Category Archives: Reviews
By Prede | February 9th, 2011
Infinite Ryvius is a top-notch psychological drama from Sunrise that aired in 1999. Bandai first put it out on DVD in North America in 2003, and it’s really worth a look.
Infinite Ryvius, on its surface, looks like the kind of generic mecha/sci-fi series that Bandai often releases. It seems like it has nothing new to offer and is really only for the hardcore Sunrise fans. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. There’s very little action in the show, and the mecha is only used a handful of times throughout the entire 26 episodes. So I’m not really sure if that crowd would enjoy this. No, this series instead seems aimed at fans of character driven dramas, and that’s perfectly fine. There is also some great insight on political systems, and what human beings truly are at their root. This series cuts deep into human psyche. Continue reading →
By Jonathan | February 6th, 2011
What is Fractale? To tell you the truth, I’m still figuring that out myself…
One of the latest additions to FUNimation’s incredibly robust online streaming repertoire, Fractale is being simulcast every Thursday on Hulu at 11:45 am (EST), one hour after the episodes premiere on Fuji TV in Japan…at least, that’s the plan. The simulcast was halted after the first episode when the show’s copyright holders demanded FUNimation take steps to stop piracy of the episodes. Once this was sorted out and the simulcast resumed, the massive snow storms and cold fronts sweeping much of America prevented this week’s planned simulcast of episode four (I know how you feel, FUNi – it’s cold here too!). Thus, this review covers the first three episodes of the series as part of a new plan on this site to review streaming content in ‘blocks.’ Fractale will only be 11 episodes total, so we’re planning two more reviews, each highlighting four new episodes, to cover the rest of the series as it airs. Continue reading →
By Alex | February 3rd, 2011
We’ve been meaning to have me write something for The Fanboy Review for a while—around a year, in fact—so here I am! This is my first review around here, and I’m quite happy with the show the boss decided on. So let’s get down to it and take a look at the latest release of Tenchi Muyo! GXP.
The truth is that I’ve been a fan of Tenchi Muyo! for a long time. I was always interested in animation in general, but I was first introduced to Japanese animation properly when I was still in school, and Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki happened to be one of the first shows I collected on VHS. As such, it’s surprising that this is my first time taking a proper look at GXP, but I just never got around to it. It’s about eight years old now, so how does it hold up as a show, and how good is this latest release of it? Continue reading →
By Jonathan | January 27th, 2011
As a new reviewer for the site, I just wanted to quickly introduce myself to readers. My name is Jonathan R. Lack, and I’ve been writing film and TV reviews for eight years now, much of that time spent at Denver Post subsidiary YourHub.com where I publish most of my work. Anime isn’t an interest of that reader base, however, which is why I’m excited to write for The Fanboy Review and share my interest in anime with fellow ‘fanboys.’ Enjoy!
Has any anime ever been released so out of order in North America? Collecting the original Dragon Ball series has always been an exercise in frustration, going back to the jumbled release of the 2-disc ‘saga’ sets and culminating in the overdue but welcome blue-brick season set releases. The release of the films made just as little sense. When FUNimation began releasing the movies on DVD, we got uncut releases in the extremely strange order of film 3, Mystical Adventure, film 4, The Path to Power, and finally film 2, Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle, which was simultaneously released in a “Movie Box” alongside the other two. Meanwhile, movie 1, Curse of the Blood Rubies, had actually been released much earlier in an edited-and-dubbed only release as part of the material FUNimation (teaming up with various other companies) released in an earlier, failed attempt to bring Dragon Ball to young American audiences prior to their release of Dragon Ball Z. Rights issues related to this period in the franchise’s history meant an uncut release failed to see the light of day on DVD until just recently, just as the first thirteen TV episodes didn’t get an uncut release until the season sets. But the DVD is finally here, completing the long, complicated, and largely jumbled release of the series in North America. That alone may be cause for celebration. Continue reading →
By Marc | January 24th, 2011
NIS America is back with a new show doods!
After a few early missteps that NISA worked quickly to fix does a second attempt from NISA come out golden… doods? (It’s my second NISA review, I feel obligated to toss in a few doods at the beginning. You read enough NISA Twitter posts and press releases and you will do it also. Just passing it along to help NISA with their diabolical plot to spread the word dood around.) Continue reading →
By Marc | October 9th, 2010
Eden of the East… a series that shows love of American film and hope for the future of Japan… and a guy who has misplaced his pants.
A 2009 series that is highly respected for many things, will it be as respected now that it has jumped across the Pacific? Continue reading →
By Marc | September 11th, 2010
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya… one of the more popular series of recent memory. After three years the series returns with a new season.
After having such a well received first season that blew quite a few people away can season two possibly stand up to its predecessor? Does it need to? Or would a few extra adventures with fun characters be enough? Guess we will find out… Continue reading →
By Marc | July 26th, 2010
Scott Pilgrim… the last volume just came out, and it was awesome. And soon the movie will be out. And a game. The game is based on the books but labeled for the movie. And because the movie is coming out we are getting shirts! And this is a shirt based on the game, which anyone who doesn’t know about the game will think is from the movie! And yes, I absolutely wrote all that despite not needing to. Why? Because…
Mighty Fine is doing a whole line of Scott Pilgrim t-shirts. I wish I had something witty to say, but I can’t because I used all my power ups on that opening paragraph, not to mention fighting the urge to use the companies name as a pun to talk about the shirt. Continue reading →
Categories: Feature, Reviews
By Marc | July 11th, 2010
Right Stuf/Nozomi/TRSI/any other name you can come up with is back with another DVD release. And this time it’s a return to Maria Watches Over Us.
Season 4 of Marimite (ha ha, short show nicknames make the job easier!) returns to a few different major and minor plot threads that in various ways reach back to every season. TRSI loves the niche, but can Marimite hold onto its audience through a fourth season? Continue reading →
By Marc | June 27th, 2010
A new company arrives with a series that has a bit of a following.
Toradora! is finally coming to the USA via NIS America. Rather than just getting the vanilla treatment though, NIS is going the premium route for their anime releases. Does Toradora! (last time I use the exclamation point…) end up being a good start for them? Continue reading →
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