VIZ has finally started releasing the boxed sets of Naruto Shippuden (yay!), but in the meantime their individual volumes are still ahead of the boxes as far as episodes are concerned. The problem here is fans may have already started collecting the individual discs before the collection was announced. There's a reason this practice was more or less abandoned by the anime industry, but these feelings aside yet another low-episode count DVD has landed on my doorstep.

In case you're unfamiliar with Naruto then do yourself a favor and use the "search reviews" function at the top of this page. I won't bother reciting the history of the show or go into lengthy dialogue regarding what it's about. If you're coming to this review for the sixth installment of Naruto Shippuden then I'm going out on a limb and assume you know what's going on in the serie...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

20th Century Boys was one of the more acclaimed and popular Japanese comics of the past decade. Created by master manga artist Naoki Urasawa, it spanned six years and twenty-two books. Needless to say, when the manga was adapted into a live-action trilogy by director Yukhilo Tsutsumi two years ago, it was a big pop culture event. A portion of these books has been published in America since then, and now the movies are being imported, as well. The first dropped at the end of last year (you can read my thoughts on it, and more on the comics, here), and now we have 20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope.

Compressing anything as complex as 20th Cen...Read the entire review

VIZ has finally started releasing the boxed sets of Naruto Shippuden (yay!), but in the meantime their individual volumes are still ahead of the boxes as far as episodes are concerned. The problem here is fans may have already started collecting the individual discs before the collection was announced. There's a reason this practice was more or less abandoned by the anime industry, but these feelings aside yet another four-episode DVD has landed on my doorstep.

In case you're unfamiliar with Naruto then do yourself a favor and use the "search reviews" function at the top of this page. I won't bother reciting the history of the show or go into lengthy dialogue regarding what it's about. If you're coming to this review for the fifth installment of Naruto Shippuden then I'm going out on a limb and assume you know what's going on in the series. Read the entire review

There's a reason complete collections and larger batches of episodes have overtaken individual volumes for anime. For an example let's just take a look at Naruto.

The original series came out in beautiful three disc sets with several episodes apiece. After all, there were so many episodes in the series that getting a measly four at a time just didn't seem plausible or an intelligent way to market it. However, for the sequel VIZ opted to begin by releasing it as individual discs with four episodes a pop. Needless to say it's been a little frustrating so far and each volume feels painfully light. Thankfully there is a light at the end of the tunnel though. Next month we'll be getting a boxed set with a collection of episodes, so if you've held off so far you have something to cheer about.

Personally one of the things I dislike about individual volumes (at ...Read the entire review

The Series:

Hunter X Hunter set four finishes out the series. These last episodes don't really wrap up the show in a very convincing way, they just tie up the current story arc in a very rushed fashion and leave all of the other plot lines, including Gon's search for his father, hanging. When all is said and done, this show doesn't quite hit the mark. It's trying to be a juvenile adventure show along the lines of One Piece or Bleach but it quickly splinters into several competing stories leaving the characters underdeveloped (even for a Shonen Jump series) and the plot hard to follow. The fact that it was cancelled before it's time isn't anything to lament.

Series Background:

Gon is a young 10-year-old orphan living with his aunt. He's always been a bit of a loner and spends most of his time exploring the wilderness around his house. One afternoon Gon gets into...Read the entire review

The Series:

Based on the manga series by Naoki Urasawa, Monster has been running on SyFy for a little while now, which is probably where most American viewers would have gotten their first taste of this grim, if highly addictive, series of psychological suspense. Viz Communications has wisely decided to release the first volume of episodes onto DVD for U.S. and Canadian audiences to enjoy, compiling the first fifteen episodes in this three disc set.

So what's it all about?

The series is set in Germany in 1986 where a young Dr. Kenzo Tenma is climbing the ranks in the hospital where he works as a surgeon. He's engaged to the foxy daughter of the man in charge and all signs point to a very successful career. All of that changes, however, when he's asked to disregard the hospital's 'first come, first served' standard and operate on a wealthy patron instead of an average cit...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

My name is Jamie S. Rich, and I am a Naoki Urasawa addict. I am not ashamed, and I don't want to quit. I have been gobbling up his manga since Viz started translating his epic thriller Monster a couple of years ago, and if their grinding publishing schedule has adversely affected my life by causing me to stay in on a particular night so I can read the newest release, then so be it. I don't care. I read 20th Century Boys vol. 6 earlier this week, and they can't bring on vol. 7 fast enough.

To tide me over is the first part of the mammoth film trilogy adapting the 20th Century Boys comic book. There are 22 graphic novel volumes in the manga series, so that's quite a lot of story, even for three movies. This first part, Beginning of...Read the entire review