Yokko Kanno music, and review for Noir 1 & 2

Oh wow... Yokko Kanno did the music for Macross Plus too? !!

That's on top of The Vision of Escaflowne, and Cowboy Bebop.

Ok, I guess as long as I find an anime where Yokko Kanno does the score, I am guaranteed to like it.

Other random note of interest: I found the website of Steve Conte, the guy who sings a lot of the vocal songs for Cowboy Bebop. This is what his website says:

FOR PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE ANIME EPISODES, GUITAR TABLATURE, LYRICS, ETC....

i'll have to tell you all what i have said on this site many times...

i never know anything about this kind of stuff.
i get hired by yoko to sing and then i go home.
hopefully, they send me a copy when it's done.

sorry i can't be of more help.

::giggle:: That amsues me.


And now... Noir.

I think the singer for the ending theme, Akino Arai, was also the singer for the two ending themes of Outlaw Star. ::googles it:: And yep... she was! I'll put up the two Outlaw Star songs later for download; they're pretty.

When it was reccomended to me, I was told that the music in Noir was wonderful. And I do like it-- I like it a lot. It's not Cowboy Bebop or Esca for me, but I am really enjoying it. I especially like the opening theme song.

The opening animation is wonderful as well... very stylish and James Bond-like. It has elements of the classic look that the CB opening achieved so beautifully, as well as a more modern anime color scheme, combined with a sort of spy movie thing with lots of silhouettes and wine glasses and city skylines. The closing animation was more sedate, but in a way that works well. And visually the mise en scene design is good.

As for the plot of Noir...( episodes 1&2 )

Weirdly, this show reminds me of Hellsing. Which is odd, because this si not at all about vampires, and it's not nearly as gratuitous and flamboyant as that series. And it lacks the random funny moments. Noir certainly wouldn't have a garish four-poster bed that rises out of a coffin when you flip a light switch the way some people's televisions rise out of a cabinet. And it won't have Cowboy Andy swooping in on a white horse to a whistling tune to nab the prey and piss off the main character with his obliviousness. Nope, somehow I don't anything like that happening any time soon.

(no subject)

I found an anime review website that I love. Why? BEcause with the exception of Tenchi Muyo (they say ok, I say embarassingly sucky), Spirited Away (they say pretty good, I say fantastic), and Gundam Wing (they hated it, I adored it), the reviews almost exactly fit my own ratings for many series.... Witch Hunter Robin, Trigun, Ranman 1/2, Sailor Moon, Macross Plus, Dragon Ball Z, Blue Seed, and especially Cowboy Bebop and Escaflowne. How can I not love an anime review site that rates The Vision of Escaflowne as tied for third place for best anime ever and says it "should very well be considered the best anime of the entire decade" ? And then goes on to describe exactly why the Escaflowne movie is such a wrecking ball of a disappointment. On another page basically rates DBZ as crap, while giving it its due consideration for being entertaining enough to suck you in against your better judgement, and keep you in for longer than it deserves? Or another page that perfectly, perfectly captures why I love Trigun so much. ... Or another review that explains exactly why I am justified in completley and utterly hating the movie X/1999. Which I did. Oh, did I hate that movie. I still consider that to be one of the most tragic and unfair losses of an hour of my lifespan that I would really, really like back please. I've read about 30+ of their reviews so far, and except for the 3 mentioned above I almost completely agree with their ratings.

While I don't agree with all their ratings, most of the reviews feel like they pulled my viewer opinion words right out of my brain, so it's leading me to take their reviews for that I I haven't seen yet at some value, or at least consideration. Anyway, the site is here:

http://www.animeacademy.com/library/esca/esca.html

((conveniently linke dot their Esca review. For the other anime reviews, look to the left under the "Library" header))

....

::takes a moment to reread entry, and reflect back on the number 30+::

Huh. You know, I've seen or been exposed to a lot of anime. I mean, there's so many more reviews I want to read for series I've seen, double that number above.

And yet, I always feel like every other otaku in the room has seen 5 times as much as me and I am seriously lagging behind.

Weird.

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EDIT WARNING: Comments below include evil bad murderous spoilers for Trigun.