I hold the Soul Society Arc in very high regard, but even I’ll admit this first quarter is a little on the slow side. Now, it’s the beginning, it’s just setting things in motion, so I can’t be too hard on it, but there are one or two moments when the anime team stretch some things out to breaking point, something they thankfully resist as the arc goes on. So with that all being said, let’s take a closer look at the first chunk of Soul Society episodes!
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Given landing the job as reviewer for Anime UK News is what really gave me the push into reviewing things, it only made sense for Review #1,000 to be an anime review. I didn’t have the time to review a whole series (nor would I want to condense a whole series into a single review) so I decided to review my favourite singular episode, and when I made that decision there was only one thing that leapt to mind… Cowboy Bebop’s fifth episode, “Ballad of Fallen Angels” is not only brilliantly written, acted (in both languages) and scored, but it also stands entirely alone, which is handy for reviewing purposes! So let’s celebrate 1,000 reviews with style!
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It’s time to end the year with a not-every-week-but-close look at the Soul Society arc in Bleach… but first I need to finish off the preceding arc that I left with six episodes left to review (which is fairness to my past self, makes sense as these episodes are far more a prologue to the next arc than anything to do with the 14 episodes before it) These six episodes are very important to the series as a whole: we have our first Shinigami vs. Shinigami fight, we’re introduced to the idea of Captains and Lieutenants, we actually see Soul Society, and Ichigo gets his Shinigami powers, including his trademark large butcher knife blade! Does it all work in such a short amount of time? Let’s have a look!
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I had no idea what to call this as it was an OVA film that was split into three episodes for the region I’m in, so do I call it “OVA 1”? “Series 1”? “The Complete First Season”? *shrugs* I’ll just call it “Burn The Witch” and worry about it whenever the next one comes out… So, Burn The Witch is a spin-off from Bleach (which coincidentally I’ll be covering a bit more in the coming weeks) focusing on what is eventually revealed as the “Western Branch” of Soul Society who deal with Dragons rather than Hollows. What’s it like? Let’s find out!
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My review of the first half of My Hero Academia’s Fourth Season on Blu-Ray is up for a look HERE. Always a pleasure to talk about MHA, even if I have to stop short of talking about some of the best bits!
It’s time to end the After Colony era with “Endless Waltz” the OVA/film that puts a neat little bow on the Gundam Wing series. Or does it?! That’s actually a hard question to answer as it does add some missing backstory to some key characters, but it also feels very rushed. I guess the only thing to do is have a closer look!
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Sometimes I think the “Overall Review” isn’t very different from the part reviews, just a convenient place to get, well, an overall opinion. With Gundam Wing it’s odd because when looked at as a whole a few issues really get highlighted, especially an inescapable feeling of it being written on the fly. Does this hurt the series overall, or is it still worth a watch? Let’s take a look…
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While the road has been bumpy, full of radical direction changes and reorganisations galore, Gundam Wing reaches its finale and somehow we’ve ended up with a very familiar Earth vs. The Colonies set up, though one where the leaders of both sides aren’t your typical villain, and our “heroes” aren’t on either side. Does the finale pay off? Let’s find out!
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Gundam Wing continues on its path of constantly changing the narrative and factions at the drop of a hat in its third chunk, whether that’s a good thing or not I’m not sure, but at least the pace was never slow! So which side is which character on? What are the sides? Is Relena really back? Is there really a new character that’s even more annoying?! Let’s take a good look at these episodes and find out!
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Gundam Wing begins to properly kick into full gear as we look at the second chunk of episodes (though for the record, Episodes 27 and 28 are recap episodes, so really this is Episodes 14 to 26…) While the core quintet of Gundam Pilots are fleshed out a bit more I have to say that once again Zechs Merquise / Milliardo Peacecraft and his boss Trieze have the most interesting moments in the narrative. Want to find out more? Let’s dig a little deeper…
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Hogan Reviews 