If a date ends similarly, that's a good sign, too.

Just finished watching RahXephon, the TV series, not to be confused with the movie. It’s a 26 episode (about 23 minutes each) action, drama, mystery, psychological, romance, science fiction, mecha anime. Or, as T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews says “Rah is Eva done right.” Here read the reviews for your selves:

http://www.themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=335

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/rahxephon/dvd-7

IMO this is a great series and I can’t believe I took this long to get around to it.

BTW, watch the series not the movie which is just a condensed version of the series and doesn‘t do it justice.

Sounds promising. I'll have to check it out.

I've been working on season three of The Big Bang Theory. The writing has never been the greatest, but it seems like the writing for this season has been especially lazy. There's still some good stuff, but it's getting harder to stomach the more uninspired jokes when the characters are getting less likable. I still like Kaley Cuoco, at least. She reminds me of one of my friends in a couple of ways.

South Park still makes me happy.

LotR -- RotK has some serious BASS

I watched Steven Seagal Born to Raise Hell... I liked it..the guy can kick ass without dropping a sweat..it makes me want to learn Akido

A Clockwork Orange. A timeless classic.

Just finished marathon watching “Planetes” a 26 episode (about 23 minutes each) action, comedy, drama, romance, scifi, slice of life anime about garbage collectors. That’s right it’s about a group of space debris collectors that happens to be surprisingly good considering the theme.

Here are a couple of reviews:

http://www.themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=713

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/planetes/dvd-2

Even though it begins as just a slice of life story about space garbage collectors this show works, right from the beginning. The characters are likable and well fleshed out in the early to form a foundation for a broader plot that develops later on. A couple of things I really liked about it are that it’s character based so there’s lots of interest in what’s happening to them throughout the story. Also nice is that there are no filler episodes and much of what seems tangential early on comes back later.

The video quality is very good especially the CGI enhanced space scenes. Also nice is the 1.78:1 format for a nice involving picture. The audio is only 2.0 and doesn’t really seem to have much to pull out for the surround channels nor much LFE but it still sounds good for what it is.

Don’t let the lack of lots of intense action, fanservice, or fantastical premise fool you, this show is really good. I easily give it 5/5 stars finding it a very fast marathon watch, seeming to end way to fast. Note that the full set actually has 9 disks but 3 of them are bonus material, so if you don’t care about that you only need order the 6 episode disks.

Just finished watching “Stellvia of the Universe” a 26 (about 23 minute) episode action, adventure, comedy, drama, romance, scifi anime. Here are a couple reviews:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/stellvia/dvd-8

http://www.themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=505

As one review says don’t let the cutesy character design or the fact that it’s a “high school” anime in space detract you into thinking this isn’t a good science fiction story. IMO it’s strongest point is that it’s character driven and with all the characters being likable the show just sort of draws you in.

The PQ is good especially the CGI stuff and the bright colours of the cell animation which both make this a pleasure to look at. Only drawback is the 1.33:1 aspect ratio though because the characters are drawn a little on the skinny side it looked good on “stretch” filling up the 1.78:1 screen.

The SQ is good to start but clearly improves over time along with the English voice acting. The soundtrack is only 2.0 and not a lot of ambient stuff for the surrounds or any LFE at all but there is lots of side to side panning and other audio queues up front. Another bonus, for me anyway, is that the open music, “Asu e no Brilliant Road” performed by Angela is one of my favorite of all amine openers. Especially nice since the song works both at a fast and slow pace so it also gets a lot of use throughout the series.

Overall the story progresses quickly through 2 major and 2 minor story arcs. Unlike many anime Stellvia doesn’t bog down in the middle or end up with an unfulfilling or rushed ending the entire story moves along smoothly. Only real story issue I had was the main character getting a little whiny a few times near the end but other than that it’s quite solid in presenting a positive view of the future ala “Star Trek.” I rate it a little better than the reviewers above and give this 5/5 stars because it just plain worked for me.