Now Introducing: The Escapist's Anime Reviews

[Chipperz]

"Hello sir, what do you do?"
"Oh, I play games. I then have to write about them."
"I see. What do you do in your spare time?"
"Oh, I watch anime. I then write about it."

I'm not a fan of anime, but anything that turns this place into more of a nerd site is OK by me

"And when you're not doing those?"
"Playing D&D. Then writing about it."

Then this would be the greatest site ever.

Yes. Yes it would. I'd personally prefer World of Darkness, but then I'd rather see comic reviews than anime (Yes, I AM offering, by the way )

 

[Incredible Bullshitting Man]

Do something from The Studio Ghibli Collection. I have a few and am wondering whether to get more.

Get all of them. I´m still missing a few, but those I own I have watched several times and still don´t feel bored. Great stuff they are.

About this new review section, even though I can imagine some of the users facepalming like there´s no tomorrow, I warmly welcome it. More variety to this site, I´m all for it.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

hooray!

but seriously someone review soul eater i'm undecided on that

what? a request already? aren't you doing well

Soul Eater isn't available in standard North American legal distribution channels at this time, so we won't be reviewing it.

...the what?

can someone just tell me if i should or shouldn't watch it then?

If you are fine with it deviating halfway through from the manga and wrapping up at around 52 episodes, the fight scenes are intense, and humour decent while having an interesting story and being fairly well paced for the most part (the end is a bit erratic). Perhaps it might convince you to go on to reading the manga, which is continuous and awesome.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

Do something from The Studio Ghibli Collection. I have a few and am wondering whether to get more.

If you don't have it already, get The Castle of Cagliostro. Great film that has good amount of action while retaining the Ghibli charm.

God every day passes and I get more compelled to do an anime review myself. I think I might just do that review of Perfect Blue.

 

[Slycne]

To be honest this is kinda useless.

Care to elaborate?

 

[John Funk]

hooray!

but seriously someone review soul eater i'm undecided on that

what? a request already? aren't you doing well

Soul Eater isn't available in standard North American legal distribution channels at this time, so we won't be reviewing it.

You'll only review anime that's licensed in North America? That doesn't seem too helpful. :S I wanna know about all the crazy generic robots and demons and samurais and dead people animes going on now over there!

The Escapist has a very firm anti-piracy policy. As such, we will only be providing and reviewing titles that are legally obtainable in our home country (i.e. the USA).

 

[Keane Ng]

Catbus approves of this.

Do something from The Studio Ghibli Collection. I have a few and am wondering whether to get more.

Which Ghibli movies have you seen?

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

Catbus approves of this.

Do something from The Studio Ghibli Collection. I have a few and am wondering whether to get more.

Which Ghibli movies have you seen?

Err.

• Howl's Moving Castle
  Spirited Away
  Princess Mononoke

And I've heard good things about The Cat's Return, My Neighbour Totoro and Castle of Cagliostro. So I might rent/buy those if I find them.

I'm also pretty sure I spelt none of those correctly.

 

[Ancientgamer]

Catbus approves of this.

Do something from The Studio Ghibli Collection. I have a few and am wondering whether to get more.

Which Ghibli movies have you seen?

Err.

• Howl's Moving Castle
  Spirited Away
  Princess Mononoke

Check out; Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Porco Rosso
And Laputa: Castle in the Sky.

My favorites after the ones you mentioned.

 

[Lonko]

Oh please let Yahtzee do these reviews...

No thanks, I'd rather these reviews be informative rather than rant after rant about how much the Japanese suck.

The Escapist has a very firm anti-piracy policy. As such, we will only be providing and reviewing titles that are legally obtainable in our home country (i.e. the USA).

What would be your policy on animes which have been officially dubbed but fansubbed? I'm thinking mostly cases like One Piece here and considering the vast gulf in quality between the two versions.
Will you only be reviewing the versions available in the US?

 

[BigCat91]

Yes because if you haven't noticed games are larger and last longer than a comic book would ever be. A game involves plot, gameplay, and graphics. In a comic book all you could say without saying spoilers is it's good or bad, because it's so short. It's just like tv episode reviews it's pointless because you can't say much with out just summarizing the entire episode.

 

[Arisato-kun]

I eagerly await the day the Escapist reviews When They Cry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_They_Cry

Actually, that may or may not be fun......

Anyways, I welcome this new addition to the site.

 

[RollForInitiative]

What would be your policy on animes which have been officially dubbed but fansubbed? I'm thinking mostly cases like One Piece here and considering the vast gulf in quality between the two versions.
Will you only be reviewing the versions available in the US?

Official legal distribution channels in North America only. No fansubs. In fact, fansubs are no longer legal after the series has been licensed for release anyways.

I eagerly await the day the Escapist reviews When They Cry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_They_Cry

Actually, that may or may not be fun......

I will personally kill a sackful of kittens in order to be the one that gets to review Higurashi if we do it. I have a lot to say on that subject.

you can't say much with out just summarizing the entire episode.

Maybe you can't, but we can.

 

[Lonko]

What would be your policy on animes which have been officially dubbed but fansubbed? I'm thinking mostly cases like One Piece here and considering the vast gulf in quality between the two versions.
Will you only be reviewing the versions available in the US?

Official legal distribution channels in North America only. No fansubs. In fact, fansubs are no longer legal after the series has been licensed for release anyways.

Alright, thanks for that. I'm looking forward to the reviews.

 

[Keane Ng]

Catbus approves of this.

Do something from The Studio Ghibli Collection. I have a few and am wondering whether to get more.

Which Ghibli movies have you seen?

Err.

• Howl's Moving Castle
  Spirited Away
  Princess Mononoke

And I've heard good things about The Cat's Return, My Neighbour Totoro and Castle of Cagliostro. So I might rent/buy those if I find them.

I'm also pretty sure I spelt none of those correctly.

All three of those are great to okay. Totoro obviously you need to see (catbus), then maybe Castle and then The Cat's Return. You might be a little bit turned off because you've only seen the recent Ghibli movies that use a bit of CG and look more modern, but that won't really matter in the end.

I would watch Totoro and then move on to Laputa and Nausicaa. My favorite Ghibli movies actually aren't any of those, Totoro aside, I'm a big fan of Grave of the Fireflies and Only Yesterday. Give those a shot after you finish with Miyazaki's stuff - they're a bit different but just as good, if not better in a different way.

 

[Zera]

Anime reviews on the escapist now huh? No problem with me as long as this stays a mostly video game site, interesting to see new takes on japanese animation. I suggest the box sets of Shana and Midori days. Every once in a while you should do something popular like Bleach or Code Geass.

 

[Time Travelling Toaster]

This actually seems like a really good idea, I've been meaning to find some more animes but never found any that appealed to me, so reviews on here should help me to pick up some more common good ones.

 

[Maur DL]

Well crap. I'm definitely interested in this. So interested I even created an account just to say so. I've been following this site for a while (since Yahtzee arrived) and have seen all the Unskippables as well, but never made an account. I didn't know you guys were even taking on anime reviewers so now I feel like I missed out on something I would've liked to apply for.

So I have to ask, how exactly did you pick the reviewers you have? I'm just curious to know what it took to get this opportunity.