Welcome to my humble anime & manga page (but mostly anime). The main goal of this page is to share this passion for japanese animation that I have with others, and to give my views on the anime series I have seen.

For those who don't know, manga is the Japanese equivalent to comic books. It is very popular in Japan (in the US, a business man would read the Wall Street journal on a subway ride, in Japan, a business man would read manga) and it is said to be a very productive industry. Like french "bande-dessinee", there are manga for everybody: kids and adult. Also like much of there European counterparts, most mangas are distributed through magazines issues.

Anime is a term that is commonly used to talk about Japanese animation (I rather use "animation" instead of "cartoon", because the word "cartoon" is somewhat associated with the idea of "kids show", which is a cultural misconception). And unlike most American animation, with maybe the exception of the yearly Disney films and few others, anime targets everyone: there are boy anime, girls anime, kids anime, teenagers anime, adult anime and even H animes (H = hentai who's the Japanese equivalent of "pervert". H animes only represent a very small percentage of all existing anime).

Japanese animation is in a lot of ways different of American animation, mainly because it's not considered like a "kid thing". American animation is often characterized by superheros who fights supervillains, or it's something that is a succession of jokes and silly situations. In all cases, the heros usually don't get hurt and win over it's opponent (who rarely dies and will be back next episode with an other devious plan to conquer the world). You get to see the character act, but you rarely get to understand it's motivations, the way he feels, he thinks. It's quite different with Japanese anime. If you can still find heros or anti-heros with special powers and involved in incredible or silly situations, the stories tend to be more deeper, often darker. You usually see the characters grow as the stories unfold. And often, the heros of these stories are deep down ordinary people, caught in extraordinary situations, but facing everyday problems and challenges. It's more realistic. Like you and I, anime characters can get hurt both emotionally and physically (sometimes really badly). They can fall in love. They can get scared. They can even die. And like in the real life, good and evil are not always clear concepts. Good guys are not just good and bad guys are not just evil. The characters often find themselves wandering in the shadows set between light and darkness.

Anime & mangas have been existing for a while now, but there popularity in America only started to rise a little while ago. But compared to France it's still negligible (a lot of popular mangas are distributed in France, as well as anime. I even read somewhere that they used to have, and may still have, anime TV afternoon: they would air Sailormoon, Dragonball, Ranma 1/2, and others I can't recall). For some people, it started with Sailormoon. For others, (I think especially in France) the movie Akira. Some others fans interests started even further back. Personally, I always knew anime (anime history here). I can recall, even if it's just barely, having watched Robotech (Macross) when I was very young and didn't know much about English at the time. I later could get to see the french dub. I can recall having watched Goldorak, Albator (Captain Harlock), Astro (Astroboy 2nd edition), Super Durand (Urashiman) and other I can't even remember the names or think of (sorry if in some cases I have to use the french names, but it those cases I simply don't know what those where called in Japanese). Goldorak started it all, then came Robotech. It was quiet for a while, until I've got to see something called Dragon Warrior (unfortunately, it seems it didn't go beyond Ep. 13 end I never got to know what was the original name of that one :( Nearly at the same time, there was also something called Sous le signe des mousquetaire (Anime SanJuushi or Anime 3 Musketeers) on one of the three major french channel in Quebec. I must have watched it four times (in other words, each year it was aired). Then came, Sailormoon (both the anime and french manga) and the Internet. Now that I have a little more access to info and products that I used to, I have the intention to let this interest of mine grow a bit more. I've already got the chance to discover two new great animes, Fushigi Yuugi and Slayers and I hope to get to see more, if I can spare the time and money. Because, unfortunately, it takes money, especially if you leave far away from Montreal, New York, L.A. or other major big cities. There are of course trading and a big number of fansub animes which are cheaper, but then, you've got to deal with the ethical problem that it's illegal and that it hurts an industry you'd like to actually help. Because, lets' face it. If you buy a fansub version of an anime, will you later spend the money necessary to buy the professional version? I much cases, I doubt it.

The following links will lead you to reviews and comments I want to give about what I've seen and read until now. I know it's still a short list, but I hope it will grow with time.

I don't consider myself as an Otaku, nor do I think that my reviews are references that must be trusted without fault. These are just opinions of a simple anime fan. It's often as simple as "I liked it" or "I didn't like it" with sometimes explanation about why. If you are looking for reviews with a more professionall" look, you may try Serpent's Anime Page or reviews found on The AnimeOnline Network.

Before you read those summaries, it might be useful to read this. It explains my opinions about subs and dubs, and those opinions keep coming back in those reviews.

Those who also are unfamiliar with anime might want to read this page. It's a simple collection of definitions of words used by anime fans.

	Excellent
	Very good
	Good
	Average
	Poor

Title	Anime	Manga
A Wind Named Amnesia
Armitage III
Blue Seed
Bubblegum Crisis
Debutante Detective Corps
Devil Hunter Yohko
DNA²
Dragonball
Dragon Slayer
El-Hazard El-Hazard The Magnificent World El-Hazard 2 The Wanderers: El-Hazard TV series
Fushigi Yuugi
Ghost in the Shell
Gunnm/Battle Angel
Gunsmith Cats
Iria
Kimera
Magic Knight Rayearth
Mermaid's Scar
Neon Genesis Evangelion The End of Evangelion movie
Ranma 1/2
Record of Lodoss War (best seen in 800 X 600)
Rurouni Kenshin (best seen in 800 X 600)
Sailormoon
Slayers
Tenchi Muyo Tenchi Muyo OVA Tenchi Muyo TV Series Tenchi Muyo Movie: Tenchi In Love Tenchi Muyo Movie: Daughter Of Darkness Tenchi Muyo: Pretty Sammy OVA
Vampire Hunter D

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By Rakna

Updated September 21th 1998

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