About three weeks ago I brought forth the anime about a stunning young woman and her cyborg partner.  Both Appleseed and the sequel Appleseed Ex Machina are done in beautiful CG animation, making the films badass characters look even more badass as they flip around in combat.  The story sort of takes off with the same idea as last time, the two main characters, Deunan Knute and Briareous the cyborg, combating against evil to keep their Utopian society.

In light of the Batman theme, I went out and bought the new Batman: Gotham Knight yesterday.  I was extremely excited when I first heard about this, six mini-sodes to key us in on what the Dark Knight has been up to since Batman Begins, sounds like a good time to me.  Unfortunately, the extremely painfully short episodes, or blips as I would call them, left me confused and less than happy.

Deunan Knute, the main character of Appleseed, has had a less-than-normal life.  As a legendary female soldier, and survivor of the Third World War, you could say she is something close to badass.  She is the main reason that I enjoyed this anime, not for the twist, or the CG animation, but for the hardcore female badass.  Usually with anime there is the alpha male and the weakling little girl who screams, cries and flashes her panties.  Now, not all are like that, Noir is about two badass girls, Aeon Flux has another badass lady, but for some reason I could never get through Noir’s entire series box.  As for Aeon Flux, I just could not stand the dreadful artwork, sorry to say, but it sucks.

A Tree of Palme is basically a futuristic Pinocchio tale.  Just like the Disney movie, a small wooden puppet with the name of Palme ventures out into the world to become more humanly.

Who said pigs can’t fly?  Porco Rosso is about a guy who was once a WWI ace fighter pilot that is now cursed to have the face of a pig for the rest of his life.  Porco, also known as Marco, began his life as a handsome fighter pilot for the Italian Air Force.

When he and his comrades were flying through enemy territory, they found themselves in the midst of a battle.  Fighter planes flying everywhere, shooting left and right and everyone except Porco was gunned down.

It’s funny how a child can bring people closer together, and pull them from the depths of desperation.  In the movie Tokyo Godfathers, by the same person of Paprika and Millennium Actress, three homeless friends happen to be in the right place at the right time. 

One Christmas eve, the three friends were digging through some trash for presents for one another when they discovered an abandoned infant.  The child was crying, cold and hungry, so the three did the right thing and took it in for the night.

After nearly 50 episodes of following the characters in the Orphen series around, I would have to say that I connected really well with them.  Connecting with the characters is something I really enjoy, so I am glad that I was able to do that in both series.  No, there are not 50 episodes in Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Revenge, but there are 23.  The other 24 came with the first series I reviewed, Orphen. 

Have you ever watched something and it left you wanting more?  Well, Blood: The Last Vampire did that to me in the worst sort of way.  This anime starts off with a pretty decent beginning full of suspense and sword slinging action ending with pools of blood.

A rogue sorcerer named Orphen, on a mission to save his friend Azalie, becomes a teacher himself when he takes on an apprentice named Majic.

A young and beautiful girl named Cleao Everlasting coems home from boarding school to live with her mother and sister for the summer holidays.

I went on a vampire movie kick this weekend, you know, the good ones, Frank Coppola’s Dracula, Nosferatu [1922] and Interview with the Vampire.  Finally, on Sunday, I spent a great deal of time frantically searching for an anime to watch and I stumbled upon this one.  Here’s to mayhem and sucking blood, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.  I have to say that this put a damper on my stay-in-bed-cause-I’m-sick weekend movie mash, but it nonetheless was a pretty decent flick in its own right.