Angel Beats

"Angel Beats" is a 13 episode long anime takes place at a High School that is actually acting as Purgatory for the students, were they learn to give up lingering attachments in order to go on to the afterlife or be reincarnated.  The story follows the main character a guy by the name of Otonashi who ends up at this high school with no memory of death or his life.

"Angel Beasts" is an anime that has a good amount of action scenes in it while at the same time remains cute, and intellectual.  Each character has a past of pain or sorrow that keeps them in purgatory and unable to pass on, it is these characters struggles to come to terms with their past lives that gives this story its depth, while the action and cuteness gives the story its candy coating.  The action scenes in this anime are action scenes however they are not heart-pounding they are a weird mix of comedy and violence.  This anime is as simple as it is a brain teaser, it touches on the subjects of the meaning of life and the desire to simply live.  In all a good anime with a health medium between intellectual and just plain cute.

Good:
-Action, but not very serious
-Comedy, the cute kind
-Intellectual conversations on the meaning of life that get you thinking

Bad:
-Some characters are just plain retarded and have no depth to them.
-Some conflict in the show seems rather childish and unnecessary, however is resolved later in the show.  

Scully Rating: 8 out of 10
Watch "Angel Beats" at:  http://www.animefreak.tv/watch/angel-beats-online   

   

Gun X Sword

"Gun X Sword" is a 26 episode long anime that takes place on the "Planet of Endless Illusions" were a man by the name of Van wanders the world looking for the man with a claw for a right hand who killed his wife.  Along the way Van is joined by others who are also linked to the man with the claw due to his other evil acts.

"Gun X Sword" is an anime were each episode is a random encounter along the journey of Van, not until half way through the series do the main characters begin to have a destination and a more defined goal.  After getting half way through the series the plot and story-line pick up the pace as the main characters battle with the man with the claw becomes more and more action packed.  One thing that this show does however that is very note worthy is that in most openings for anime you see all the characters that will appear in the show even before they appear, in "Gun X Sword" its opening shows the outlines of characters that will appear later in the show but just the outline.  This is great so that way when you meet characters in the show for the first time you don't know if they are going to be a main character or not.

"Gun X Sword" is full of action and a wide range of characters that go from bad-ass to completely weird and unnecessary.  Some characters you will like an other you can't wait till they are no longer apart of the show.  The ending episodes is were this anime really pulls itself together, the climactic ending will leave the audience on the edge of its seat until the very last episode.  In all not a bad anime, but one that take a little more time than necessary to grow on you.

Good:
-Wide array of personalities in entire series, no two characters are alike...beside the few sets twins that show up in the show.
-Large amount of climactic action scenes
-A climactic ending that keeps the audience engaged.

Bad:
-Beginning of the series was weak and not very attractive, took too long to hook the audience.
-First half of series not much for story-line just random encounters.

Scully Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Chrome Shelled Regios

"Chrome Shelled Regios" is a 24 episode long anime that takes place in the post-apocalyptic earth were mutated creatures called Contaminoids now rule the earths surface and humans are forced to live in large mobile cities called Regios.  The story of "Chrome Shelled Regios" follows a man by the name of Layfon Alseif who has a shady past and yet is one of the more powerful humans around.  Not wanting anything to do with the Military Arts Layfon finds himself forced into the 17th Platoon and begins battling for his survival as well as the survival of his new city.

"Chrome Shelled Regios" is an anime that is original in its story line, however it takes a few episodes for the viewer to get a gasp on just what the heck is going on and even then there are parts of this anime that keep reappearing in each episode and are never fully explained.  Lack of explanation in the area of terminology is one thing but characters that just randomly appear and have no name or explanation with them at all is another.  However this anime does have a good story line behind it and the episodes very rarely veer away from the main plot especially in the later episodes.  Their is plenty of none stop action, character background digging, and random female on female groping....why not!!  Despite the random holes in the story due to lack of explanation and the time it takes to get the terminology of the show down, this is a none stop action anime with plenty of comedy relief and a climactic ending that will keep the viewer engaged till the very end.

Good:
-Action scenes are great
-Female on Female groping...nice!!
-Episodes stick to the story-line.
-Mysterious pasts of main characters get revealed little by little keeping the audience engaged.
-Climactic ending that makes the audience beg for more.
-Plenty of comedy strategically placed and randomly placed.

Bad:
-Random clips that happen every episode that are like a movie reel and are never explained.
-Some minor characters that keep reappearing are never fully explained.
-Love triangles are cool in an anime but 4 girls liking the same guy.....really.
-Fully of wtf moments but are then just accepted.

Scully Rating: 8 out of 10

Watch "Chrome Shelled Regios" at: http://www.animefreak.tv/watch/chrome-shelled-regios-english-dubbed-online-free