Anime

An anime Iron Man story watched with the English dub and not enjoyed very much. Even though it's reasonably well done, I'd avoid unless you are a big fan of the character.

That said, I did enjoy seeing The Punisher teaming up with Stark.

"The Recollections of a Certain Pilot" aka "The Princess and the Pilot" is something of a wartime adventure-romance between, believe it or not, a princess and a pilot. The pilot, a half-breed constantly being victimised for his racial inferiority, is a highly-skilled mercenary who is tasked with escorting the rather naïve princess across 12000km of enemy airspace to unite her with her fiancé, the prince of their country. The overall plot is quite good. However, there are, as usual with anime, a number of holes and clichés in it.

Hunter × Hunter is a rather underrated action/adventure/fantasy anime (based on a manga) that I have just finished watching in its entirety. While the general premise of the story is not anything terribly creative, the fantasy elements of the story, especially Nen, are very imaginative and interesting.

Grappler Baki is generally touted to be one of the most violent animes / mangas around. While the anime (especially the Saidai Tournament Hen) was below par, I was hoping that the manga would be (as is usually is) a touch better. And it is just a touch better, no more.

I've been a huge fan of Nodame Cantabile ever since it was released. I've watched the live-action series, read the manga and also watched series one of the anime. This review deals with the anime sequel, dubbed "Nodame Cantabile: Paris Hen", which deals with Nodame and Chiaki's stay in Paris.

You should probably not be reading further if you are yet to see the first series.

I just finished watching and reading Antique Bakery, a Josei manga by Yoshinaga Fumi which has also been adapted as an anime. The story revolves around Tachibana Keiichiro, who, one fine day, decides to quit his high profile corporate job to open a bakery. His parents, in a bid to support him as best they can, help him out by sourcing a skilled pâtissier for "Antique", so dubbed because it previously used to be an antique furniture shop.

So, thanks to a lot of hype, I ... acquired this anime and watched it all in a couple of sittings. I'm a real sucker for anything that revolves around music and the fact that this is directed by Watanabe Shinichirō (director of Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, etc., who is known for blending music in really well) with music taken care of by Kanno Yōko (who is a bloody legend), is about as big a recommendation as any anime can get.

A production with Miyazaki Hayao handling the screenplay and his son Goro directing, 'From up on Poppy Hill' has all the qualities of a vintage Ghibli wonder. In many ways, this coming of age story is similar to that of one of my favourites from this studio, 'Whisper of my heart', with a school + home setting, two very earnest and driven young teens, and puppy love. Unfortunately, something is amiss as the finished product does not hit home.