Deadman Wonderland dub episode 1 (Some spoilers)

"The red man"

Deadman wonderland opens with Ganta Igurashi and two other of his classmates planning a class trip to a rather unique attraction: Deadman Wonderland, when a mysterious "red man" appears outside the window of the class, this alone wouldn't be odd except for the fact that their on the third floor. The glass shatters and the entire class is massacred, this is where we get our first gimps of  the gore that gives the UK release a certificate 18. Having slaughtered the rest of his class Ganta has a red stone shoved into his chest by "the red man." The opening scene I feel was meant to make you feels something for the other characters and with the somewhat aggravating dub, I felt nothing until they started screaming where i just started smiling but that's just me.

From here the episode continues in an unfortunately predictable manor with Ganta getting convicted of murder and sent to the aforementioned Deadman Wonderland with what appears to be an impostor Ganta confessing his crimes. It is here in this episode where I sort of lost interest most of the characters are bland and one dimensional.

The scene changes again to an unknown place we assume is Deaman Wonderalnd by the big wheel and large colourful building eerily silent with a childlike tune being sung over the top of it. There isn't much to say about this scene as there isn't much to it exept for that it's interesting.

We return to Ganta who has arrived at Deadman Wonderland and is being introduced to the facility by Makina who waists no time beating round the bush and showing the newbies who's boss. This scene did interest me with some unexpected brutality and banter.

There is a somewhat minor scene with Makina and Ganta's lawyer talking. This seemed to only serve to break up the action of the episode and in my case bore me to shit.

Again returning to Ganta who is going over the obligatory bull shit "I want to die" speech which I actually think in his circumstances is to be expected. His wish is then answered as a strange girl, introduced earlier drops out of the sky and swings for our heroes head. The strange girl is introduced as Shiro  for obvious reasons. The two are then caught chatting by other inmates who dig into our heroes with Shiro fighting back with some unexpectedly bad-ass moves in comparison to the average anime air head this is until she takes a shovel to the head for Ganta to take the reigns and get himself pasted into the floor. We get an ominous shot of Ganta's lawyer before a bomb explodes above Ganta...

AND WE GET SOME BAD ASS GRAPHICS AND BAD ASS STUFF...

Candy SPLAT saga...

All thanks to the creators of Eureka Seven.

The episode continues with a guy killing someone over "candy" and a montage of other inmates eating said "candy," I imagine that all will be explained in episode 2.

{SPOILERS}EVANGELION 2.0: YOU CAN (not) ADVANCE{SPOILERS}

Anime is nothing new to the silver screen, even in the uk, we have seen Ghibli classics in the form of Spirited Away, Ponyo and Arietty. Not to mention the cyber punk classic Ghost In The Shell which while not worthy enough for cinema release back in the day of it's original release scored mega bucks when it was released as Ghost In The Shell 2.0. And despite these movies being fan favorites all over the world even among those who may not watch anime on a regular basis all other movies seem to pail in comparisson to...

The official release posteer for the movie, collecting most key characters.

EVANGELION 2.0: YOU CAN (not) ADVANCE. Unlike its above mentioned counter parts the rebuild of the classic mech (giant robot) anime did not get a general cinema release despite (I am about to get a metric f**k ton of hate mail for this) being at least twice as impressive as most of the above movies, not the least because Ponyo doesn't involve mentaly unstable school children piloting bio-mechanical, fifty foot super soldier... things...

As mentioned above the movie is the follow up to the film set to bring Neon Genesis Evangelion to the 21st century though it is clear from the opening scene.The film opens without any p**sing around, we are introduced to a totally new character, piloting a somewhat cluncky looking prototype evangelion unit. Things happen and we find ourselves back in Japan for the seventh angel and despite the fight ending somewhat swiftly we are not dissapointed, with the introduction of yet another evangelion and pilot, Asuka Langley Shikinami (yes, they changed her sirname but I personaly never cared for the b**thy, loud, self centered... you get it). After being smacked in the lips by a double bill of angel ass kicking we turn to the characters themselves, Asuka dominates the scene bouncing of the evangelion, literaly sweeping our lead, Shinji off his feet. Moving between him, Rei and Misato. Even the apparently less important characters such as Ryoji get some well deserved screen time to develop his character. These developments are moved along with help from some entertaining comedy, gripping character development and of course, edge of the seat angel clashes.

 Our leading couple(maybe), Shinji and Rei as they appeared in the 90s NGE

Of course it isn't just the supporting cast that see their characters evolve and the developments somewhat differ from the much loved (or hated) cast of the 90s, needless to say this only serves to make the sequal all the better. While the origina series featured a range of characters and plots that twisted and turnedd amongst one another the characters remained relativly the same. This is almost a polar opposite to what we see in the first of the rebuild movies: You Are (not) Alone, characters are developing right from their introduction and Evangelion 2.0 does not let go of this philosophy. This makes every character not only more human but means that we are allowed to become attached to some of our favourite characters while hating others and at the same time characters still retain the key aspects that made them memorable in the original. Shinji is still spoiled but we are feel his reasons are more valid and of course the transformation of probably my favourite character in the series (and in the history of anime) is Rei who starts out as nothing more than a puppet, gradually learning the importance of human imotion and the joys of being with others.

The second half of the film is where You Can (not) Advance comes into it's own, we see the polotics and organisation of a nation collide creating the spectacular we know as Neon Genesis Evangelion and lets not forget the indepth visceral action, the horror of human capability that makes your spine crawl. And then...

...There is the final 30 minutes that takes everything the audience expects and throws it aside replased by the most tense half an hour I've experienced in a long time, and everytime I watch this film as I have done on nearly a weekly basis. Though I probably shousd have expected it as Hideaki Anno isn't one to wast the chance to f**k with peoples heads.

After the comparably sedate, almost relaxed first half we come to see what makes and what will make the rebuild of Evangelion such a memerable spectacular. The last time I watched the film I had to just sit in the dark for twenty minutes and breath; something I hadn't done much of for a good hour. The visuals are incredible even for the more relaxed, conversational scenes and the 3D effects of the already breath takeing Tokyo 3 hold up to expectations of the first film and beond.

Anyone who watched the movie and TV series to see if the soundtrack lived up to the expectations of the series and Angels of doom (as used in You Are (not) Alone) will want to know about the soundtrack for the sequal and put simply it does not fail to impress. Shiro Sagisu once again is brilliant, his music feels fresh and well placed with each scene it is featured in.

Manga Entertainment did a brilliant job of the UK release and while I only have the pleasure of the already stunning DVD I have no doubts of the Blue ray version being just as beautiful.

The disc contains rather standard features and extras, trailers and music videos as well as some interesting deleted scenes and while they are very early rough cuts the pictures they paint are interesting and well worth the watch while the US commentary is somewhat dull.