a thick cloud of spirits. Sounds like a cool ability, right? Not really, as the spirit world won't leave him alone. XxxHolic Volume 1 Release Date: August 20 RRP: $29.95 Genre: Action / Adventure / Occult The cult Clamp series finally comes down under! xxxHolic is the story of Watanuki, a seemingly ordinary high school student, who just so happens to be able to see the spirit world. The world of Vision – and its many anthropomorphic inhabitants – is rich in detail and variety, the animation is hugely polished, and the action scenes nicely framed. ![]() Brave Story is a feature-length production from Studio Gonzo (the studio behind Samurai 7 and Afro Samurai) and it's hard not to be won over by its charms. He follows on the heels of a classmate, who becomes a powerful wizard within the world, and is determined to do what it takes to change his life. ![]() Brave Story's meek young hero Wataru becomes just such an adventurer, entering Vision determined to bring his family together again after his father left and his mother became ill. In this world, the Goddess of Destiny can make a single wish come true, but in order to reach her, the adventurer faces a difficult path and must attain powerful magic. The artwork is well done and the story is very good.Brave Story Release Date: August 20 RRP: $29.95 Genre: Action / Adventure / Fantasy In Brave Story, those who wish to change their destiny can only do so by journeying to a mystical world known as Vision. These seem to have been done at a different time and the budget is good on these episodes. These are true gems of the "Zero" series. If you manage to find the four DVD set at a rental store, check out the two "special episodes" on disc 4. As usual, the subtitled version is much better than the English dubbed version. Unfortunately the attempted story is too big for the limits of this particular series and the whole thing runs out of steam before the finale. The contrast between Zero and Harlock creates some interesting scenes. And there are some classic Matsumoto moments sprinkled throughout. ![]() Episodes 5 and 6 on the Gun Frontier planet work really well. This is not to say that there are not good portions to the series. The extensive use of video effects to assist the animation doesn't work either. They experiment with a thick line brush look on some shots but then cut to the same character drawn in the most crude and scratchy G.I. The animation is wildly uneven and looks like it was rushed out by several different animation studios. There are major plots holes that just possibly might pass if you saw this on a weekly basis but when it's all together in a 4 DVD set, yikes! One example of the poor planning is a sequence that is supposed to take 40 seconds lasts 5 minutes (it even starts with an on- screen countdown)! I am not familiar with the manga that the story came from so it hard to say if the problems originated there. The major problem with this 13 episode series is the same that plagued the Harlock "Ring" series. ![]()
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