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Area 88 TV
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Animation - 7.9 |
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Sound - 8.1 |
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Story - 6.6 |
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Character - 6.9 |
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Value - 7.5 |
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Enjoyment - 7.8 |
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Average - 7.5 |
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| Average |
8.5 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| The visuals of this anime are nothing short of brilliant. The music throughout is awesome. The characters well... they were overshadowed by the other elements.
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| Average |
4.2 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
3 |
| Character |
3 |
| Value |
2 |
| Enjoyment |
2 |
| Ich muss sagen dass ich mir von Area88 schon lange im Vorfeld nicht allzu viel versprochen habe und mir allein aus dem Grund ansehen wollte da ich nach Yukikaze große Lust auf Animes mit Kampfjets bekommen habe. Von Seiten der Story und der Charaktere habe ich recht wenig erwartet und ich lag auch komplett richtig mit meiner Vermutung das Area88 in diesen Kategorien nicht allzu viel zu bieten hat. Inhaltlich präsentiert sich Area88 viel zu schwach, so schwach das es schon fast erschreckend ist. Nach Spannung oder Tiefe kann man hier lange suchen, man wird nichts der Gleichen auch nur im Ansatz finden. Die Handlung gibt sich extrem dünn und kommt hauptsächlich episodisch daher und der stattfindende Krieg wird überhaupt nicht thematisiert. Anstatt z. B. aufzuzeigen wie hart es für einen Menschen ist in den Krieg zu ziehen, was es für eine Überwindung kostet ohne zu zögern den Abzug zu drücken oder wie sich Menschen in Kriegszeiten verändern (siehe zB “Gundam Seed“), dient er allein als Alibi für die zahlreichen Action-Szenen. Auch die Charaktere sind nicht im Geringsten der Rede wert und weisen weder Entwicklung vor noch werden dem Zuschauer tiefere Einblicke gewährt. Ins Flugzeug steigen, Feinde abballern und das ganze stets wieder von vorne, das reicht um die Daseinsberechtigung eines Großteils des Casts zu beschreiben. Der Hauptcharakter ist zwar noch am ehesten interessant aber die Serie konzentriert sich allzu selten darauf ihn und seine Beweggründe in den Fokus zu rücken. Aber gut…wie gesagt habe ich diesbezüglich auch nichts anderes von Area88 erwartet. Ich ging in diesen Anime mit der Erwartung hinein rasante Kampfjet-Action zu sehen und nach Yukikaze mal wieder einen kleinen Aircombat-Adrenalintrip zu genießen. Aber leider auch hier: Enttäuschung pur! Natürlich habe ich keine Animationen auf dem Niveau eines Macross Zero oder Yukikaze erwartet aber das was hier geboten wird reicht bei weitem nicht aus um vom Unterhaltungswert auch nur annährend ein hohes Niveau zu erreichen. Die Luftschlachten sind einfach schwach in Szene gesetzt und können einfach nicht vom Hocker reißen, besonders nicht wenn man die oben genannten Referenzen in Sachen Darstellung von Aircombats bereits gesehen hat und nicht umhin kommt Vergleiche zu ziehen. Da Area88 die Action in den Vordergrund stellt ist das natürlich ein herber Schlag für diesen Anime da Story und Charaktere komplett ausscheiden wenn es darum geht einen Spaßpegel aufrecht zu erhalten. So bleibt mit dieser Serie am Ende eigentlich gar nichts übrig was sich lohnen würde angeschaut zu werden. Area88 ist einfach nur Langeweile pur und es kostete mich schon nach der ersten Episode sehr viel Überwindung mir die Nächste anzuschauen. Das einzige was diesen Anime wenigstens etwas hervor stehen lässt ist der Soundtrack, aber im Gegensatz zu großartigen Animationen (siehe auch hier: Yukikaze) ist das nicht genug um eine Serie zu retten. Area88 ist für mich komplett wertlos und jeder der geniale, mitreißende Kampfjet-Action genießen will sollte sich Macross Zero oder Sentou Yousei Yukikaze ansehen. Angesichts dieser Alternativen gibt es keinen Grund einen Blick auf diesen gescheiterten Versuch hier zu werfen.
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Ridian |
(2005-06-30 22:43:58) 2005-06-26 15:23:52 |
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| Average |
5.5 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
4 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
5 |
| After greatly enjoying the Area 88 OVA, but left wondering about its open-ended conclusion as well, I decided to invest my time in the far more modern TV series to see if it would answer my questions. Expecting little more than a rehash, I opened up the first episode to an interesting surprise; a violin-trance opening by Vincent de Moor greeted my unsuspecting ears. A promising start, certainly, and only the beginning of the changes this would make to the OVA series.
Unfortunately, a majority of these changes were far from pleasant or agreeable ones. Area 88 TV, in all practicality, is a bastardization of its ultimately superior OVA counterpart. The aspect that was changed for the worst is, without a doubt, the characterization. In Area 88, I felt genuine sympathy for Shin and admired Ryoko's tenacity. I chuckled wryly at old man McCoy's antics, grinned at Mickey's playful camaraderie, and wanted to kick Kanzaki's ass. All of this is completely gone in this series. Shin, once a good-natured if not stoic man, has received an almost empty TV rendering. He barely even has any dialogue, let alone a personality or anything that would redeem him as a character. Ryoko, due to another unusual directorial decision, has been relegated to almost caricatural status, doing little more than some half-hearted protesting in her five minutes of screen time. McCoy is basically just an asshole now, without any of the tough-hearted grandpa demeanor that made him a much realer character in the 1985 series; now he's just some old guy who stiffs the mercenaries out of their money. Mickey's personality has been flushed as well (a point of amusement: in Episode 12, he's reading a Playgirl magazine. heheh). Did I mention the two new characters, Kitori and Kim? Both are unredeemably obnoxious and poorly realized. Would anyone like to tell me why a 10-year-old is in Area 88, anyway? And did we really need Kitori? I believe her only purpose in the anime was to polarize the all-male mercenary force and prove that "omg women can fight too".
Finally, about 90% of Kanzaki's jerk points have been transferred to a character who has found new meaning in this series; he seems like a cute puppy here in comparison to the heinous bastard he was previously. Makoto, nicknamed Rocky in the first series, has been deemed a much more important role in this TV series. Unfortunately, a generally amiable character from twenty years ago has now become an insufferable snipe in this incarnation. Full of backhanded, ingrateful witticisms and droll attitude, Makoto is about as unlikeable as any good villain. The original series dealt with his character perfectly; this one managed to trash it. And they don't even call him Rocky anymore! What's up with that? This transformation was quite clearly made to accomodate the new direction that the plot takes in the TV series.
Unfortunately, this direction is focused more on the gunfighting than the really good stuff. I suppose that, after being turned off by two series' worth of aerial combat, that I'm just not a dogfighting fan...but how does that account for my enjoyment of Macross Zero's skirmishes? I find it rather difficult to understand that both this and its predecessor failed to create gripping combat scenes. Interestingly, however, I managed to bring myself to attention whenever a trance song was played during the combats. Though at first they feel rather out of place, it actually turns out to integrate itself very smoothly by the third episode. Unfortunately, the trance is rarely played for longer than a minute, whereupon the audience is free to drift into a half-conscious stupor. The inclusion of more boring gunfighting, however, is only half of the problem; the other half is the fact that it takes the place of the genuinely good plot and character drama. The OVA series gave a great deal of attention to Ryoko's personal struggles, for instance; how she dealt with Kanzaki's lecherous advances and her pining for Shin are two of the most interesting points of Area 88 OVA. Here, however, Ryoko has almost no screen time, becoming a very minor character. Saki's backstory is completely removed, and Shin's drafting into Area 88 is very glossed-over. It's not even clear what he's doing at Area 88 until at least episode 5 of the series...which isn't good. If I hadn't seen the OVA first, I'd be totally confused. Also worth noting is the fact that the directors STILL aren't convincing me that Area 88 is all that scary of a place. Hmmph. That aside, I could easily sit here and count off plot points that were removed from the original version...and all in favor of boring gunfighting and episodic situations.
Unfortunately, I can't recommend Area 88 TV when an infinitely superior OVA is available to anyone who shows interest. Maybe you'll enjoy it if you are slightly more tolerant of the gunfighting...but anyone looking for the competent drama of the first series should best stay away.
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| Average |
8.2 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Although that i have not seen the original series (it is really hard to evaluate it, and not only it, all other series, correct without watching series realted to it).
The best thing in this anime is that there are no super-duper robots, no ninja techniques nothing surrealistic. It is a story of the lives, the real ones, and it is touching in its way, that this is not happening in the future, not in the past, not even in the space or somewhere else. It is here, with the people like us, with the problems like us, with the feelings like us.
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| Average |
8.8 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Even though most people seem to think this was based on the OVA in all actual fact, it's more in line with the manga.
I didn't rate this as high as I would have liked to, because I loved it a lot, but I wasn't overly fond of the ending theme.
The characters needed to have the fleshing out that more episodes would have cured. Honestly I think I only loved it as much as I did because I've read the Viz translated comics.
The story is good, the general idea is good, but it gets so much better, I was hoping I could finally find out what happens at the end, since Viz put a hold on Area 88 in 1988 so I was disappointed to find out that I will NEVER KNOW.
I loved the TV series, and went gaga over it. I recommended it to everyone but I honestly think this could have been a perfect 10 if they'd given it more episodes.
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Amilo-D |
(2004-12-24 22:50:41) 2004-11-01 18:17:57 |
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| Average |
8.5 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| I think other reviewers have pointed it out so far that this anime have killer visuals.. Computer rendered planes look excellent, altough a bit low-poly (note the canopy profile of F-14's). Characters are also rendered smoothly with nice shadow effects. It's almost as good as Macross Zero, but not quite there.
Sound leaves nothing to desire. Gunfire, engine groal and other sfx are nice. Voice acting is ok. Music is also fitting the theme, altough a bit shaby.
Don't get me wrong, i love aviation, and this anime sure is very entertaining! Even 12 episodes seem enough given the amount of action and detail to combat involved..
BUT... story and chracters are kinda lame..
What kind of military deploy a wall as their ultimate weapon? And who is stupid enough to fly so low to be caught be it? If pilots did fly low to avoid radar, then how did enemy knew they were coming? Also the whole pay-per-fight system is very hard to get used to. Seems the maker of this anime aren't very familiar with how air war works (play a decent combat sim damnit :P).
Characters are a mixed bag. I won't call them exactly bad, but they do act stupid from time to time. Story is non-exsistent in the first half of show.. which is not exactly a bad thing. When it kicks in, it's actually decent. One major flaw with entire plot is that why the heck didn't Pilot Shin called japan (to his girl), while the photographer shin was able to do so?
That's why i mean they act stupid and illogical. BUT none the less, it's a good and entertaining anime! Watch it for enjoyment and don't try to get involved in story too much :D
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| Average |
9.3 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Area '88 is a series that gives you a nostalgic feeling as you go through the episodes. In my opinion it was an excellent series that left me with a lasting feel that made me glad I watched this.
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| Average |
8.0 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| I've never watched the original, and I was skeptical going in, knowing that Area 88 is based on a SNES game called U.N. Squadron. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised.
Animation seems fairly standard early 90ish, but aerial combat scenes are breathtaking! There is one scene in particular, which seems to have been derived from Star Wars' trench run scene, which left my jaws on the floor.
Music is mostly techno, and very well done! I would have given it a perfect ten if Techno was my thing, but sadly it isn't.
Story isn't all that complex, and I can describe it in a sentence. It is about one man's quest to return to his home country, after a friend's betrayal. The cast of characters is a stereotype galore: A greedy merchant, tough guy sidekick, quiet yet mysterious captain, quiet hero, and an outgoing female to spice things up a bit halfway through the series.
Fights are nothing like the game, which makes you shoot down thousands of enemies to reach a checkpoint. Combats are choreographed brilliantly, and if you are like me and can't have enough of Top Gun style battles, Area 88 is for you.
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3line |
(2004-07-25 20:47:10) 2004-07-24 19:29:40 |
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| Average |
4.8 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
4 |
| Story |
3 |
| Character |
2 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
4 |
| Oh lordy, I hope neo-Nazi types never get their hands on a show like this. Right now it’s one of the most egregious examples of blatant self-hating white worship in anime that I’ve ever seen.
The plot of this show is basically meaningless, but for the sake of the review, I must detail it in brief. Area 88 concerns a blond-haired, blue-eyed Japanese (!) superaryan named Shin Kazama. Shin was backstabbed by his cold-hearted and dark-haired Japanese business partner and drafted into some Central Asian mercenary air force. So Shin gets sent off to war, while his dark-haired “friend� tries to mack on his fiancée back home. To close the deal, the dark-haired dude hires another dark-haired dude to go to the war zone and capture Shin’s death on photograph. That way, the evil dark-haired backstabber can finally get some play. So yeah, this photographer goes there, acts like a snot, and gets beat up by blond-haired, blue-eyed American superaryan Mickey (who is, btw, an AMAZING pilot second only to Shin) for being such an utter toolbag. You can see where this is going. Even though there are other characters noted for their heroism, none can compare to the sheer skill of the Shin-Mickey superaryan duo. This revisionist ethnic agenda becomes even more blatant when you consider the fact that Shin had brown hair and brown eyes in the original Area 88.
Aside from these utterly retarded characters, the plot has holes big enough to fit a fleet of C-130s. There are serious logical flaws in just about every episode. Early on, Shin and co. are called to investigate some region where a terrifying anti-aircraft defense is being deployed. So they get there, and lo and behold, the terrifying merc-slaughtering weapon is a wall. I kid you not. The rebels apparently have some retractable 200-foot wall that they push out of the desert to trap planes. There’s another episode where a single sniper ace lays siege to the entire base. They spend the whole day hiding inside, and at no time does anyone get the bright idea to hide in the shadows and look for muzzle flashes—ESPECIALLY at night. What’s even more absurd is that the sniper is presumably in the same location for the entire duration of the siege. In most situations, snipers know that a single location is good only for a few shots before your position is discovered (well, with these total dunces, who knows?). I mean, even when they had reached general idea about where the sniper was (they narrowed it down to one side of the base), they didn’t even bother to request aid from a neighboring base. Also on that note, since the enemy knew the base’s location so well that they were able to infiltrate a sniper there, why the hell didn’t they just prep the scuds and get it over with? Such a “hot� base would be a big fat target. About the only positives in this show were the drawings of the planes, which is good if you like that kind of stuff. Otherwise, this is irredeemable trash.
At this point, you may be wondering why I gave this a 7 for value. To me, it’s a perfect example of Japan’s latent colonized mentality at work.
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0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
7.5 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| A rare action anime that focuses mainly on aerial combat, and is a solid show, if nothing really special.
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
7.5 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Animation/Sound:
Old-School Artwork, but the animation is very smooth and crisp. Trance music during the dogfight sequences is a nice touch. Overall pretty good soundtrack.
Story:
Remake of the popular 80s anime of the same name. On the surface it seems like a standard action series with jet fighters. However, this is more of a love story than anything. The war and battles depicted in the anime are somewhat unimportant to the plot. The focus of the story is on how the main character will survive in the midst of war in order to return to his love. The major themes of this series are love, betrayal, and the will to live. Although the ending was somewhat lacking, the plot in general was scripted well and told the story effectively.
Characters:
Pretty typical cast of characters here in terms of their personalities. For a short series, the characters are developed adequately.
Conclusion:
Overall, Area88 is a good remake that surpasses its predecessor in more than a few areas. Like I mentioned before, it's an action series that focuses more on the themes of love and betrayal. It's a short series, so if you've got the time, I definitely recommend giving Area88 a try.
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| Average |
7.3 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| If you like techno music in your anime, this is the series for you! Everything seems to fit nicely together to make this a solid anime, but I think that it has room for some improvements.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
8.2 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Maybe my flight sim hobby affects my opinion about this anime a bit (especially being hooked to Strike Fighters Project 1 surely affects more than just a bit) but i think anyone can agree that this is the best jet fighter anime there is.
The CG planes don't fit into the drawn backgrouds always too well and sometimes their flight looks a bit weird. Also even though this anime was probably meant to be at least a bit realistic, i had great laughs when i saw a fishbed fire it's 20mm like crazy. Those things had 30 rounds so i doubt the pilots would shoot anything else than easy kills. Shooting down missiles with cannon is also almost impossible. Point defenses in ships have like four high firing rate machine guns and even then it's not easy to take 'em out.
Music is a bit boring. It sounds like basic trance/techno stuff and it doesn't seem to fit in the theme too well. Maybe with modern planes but with those from 60's - i think something like rock would sound better. I haven't heard much electronica in animes though so maybe i should give some points for originality.
The story seems to develop a bit slowly but im' interested about this mercenary theme. Also the past of the main character is interesting. It's kind of opposite to the dogfighting action and i think it's only good that the series isn't only about planes and warring.
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M |
(2004-11-18 00:50:55) 2004-03-18 22:30:27 |
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| Average |
8.8 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| This remake of an older OVA series is doing a good job of renovating it with a new sense of itself, while keeping with tradition. (If you haven't seen the original OVA, i remember them as MUCH kooler) ANYWAYs, it just started and i'm hoping the series will turn out to be good. So far so good. (update: The ending just wasn't as good as the original OVA) The Animation is a mix of CG and cells, the planes being mostly CG which works well sometimes and not so well some othter times. Dispite all this, the music is what got me. There's a very strong trance/dance song theme in the anime. The opening theme and most dog fights are overlapped with trance music. I love the music, it seems like someting no one's every really done before. I think it's fresh, good timing to bring back the anime. I hope it ends up being real good. I wait for each new ep. like i would Naruto now.
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| Average |
5.2 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
5 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
5 |
| I never saw the original work for Area 88, but I did play the game (UN Squad) back on the Snes and remember liking it.
With that I watched about four episodes of 88 04 and was completely unimpressed. Worse than that, I was bored. I take a great interest when it comes to war planes and dogfights. However this anime proved not only dull in this aspect, but senseless as well. Compounding the issue is the general lack of eye candy when it comes to animation and CG. To simplify Area 88 04, its just plain ugly.
Perhaps I quit early on Area 88, but I was not on the story and definately not hooked on the action within the first four episodes. I also do not foresee as something that may potentially be worth my time. A recent anime from a similar genre but done with a much greater degree of quality and success would be Last Exile.
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Kentaro |
(2004-03-13 04:53:18) 2004-03-02 03:50:31 |
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| Average |
9.0 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Well to start it off... I used to play the super famicom game based off this anime... and man i used to spend hours trying to beat it (i was like 7 back then)...
*The music is not always the same, it could be boring however, depending on your taste, but the DJ that mixes the techno has a certain style... if you listen to techno you'd catch the difference...
*And of course they just fly and kill each other, what else can you do in a real fighter jet during a war
its a good anime overall... it has a somewhat successful story from like 20 years ago so i guess its a survivor... its not that popular in the states... and it's NOT macross if thats what you're thinking, this is a bit more realistic.
sidetrack
counter : about 3/7 eps waste time
update (after watching ep 7):
the main char's past becomes less vague, the story develops more with ep 6.
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Crossfire |
(2004-05-18 18:18:40) 2004-02-23 18:06:37 |
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| Average |
7.7 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| As Topgunesque for the dogfights that you can find in anime, except maybe for the Macross Plus/Zero series but without the extensive use of CG.
I loved the OAV series though it compressed too much of the manga.
Though the TV series doesn't seem to stand out from the onset I'll keep watching and modifying this review.
Episode 7 sets a very exciting landmark and I hope it gets better with time.
Added after viewing final episode 12.
Disappointing - the TV version had the potential to develop up the original story, especially about the war and the story that links Saki to it.
The series revolves mostly around Shin (who broods from beginning to end) with a few highlights from side characters from times to times.
Unlike the OVA series tough, it leaves on an optimistic open end, maybe too optimistic compared to the general dark overtones.
I haven't read enough of the manga to compare honestly but I hope it got a conclusive end.
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