I wasn't expecting the depth and intrigue I found once I got to the core of Hiromu Arakawa's "Fullmetal Alchemist". She never disappointed in the way of entertaining comedy and light-hearted mischief, but balanced this with heavy themes I would have never thought of what seemed to be a semi-average shonen read. Diving into the world of "Fullmetal Alchemist", I found the story centered around a number of complex ideas, such as what lies beyond death, what can be justified as living, what makes one human, what is the difference between 'good' and 'evil', not to mention the structure of human society and its many harsh, brutal flaws. These themes and more pulled me into Ed and Al's… Read more
As fitting of Shonen Jump titles, I found "Naruto" bred from many of their similar themes... violence and the odd scantily-clad woman. However, though it is obviously focused towards young boys (and teenagers), I still found it quite enjoyable, largely owing to Masashi Kishimoto's dinamic and stylish artwork. I have seen a few episodes of the anime, and the animation does little justice to the 'spunky' artwork at the core of "Naruto". As for the story line, it was somewhat refreshing compared to the slaughter-scentric material Shonen Jump usually presents. I found Naruto's over-enthusiastic, over-confident personality quite amusing and have since picked up more than a few of… Read more
Please see Richard S. Warner's review. Absolutley spot on. The 16 minutes spread out over the length of the movie does not seem like much but these 16 minutes add a entirely new dimension of understanding. It's too bad that the sound track was tweaked as my older receiver could only pick up 2.1. That tweaking extends beyond the director's cut to all 3 versions of the film. Sound not withstanding, this film is a must have for your library.
