To Kazuki Muto it all seems like a dream when he recalls saving a young girl from a strange monster, but dying in doing so. An encounter with a teacher who changes into something else – and finding his lost backpack in a location from his dream – jolt him, but not as much as having his life saved by the girl from his dream. He learns that Tokiko Tsumura, the girl from his dream, is an Alchemist Warrior who is trying to save the world from monsters called homunculi.

Tokiko saved his life by replaced his ripped out heart with a medallion called a kakugane – a magical device that gives its owner a powerful weapon, called a Buso Renkin, that is the essence of the person’s fighting spirit [in his case a spear with a long haft and a trailing red banner]. He learns that homunculi eat humans to life – the younger the better! Because he is the person he is, he insists on joining the fight.

The Buso Renkin Box Set #1 collects the first thirteen episodes of the popular series and introduces Kazuki [and us] to a world unlike anything he’s ever encountered. We meet his friends [the usual gang of idiots who complicate things at the worst possible moment, or get jealous of his new “girlfriend”], his sister [who is already pretending that Tokiko and her brother will marry – making Tokiko her sister-in-in-law], and several villains from the world of the homunculi – though not all of them are, in fact, homunculi.

The series is smart, wickedly funny and very entertaining. The Buso Renkins of the various Alchemist Warriors [and some homunculi] are wildly diverse and create unique battles. The characters are engaging and the pacing is fast enough to keep the viewer engaged, even during the character and exposition arcs. The first thirteen eps doing a very nice job of introducing the main characters and establishing the series mythology – and are entertaining as heck, to boot.

Features: Three Audio Commentaries [by the English vocal cast]: Episode One: A New Life; Episode Six [The Butterfly of Black Death], and Episode Nine: The Hayasaka Twins; Behind the Scenes of Buso Renkin, and a set of Postcards featuring various characters. The set comes in a bookcase-styled package with a card stock slipcase with embossed print.

Grade: Buso Renkin – Box Set 1 – B+

Grade: Features – A

Final Grade: A-

Imagine, if you will, that you could easily, and in total anonymity, execute criminals who had gotten off on a technicality. Not only that, but the only person who could even hope to figure out your identity was a consultant for the police – and your father was the police chief. This is the situation in which Light, a young man who has come into possession of a Death Note.

By the time Volume Four opens, Light has made an impact on crime but somehow not completely covered his tracks. Even better [or worse, if you’re the police], there is a second person who seems capable of the same kind of vigilante justice. Light has become known as “Kira” to the police, so he thinks of this new person as the Second Kira. And did I mention that each owner of a Death Note has a supernatural companion? Well, they do.

Throughout the four episodes on DN4, the cat and mouse game between Light and L [the aforementioned investigative consultant] is twisted and complex. The capture and interrogation of the Second Kira ties Light to a rising young model/actress and the series’ complications seem to grow at, pardon the expression, light speed. Because of the nature of the duel of the minds between Light and L, the writing needs to be sharp or we would never believe it – and it is that sharp and more [check out the reasoning behind the police chief having himself put behind bars!].

The animation is solid and the character designs seem a bit sharper than one might be used to. Both voice casts are excellent at sustaining the appropriate moods, and the overall effect is just about perfect [I’m definitely going to watch for the first box set!].

Features include: Audio Commentary [English Voice Cast] on Episode 14, “Friend,” Behind the Scenes: English Voice Cast Interviews and Recording Sections, and Production Art.

Grade: Death Note, Volume 4 – B+

Grade: Features – B+

Final Grade: B+

Let’s be clear on this – I have never seen any of the Speed Racer anime´ nor have I seen any of the manga, and am barely aware of vintage merchandizing. Now that we have that out of the way, I have to say that, as a Speed Racer virgin, the brightly-colored film by the Wachowski Brothers is a lot of fun.

Emile Hirsch rocks as the title character, a boy in the process of becoming a man – and a believer in fair play when it appears that there hasn’t been any in professional racer since, well, ever. His rock solid family [John Goodman as Pops Racer, Susan Sarandon as Mom Racer and Paulie Litt as younger brother Spritel], pet chimp, Chim Chim and girlfriend Trixie [a very anime´ looking Christina Ricci] give him the courage to turn down an offer to sign with the top team – at which point he learns of the real nature of his beloved sport. From there it’s only a matter of winning a couple of races [against an entire field of cheaters] and bringing down the Royalton Racing Team [the team he turned down]. Nothing to it – not!

While there’s not a lot of plot to Speed Racer, there’s almost always lots going on as Speed - with the help of the mysterious Racer X [sure it’s not hard to make the connection between him and Speed’s older brother, who is supposed to have died, but it’s a convention – just like nobody recognizing Superman behind Clark Kent’s specs. Deal with it and move on!]. The races are beautifully staged exercises in gladiatorial driving; the fight sequences really capturing the odd, freeze-frame style of anime´ and manga; the cast is clearly having more fun than should be legal, and the whole thing just feels good. The only real flaw in the film is that it’s just a wee bit too talky – but that hardly matters.

For a movie with a candy-colored world [the bright, shiny color of fresh hard candy – not the pastels of rock candy], the emphasis is on the kind of grounding that a good family provides and the kind of justice that is most deserved – the justice of the untouchable evil being brought down by one man with a mission. This may be my first encounter with Speed Racer but it won’t be my last.

Final Grade: A

Tonight the Independent Film Channel premieres the anime´ series Speed Grapher [11 p.m. EST] – a series that features an ex-war photographer who stumbles onto the story of the century – a kind of Hellfire Club for the rich and powerful of Japan.

Tatsumi Saiga was a war photographer of some renown, but now he’s hawking photos of celebrities and politicians to the tabloids – and is involved with a beautiful but corrupt police special services officer, Hibari Ginza, whose enemies have a habit of being “self-defensed” to death.

When Seijiro Togoshi, an editor for the East West News Agency sets Saiga on the trail of The Club – a kind of Hellfire Club for Japan’s rich and powerful – Saiga follows his instincts… to his eternal regret. An encounter with The Goddess gives him his greatest desire and manages to keep him from getting himself killed – but that just where the story begins…

The series premiere, Depravity City, follows Saiga as he discovers The Club and is put into a life and death situation. Episode two, Goddess of Greed, follows the life of Kagura Tennozu over roughly the same period covered by Saiga in the premiere. In this episode we learn the secret behind The Goddess and more about  Club manager Choji Suitengu’s connection to Kagura’s mother, Shinsen Tennozu.

The world of Speed Grapher is Tokyo, Japan just over a decade after something called the Bubble War – a time when the rich somehow manipulated the world’s economy in such a way that they became exponentially richer and the number of genuine poor skyrocketed.

The Club is a place where members can attain any pleasure they seek – even if it’s illegal – in perfect safety. Loyal members who can afford the VIP dues are granted their greatest desires by The Goddess. In the case of a freelance assassin named Katsuya Shirogane, a dancer by profession, the ability to turn in an evil Mr. Fantastic in bondage gear and sling himself from building to building, or turn into a giant ball and ricochet off walls to evade problematic interference. For Suitengu’s right-hand man, Tsujido, it is the ability to follow the scent of his prey – like a bloodhound.

This is the world into which Saiga injects himself – a world of magic and the mundane; a scared girl and The Goddess; a world where a camera can become a deadly weapon in more ways than, and a world where morality and law seem to be nearing extinction.

Speed Grapher is beautifully designed. The marvellous building in which the Tennozus live is as unique as Wayne Boring’s vision of the spired cities of Krypton, and the underground Club site is quite magnificent. We don’t get more than glimpses of the less fortunate parts of Tokyo, but there are enough suggestions of their poverty to create an effective contrast to parts of the city that house, or cater to the rich and powerful.

Saiga is one of the more intriguing characters in anime´ - he’s burnt out when we meet him after a brief prologue in which we see him in action as a war photographer. His relationship with Ginza appears to be more at her insistence than his, and he doesn’t really begin to engage in his own life until the events at the end of Depravity City put him on the edge of death.

Kagura Tennozu is another intriguing character. She has, it seems, two lives that are mutually exclusive – a condition is helped along by her mother who – jealous of her daughter’s blossoming beauty – contrives to keep her from eating much by manipulating her into oversleeping and sending her to school with lunches that consist of empty boxes.

Shinsen Tennozu may, or may not know what goes on at The Club, but since Choji Suitengu is her right-hand man, there is a connection there that can’t be overlooks – making both of them far more than your run-of-the-mill villains.

Then there’s the question of something called The Euphoria Factor – the manner in which The Goddess gives her chosen [well, Suitengu’s chosen] their deepest/greatest desires. The gift [or curse] is given through a kiss – and not a peck on the cheek. The question is how did The Goddess come to be The Goddess and how did she gain the ability to grant these [frequently totally warped] desires?

With its combination of intrigue, violence and sex, Speed Grapher is not for kids – or the squeamish. What it is, is inventive, freaky fun for grown ups. It may go a bit further over the top than the average anime´ but its worldview and its David versus Goliath struggle are highly entertaining all the same.

Final Grade: A

Considering the proliferation of animation on DVD, and considering that the dozens of DVDs I received for review constituted a drop in the bucket, here are my picks as best animation/anime´ DVDs of 2007.

10. The Simpsons Movie [FOX]

It’s not prime Simpsons [a la seasons 1 – 3], but The Simpsons Movie was funnier than the series has been in years. The plot, revolving around Homer’s turning Springfield into a toxic waste dump that must be contained within a giant dome – and his efforts to prevent the toxic town from being nuked by the first President to not be native born – provided a gratifying amount of visual gags, bad puns and moments of human warmth. The DVD’s two audio commentaries are also extremely good – and there a number of other worthwhile features to check out.

9. Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex: The Laughing Man/Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex: Individual Eleven [Manga Entertainment/Bandai]

The two seasons [to date] of the anime´ series, Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex each revolved around one ongoing case – The Laughing Man in series one and Individual Eleven in series two. For those who preferred these cases over the others in each series, Bandai released two two-disc sets to fill that need. In each case, all the elements of the ongoing investigation have been edited into a fast-paced narrative that plays beautifully as single adventures – if longer than the average anime´ movie. As with the series in general, each tale is smart, sly, philosophical and action-packed. The few features are barely worth mentioning, as the stories are more than gripping enough to warrant their acquisition.

8. Futurama: Bender’s Big Score [FOX]

For my money, Futurama was always a better show than The Simpsons in every way [except, possibly, animation]. Bender’s Big Score shows why. It’s a dizzying satire of time travel movies, relationship movies and so much more that its ninety minutes is packed to overflowing with intelligence, wit and Bender. The commentary is as much fun as the movie and the rest of the features are also top notch.

7. Noein, Volumes 1 - 5 [Manga Entertainment]

A surreal tale in which a middle school girl becomes the potential saviour of the world as two forces vie over something called The Dragon Torque. She may be the Torque, or it may be using her as a host. In any event, one side, the La’cryma seeks to save its alternate reality while the other, Shangri-la, seeks to destroy all of space-time. In a unique twist, one of La’cryma’s Dragon Cavalry, Karas, claims to be the girl’s best from fifteen years in the future. The story is unique; the animation is superb [especially in the design of the La’cryma and Shangri-la vessels and other technology] and the whole is an intelligent and thought-provoking series. Again, the features are nothing special, but the saga itself is more than worth investigating.

6. PIXAR Short Films Collection, Volume 1 [Buena Vista]

PIXAR, the little animation studio that could, may be eight-for-eight in producing hit movies, but they got their start as part of Lucasfilm, making shorts. This collection brings together all thirteen of PIXAR’s short films for the first time. From the first, crude, CG short, The Adventures of Andre´ and Wally B., to the most recent, incredibly sophisticated Lifted, these short films are a gallery that represents all the advances in CG technology and software over the last twenty years. They are also evidence that, even before it became a household word, the studio put story before everything else [no wonder they left Lucasfilm...]. The disc includes a documentary [The PIXAR Shorts: A Short History], and twelve of the thirteen short films has a director’s commentary [the sole exception, Jack-Jack Attack, was the one I most wanted to have a commentary – but I’ll live...].

5. The Jungle Book – 40^th Anniversary Platinum Edition

The Jungle Book has always been my favourite Disney animated movie. Maybe it’s because of the music and the curiosity of Mowgli; maybe it’s because the casting is so against-the-grain yet, at the same time, absolutely perfect. The 2-D animation, needless to say, is among Disney’s best. Whatever the case, whenever I hear The Bare Necessities, I have to stop whatever I’m doing and bop right along. I can think of no other Disney cast that matches Mowgli, Baloo, King Louis, Bagheera, Shere Khan and Kaa for the combination of pure delight and undercurrent of danger. The Jungle Book may be the subtlest Disney film in its portrayal of villainy, but that makes it seem far more real. There are tons of features [it’s a two-disc set], but my favourites are the commentary [surprise!] and a look at the original take on the film – including the one song that carried over to this version].

4. Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex/SAC 2^nd Gig [Manga Entertainment/Bandai]

The sets from which my number nine selections were culled, these two season sets feature the post-film adventures of the special unit known as Section 9. The Major, Batou, Togusa, Chief Aramaki and the rest of the team take on the problems that the conventional police and armed forces are not equipped to handle. In a Japan where cybernetics is gradually making it possible to have an entirely technological body in which to house one’s brain, there are all sorts of problems – not to mention philosophical debates. Does a cyborg retain a soul; can machine Artificial Intelligence generate a soul [the Tachikoma share their AI and certainly seem to exhibit sentience], and so on. When a super-hacker begins to hack into the cyber-brains of the public – or when a group of philosophical rebels called Individual Eleven stage public suicides that seem to have an unnerving effect on the public – Section 9 gets the call. Features include interviews with various behind-the-scenes personnel [the director, character designer, animation director, etc.].

3. Tekkonkinkreet [Sony]

This odd little movie features two kids, Black and White, as protagonists. The pair spend their times protecting their part of the city from interlopers – whether young punks seeking to expand their territory, or developers who want to tear down the neighbourhood to build a huge amusement park, it’s all the same to them. Until the developers start using supernaturally powerful enforcers to track them down, that is… Tekkonkinkreet is a visual delight. The colors and designs of the neighbourhood buildings and the various types of vehicles that abound are almost mesmerizing. Black and white are wholly realized characters and their friendship’s ups and downs are genuinely affecting. The animation doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen before, so it’s fresh on that front as well. Features include a director’s commentary that is excellent and a making of Featurette that is also extremely good. Note that Tekkonkinkreet is not for kids – it’s rated R for disturbing and violent images and some brief sexuality.

2. Ratatouille [PIXAR]

PIXAR made a rat – who wants to be a chef, no less – into the lead character in what has to be one of the studio’s best films. I could rave about the animation [all those rats – that’s a hella lot of hair; that deluge – way too much water!], but as brilliant as it is, the CG animation wouldn’t mean squat if the story didn’t work [see: Star Wars, Chapters 1 – 3; Happy Feet]. As we follow Remy from rural France to Paris – and thence to Gusteau’s Restaurant, we soon get over his being a rat. We cheer as he and kitchen boy Linguini work together and groan in frustration as Linguini manages to screw up a chance at romance with the lovely Colette. The plot twists are all well planned and the story works beautifully, making this PIXAR’s eighth consecutive terrific film. The features are sparser than I expected, but the film is still one of the best of the year.

1. Paprika [Sony]Paprika is a fever dream given life. There’s this machine, y’see – a machine that allows scientists to enter a subject’s dream. When it’s stolen, a brilliant detective and a fearless therapist must find it before it falls into the hands of a dream terrorist. Why? Over use of the machine has the disturbing effect of allowing dream and reality to merge! Director Satoshi Kon [Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers] loosely adapts the novel by Yasutaka Tsutusi in a manner that produces images like we’ve never seen before. An unexpected love story sneaks into our subconscious, as well, making the finale unexpectedly poignant. Features include a director’s commentary [lots of fun, and very informative], and excellent making of doc and more.