Category: Drama

Bonus Round – The Amazing Rosetta & Chums Circus

2 Comments

In our newest contribution for the Bonus Round on Anime3000, we look at Kaleido Star Season 1. In a miracle of miracles it seems that Studio Gonzo is able to hit one out of the park on occasion. The 2003 show is about a young girl’s struggle to become a circus star in the competitive and glamorous world of the Kaleido Stage. She is told by the mysterious spirit of the stage that she has the potential to perform the legendary maneuver but she will have to overcome some harsh shojo sports training before she is ready. As well as the review there is a little commercial before the main event for an amazing new Anime 3000 production. I hope you will enjoy it whenever it comes to your town. It is almost too good to be true.

Anime3000 – Bonus Round – Kaleido Star Season 1


May’s Manga of the Month: GTO Shonan 14 Days

5 Comments

GTO Shonan 14 Days (麻辣教师GTO 湘南14天) by Tooru Fujisawa

Whenever Tohru Fujisawa needs work he goes back to the well named Eikichi Onizuka. Onizuka has been in Bad Company, Shonan Junai Gumi, and Great Teacher Onizuka and now he is continuing his adventures in GTO Shonan 14 Days. But there is a reason Fujisawa can always go back to the Onizuka well. Onizuka’s adventures are filled with splendid mixture of manly action, naughty comedy, and heartfelt drama that make a well balanced meal that always satisfies and leaves you wanting more.

 GTO Shonan 14 Days is an odd manga in the fact that the whole story takes place in the two weeks between the climax of the original GTO manga and the epilogue. After an incident on TV Onizuka decides to visit Shonan until the heat dies down. He meets the beautiful Ayame Shiratori who knows him through Azusa Fuytsuki and is convinced to come with her at the White Swan youth home. Onizuka has to work his over the top magic with troubled teens while trying to lose his pesky virginity once and for all.

GTO Shonan 14 Days is more GTO just in a new setting but I am all right with that. It is like sitting down to a comforting meal after a hard days work. There is just something comforting in seeing GTO back in the saddle. The kids Onizuka have to deal with always send the craziest problems his way and Onizuka tackles them by seeing their crazy and then raising them double. But he is so charmingly manly when he does it that you cannot help but root for him. The series also integrates some fan favorite characters from both GTO and Shonan Junai Gumi so any long time fans will get a bit of service as well. I really hope that some one license rescues GTO and picks up Shonan 14 Days at the same time. It is a title that really need to stay in print in all its forms. This series is a classic in all its iterations.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes Gaiden 1: A Hundred Billion Stars, A Hundred Billion Lights

4 Comments

Warning: We assume that you have watched the main series of Legend of the Galactic Heroes (the original 110 episode OVA) before reading this. We will not spoil anything major in the Gaiden series but everything and anything in the main part is fair game.

hisuiconThe first gaiden series looks at the rise of Reinhard and Kircheis after they decide to overthrow the Emperor but before the beginning of the main series. Some of the tales of their dangerous but meteoric rise through the ranks is mentioned in passing before this but here we see a younger and less developed duo. During this time it is made even clearer than it was in the main series how vital the cool-headed Kircheis was to a reckless young Reinhard.

narutaki If you’re like most people who sat through 110-episodes of Legend of the Galactic Heroes, you probably didn’t want it to end. Lucky for us there was plenty of story to still be told. In this first gaiden installment, we go back a little ways to see Reinhard’s entry into military service of which we only glimpsed from the original OVA.

Continue reading →