Anime Review: Ponyo

Genre: Fantasy

Studio/Creator: Ghibli

Distributor: Buena Vista

Running Time: 1 hour, 41 minutes

Suggested Age: 7+

My Rating:  8/10

Summary: A boy named Sosuke rescues a goldfish and names her Ponyo, unaware that the goldfish is actually a mermaid and that her father is a sorceror. Ponyo falls in love with Sosuke after licking a cut on his thumb, causing her to desire to become human.

Review: If this sounds familiar, it should. Ponyo is Miyazaki’s modernized version of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. I found this spin on the classic story enjoyable and adorable. The story has a whimsical quality and I recommend it for anyone with very young children.

Sub/Dub: Either version works, but I prefer the dub. Oh, and I want to get this out right now, since I’ve heard some outcry: Frankie Jonas was just fine as Sosuke.So what if he’s a Jonas brother? And yes, the ending song was kind of annoying, but I guess children would like it.

Violence (1/10): There is hardly any violence in the story

Language (0/10): No bad language. It’s rated G

Nudity: (0/10)

Religious: (1/10) For the most part, the magic in the story is of the typical fairy-tale variety. Ponyo’s mother is actually the goddess of the sea. Ponyo tastes human blood when she licks a cut on Sosuke’s thumb, which gives her the ability to become human (although she has to revert to an in-between chicken-like form to perform magic). There is a slight environmental theme, but it’s not as pronounced as Princess Mononoke or Pom Poko.

Anime Review: Black Lagoon

(note: This review covers both Black Lagoon and Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage, treating both as one show.

Genre: Action

Studio/Creator: Madhouse/Rei Hiroe

Distributor: FUNimation

No. of Episodes: 24

My Rating: 3/10

Suggested Age: 17+

Summary: This anime follows the adventures of the Black Lagoon, a band of mercenaries. The members are Dutch, (a big black guy), Revi (the anti-heroine), Rock (the main focus), and Benny (the brains).

Review: I didn’t much care for this one. I’m not much into stories where there seem to be no heroes.  The members of the Black Lagoon are mercenaries who work for whoever will pay them, and have no qualms about what they do. For this reason, I could not enjoy the series.  However, I did enjoy the banter between Rock and Revi, the main focus of the story. Rock was an idealist who tried his best not to let the underground horror he was experiencing taint him and Revi is his polar opposite.  It was fun to watch them interact.  Sadly, neither of these were enough to save it from the low rating.  I can’t really recommend this one.

Music/Score: The opening theme is excellent. It’s one of my favorite opening themes of all time.

Sub/Dub: I didn’t watch enough of the dub to get a full idea of it, but I should mention that the woman who voices Revy also voiced Gilda in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episode “Griffin the Brush Off.”

Violence: (8/10) As you may expect with this kind of program, the violence is almost non-stop. I don’t mind ultra-violent shows that have a reason for the violence, but this was a bit much.

Language: (7/10) Quite a lot of F-bombs in this one.

Nudity: (1/10) Revy wears Daisy Duke-style shorts.

Sexuality: (1/10)

Religion: (1/10)–Revy is an atheist.

Related Media: This is based on the manga of the same name. There is also a spin-off called Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail.

 

 

Rei Hiroe