Looking for some quick anime reviews? Then Irregular Reconnaissance is for you. This is a collection of some of titles I’ve been watching and what I think of them.
Irregular Reconnaissance is also about discussion. Which anime titles would you recommend? Do you disagree with any of the mini-reviews I’ve penned below?
Jormungand
Season 2, Episodes 7 to 12
Jormungand continues to deliver. It held my interest completely. The world continues to feel all-to-believable even if some of the characters (Koko and family) seem incredible. What makes the anime work is a compelling plot combined with plenty of moral uncertainty.
What do I mean by moral uncertainty? These are arms dealers after all. The main male character is just a boy with a machine gun. Do we want mad Koko’s horrible plan to work? It would bring peace to Earth. I suppose it would – in a form.
I really liked Jormungand. It’s clever. It treats the audience as more than young adults looking for explosions and a bit ofplot.
Status: Strongly recommended.
Where: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Base.com
Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing
Episodes 18 to 21
This anime gets better the longer you watch it. It started off with beautiful scenery and a good concept. It matures into believable characters, plenty of drama and tension.
This is a sequel to Last Exile (an anime I feel I should now track down and watch) and a drama that starts on a personal level and escalates to maters of world importance. The concept of “exile” begins to take on various different meanings as the drama unfolds. Would you take actions that you know would result in your exile even if they benefited the very people who exiled you?
I was a little wobbly on Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing to begin with. I might have talked about the quality of the animation as the highlight. By the end of the series I took the quality for granted and was impressed by the story.
Status: Recommended
Where: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Base.com
Log Horizon
Episodes 16 to 25
Better than Sword Art Online? I think so. Log Horizon deals with people trapped in a MMO but we’ve a larger group, a more adult group and a more believable group.
In Log Horizon the characters don’t stay dead if they die. They respawn as they would in a MMO but we’re beginning to understand the consequences of that. It’s the game’s mythology that makes this work and it’s a mythology that suggests the writers have really thought about it.
Most of all; I love how Log Horizon spins around the rolls of NPCs. The People of Land become very real and it’s the Adventures who seem somewhat alien. Twist! The Adventures are odd in the sense that geeks watching the series might relate to. It’s a clever move.
Status: Strongly recommended
Where: Crunchyroll | Amazon US
Blade and Soul
Episode 7
I must have been restless. After a long break I tuned into watch one more episode of Blade and Soul.
This is so frustrating. There’s the sense of a great world and possible story but we can’t quite get to it. It’s the fan service – not something I normally I object to! – that seems to get in the way. For some reason, even though I’m an experienced anime fan, I just can’t get over the costumes and unlikely body shapes of the show. Blade and Soul ends with a boob dance for the outro credits.
Will I give episode 8 a chance? Yeah. Probably. Eventually.
Status: Meh, needs to deliver drama in proportion to the body parts
Where: Crunchyroll
Parasyte
Episodes 1 to 5
I discovered Parasyte because of the live action trailers. There’s a movie coming.
I’m not normally into the freaky horror anime but something told me to give Parasyte a try. I’m glad I did.
Yes, sure, there’s blood in this and the anime is based around the strange concept of alien muscle invading your body and taking control but Parasyte is strangely interesting. The characters feel real – even the alien parasite.
There’s drama, suspense and even romance in Parasyte. I would never have predicted it. I think the parasite himself might be a sneaky way to do a really clever cosplay.
Status: Recommended
Where: Crunchyroll
One Piece
Episodes 183 to 205
It was a long and late night of tabletop roleplaying that helped push One Piece enjoyment onwards and upwards. The disc went on as people began to turn up and stayed on while we ate lunch. We actually delayed starting the adventure until the end of an episode.
One Piece is an old anime but by the time you’re up into the 200s then the animation is catching up with the standards that today’s casual anime fans expect. For The One Piece: Collection 8 we’ve got people who live in the clouds, lightening bolts and a particularly evil villain called Eneru.
Status: A cult classic morphing into a contemporary success
Recommended: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Base.com
Dragon Ball
Episodes 58 to 83
This is all action. We’ve got Dodon Rays and Kamehameha blasts and Goku takes on about everyone! We deal with Mercenary Tao, The Red Ribbon Army, the Demon Land and others. This collection has both the Commander Red Saga and the Fortune Teller Baba Saga.
Dragon Ball is back in the spotlight with the Dragon Ball Z: Battle Of Gods anime just out and a new Dragon Ball movie beginning to share teasers. I’m not sure you need to watch the entire backlog to appreciate the movies but it can’t help.
Status: A cult classic with plenty of super powers
Where: Amazon UK | Amazon US
All reviews are based on real-life anime fandom. The titles here include some provided for review by Manga UK, some bought on disc and others streamed legally from Netflix and Crunchyroll.
