Eden of the East: The Definitive Collection (2011)

Saki Morimi is a young woman who's soon to leave University. She and her friends are fearful of becoming NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training). The economic state of Japan needs the youth to pull them out of a fix, but, with so many NEETs around, the older generation are reluctant to let go of the reins.

Japan needs a saviour, so twelve people are secretly chosen to attempt the task, but there can only be one winner and there's a severe penalty for those that fail.

Akira Takizawa is number IX. Akira has no memory of who he is or why he's naked by the side of the road in a foreign country. More worryingly, he's no memory of the "game" in which he's a part and the clock is ticking.

The first half a dozen episodes each reveal a new aspect of the game or its players. Inside that reveal it effectively deepens the mystery surrounding the event, but everything is from the perspective of people who don't really know what’s going on, and as viewers neither do we. We're in the dark for too long and when the lights do come on the room isn't as exciting as I imagined it would be.

Part of the problem was that I was focussing too much on the mysterious organisation, trying to understand its goals, whereas it's the relationship of the two leads that deserves closer attention. So I stopped and went back to the beginning. I enjoyed it more the second time.

11 episodes, approx 24 mins each + 2 movies: Movie I: The King of Eden, approx 82 minutes; and Movie II: Paradise Lost, approx 92 minutes.

The box contains a third movie titled Compilation: Air Comminication. It’s a two hour recap of the series using footage from the 11 episodes with a new narration by Saki. It was designed to be watched before the two movies if you'd not seen the series or had forgotten stuff. Its inclusion is redundant, but it was cheaper to use the existing single release discs than press new ones, so it remains.

3 default states out of 5

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (2007)

Adapted and directed by Kenji Kamiyama from a novel of the same name by Nahoko Uehashi, it's the story of Balsa (a bodyguard) and Chagum (a young boy she protects). One thing you should know from the very start is that Moribito is a character piece. There are action scenes from time to time, but they aren't the main focus, so if you're expecting large battles, you'll risk disappointment.

Kenji is adept at scripting strong female leads, and Balsa is no exception. She's strong-willed and strong in passion. She could kick your ass if she chose, but only defaults to that when her reliance on her wits is unsuccessful.

Like his previous work, Moribito has a large story arc with standalone episodes interspersed. But it's messy. The 15 core episodes suffer from slow pacing and having no real cliff-hanger. Watch a number of them in succession and you'll see it's one large piece split into tiny chunks. It has an organic flow that needs time to grow. It's best assimilated that way. The episodes that sidestep the main story interrupt that necessary flow. They expand upon characters and the blossoming familial unit but they aren't well integrated. They range from mildly entertaining to downright boring. There were times I wished the whole damn thing would pick itself up by the sandals and get the hell on with it. Slow and steady has its merits, but slow and boring is just slow and boring.

When it gets back to the main story, you'll maybe realise just how unnecessary half of what you've watched really was. The last half dozen episodes pick up the pace again, but I don't know how many people will stick it out that far.

Animation is by Production I.G., so it's top quality. It's a shame the series wasn't trimmed and tightened to half its length; it may have enabled Kenji to tell the story with more urgency, and certainly more much needed drama.

26 episodes, approx 24 mins each.

2½ saggy middle parts out of 5

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2003)

The year is 2030. Public Security Section 9 is a counter terrorist branch of the Japanese government, a group of ass-kicking professionals that get the job done no matter what. The world is overly dependent on cybernetic bodies; the web has become the medium of choice for terrorists and as a result there exists a large potential for cyber-crime and hacks. Section 9 specialise in that area. Led by Major Motoko Kusanagi the team deal with corporate terrorism, kidnapping, human trafficking, Ghost hacks (a technique in which the victim's memory is replaced with false memories) and a host of other internal and external problems. They're the people that keep the rest of us safe, often without us even knowing they exist.

GitS: SAC is based on the manga by Masamune Shirow. It isn't a direct sequel to the Mamoru Oshii film, but rather a reimagining of the original idea, almost parallel to it. And while not a part of the continuity it nevertheless owes a large debt to Oshii. Its length gives it the opportunity to explore things the film couldn't.

The show succeeds for a number of reasons: character identities are well-defined, with the human element never far from the surface; the action is explosive; the scripts are clever; the animation is fantastic (no one does movement quite as fluid as Production I.G); and the music by Yoko Kanno is a perfect fit. Put simply, it's the finest and most intelligently scripted anime TV series that I've ever seen.

It's the only anime I would recommend choosing the dub over the sub. The English voices fit the characters much better than the Japanese ones and the delivery is a lot more satisfying and naturalistic sounding than the subtitles give - although when the script requires a lot of exposition it can sound like the characters are reading from a manual; that's not just in the dub, but in both.

The episodes are divided into two types:

• The Stand Alone episodes have a story that wraps up in a single episode.
• The Complex episodes are a story arc (The Laughing Man) that need to be viewed in the correct order. They're the exposition heavy ones. The episodes are: 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26.

26 episodes, approx 25 minutes each. Make sure and stick around for the short Tachikomatic Days after the credits roll on each one!

5 chattering tanks out of 5