Cheers & Frasier

This is a double review because Frasier was a spin-off of the show Cheers. Also it was kind of a continuation for the fanbase and so on.

First we shall start with Cheers. It started back in 1982 and ran for 11 seasons into 1993. The cast changed a little bit here and there due to the beloved actor Nicholas Colasanto's death in 1985, and the actress playing the main female role deciding to leave after season 4. The character Dr. Frasier Crane joins the show in season 2 and eventually becomes a regular. Each episode was about 22 minutes with a total of 275 episodes.

Cheers takes place almost entirely in the bar in Boston known as Cheers. Sam Malone our main character is the owner of the bar, he is a recovering alcoholic, and highly successful womanizer. The show revolves around him and the relationships that flourish and/or flounder in the environment of this bar. There is the waitress who is constantly getting pregnant, the dumbwitted bartender, the overly intelligent(usually too smart for their own good) waitress(and/or manager depending on the season) that Sam is constantly trying to seduce, the mailman who knows all of the useless trivia(some of which is completely false), the psychiatrist whose advice is never fully acknowledged in the bar, and finally NORM! the man who spends all of his time in the bar and has a tab that could probably pay for the bar ten times over. If you ever hear someone yell NORM! it is most likely a reference to this show.

I thoroughly enjoyed the show for the first 8 seasons or so, then honestly I found it to get extremely boring. The jokes became very basic, or stretched as if the writers were trying too hard to show new material. There were moments of course that were still funny or entertaining throughout. But I felt it more of a chore and a challenge to actually finish the show. Sam is constantly getting stuck in the same situations, Frasier wants sex from his wife, Norm is avoiding his wife as well as work, Cliff is either talking about some random fact(that may or not be true) or talking about the pride of his job of mother, Carla complains about her kids and money problems, and the main female character complains about life or does something that Sam finds attractive. These come up most episodes, especially by the end. 

Then came along the spin-off simply titled Frasier to take place in a Seattle, Washington. 

Frasier started up in 1993 and continued until 2004 with an additional 11 seasons. The episodes were also 22 minutes long with a total of 264 episodes. This show follows Dr. Frasier Crane who has moved to Seattle to be an on-air radio psychiatrist. He also is to take care of his father. He has an assistant at the radio station named Roz, and hires Daphne to care for his aging father at home. Frasier's brother Niles also lives in Seattle and is also a psychiatrist. For quite a few seasons Niles was chasing after Daphne, but from a distance so as not to make things awkward between them, and to avoid rejection. However everyone but Daphne knew. The show revolves around these 5 characters and generally takes place in 2 locations, Frasier's living room, or the radio studio. Later on they also incorporate a coffee shop fairly often.

Now there are some inconsistencies between what Frasier tells us in Cheers and what is revealed on Frasier. But for the most part you can ignore them. Frasier is a much more intellectual type of comedy than Cheers was. Frasier is a higher class and standard than the lower-class of Cheers. And in the end I think I enjoyed Frasier more, especially because it didn't seem to drag by the end. 

In the end I give Cheers an 8 out of 11. And Frasier receives a 10 out of 11.

My Name Is Earl

The show was started back in 2005 and was almost immediately one of the most watched TV shows at the time. Of course it was later to be canceled after its 4th season. Though that is NBC for you.

The show follows Earl Hickey (guy in the middle with the mustache). As he describes at the beginning of some episodes, Earl was a bad guy whose life sucked. But then one day he learns about Karma. He realizes that his life sucks because of how bad a person he has been. So he writes a list ("The List" as it  is later referred to as) of all the bad things he has ever done in his life. The show follows him as he goes from person to person telling them about what he did to them and attempting to make it up to them in some way or another. Earl's brother is along for the ride as he is a bit of an idiot and can't fully take care of himself. Randy (the brother) is the larger man on the far left. Randy is in love with Catalina who is the the brunette female in the photo. Catalina is an illegal immigrant who works both as a maid for a hotel, and later as a stripper. The show also involves a lot of contact with Earl's Ex-Wife Joy and her new husband Darnell (the blonde and the man with wonderfully fluffy hair). 

It's a rather enjoyable show, though they do use the same jokes repeatedly throughout the series. The show is a narrative comedy. They make plenty of gay jokes, penis jokes, beautiful idiot jokes, and more. There are 4 seasons with a total of 96 episodes. Each episode is about 22 minutes long. 

So all in all I really liked the show. It was some pleasant comedy whenever I felt like it. Though I feel I should warn you that the show ends terribly. It was cancelled and as such was unable to finish it properly.The final episodes ends with a cliffhanger and a "To Be Continued..." But of course it is never actually continued. Anyways the show gets a 9.5 out of 11.

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing & Endless Waltz

Today's review is on a bit of a dated anime, at least at this point. Due to the large number of "Mobile Suit..." shows out there I will simply be calling this show just Gundam Wing. Endless Waltz is technically just 3 additional episodes, but I call it a movie to finish the series off.

So first off is Gundam Wing. The show takes place at some point in the future where mankind has taken to the stars and built a variety of space colonies. But more specifically the show centers around 5 teenage boys all of whom come from different colonies. All 5 are Mobile Suit pilots, though specifically they all pilot Gundams which are advanced suits made of the advanced element Gundanium. The series starts with the 5 boys being terrorists who are sent to Earth with various missions as they go along. The boys at first are completely oblivious to each other as they were each from different colonies and each was trained by a different scientist. 

First of the boys I will talk about is Quatre Raberba Winner. He is the first guy in the picture who is wearing the vest and tan pants. Quatre is the kindest of the 5 and is also the only one with an entire army with him. He is also the only one with a family that the show actually reveals and talks about. His Gundam is known as Sandrock. His nationality is Arab. Next is Duo Maxwell which is the second guy in the picture who is wearing all black. Duo is a playful person who when he isn't having fun he considers himself to be the God of Death. His Gundam is my personal favorite and it holds the name of Deathscythe. His nationality is American. Next I will mention is the 5th guy in the line up Chang Wufei. Though everyone just calls him Wufei. He is an extremely good fighter both in and out of his Gundam which is called Nataku, at least that's what he calls it. Wufei tends to be a bit heartless which in the end does help him complete his missions without remorse and worry. His nationality is Chinese. Next to Wufei in the picture is Trowa Barton which is my favorite character within the series. Trowa has no background, he has no previous life. Trowa Barton isn't even the name he was born with, he was considered No Name until events occurred and he took the name from a dead person. Trowa pilots the Gundam Heavyarms which is a bit ironically my least favorite Gundam. Trowa's nationality is a bit unknown due to his life being almost completely unknown, though he is believed to be European of some sort. Finally we have Heero Yuy, the most important of all the Gundam pilots and the one in the center of the picture. Heero pilots the Wing Zero Gundam which is often considered the most advanced of the Gundams and possibly the strongest. Though that may just be Heero himself. He is a bit of loner in most cases. He is completely devoted to his missions and as such he lives no real life other than the missions he has. He comes from Japan. 

Finally there is one last character I feel is important to mention is Relena Darlian (though her last name changes later in the series due to certain circumstances). Relena ends up having an interesting relationship with Heero that I don't want to spoil. She is the female lead of the show. She travels the Earth and space becoming a political leader of various places or being held for ransom or other various things. The show is majorly made up of politics. Countries rise and countries fall. Politicians rise and politicians are assassinated. And to help keep the series exciting the enemies become more and more powerful as the series continues.

The series has 49 episodes, each of which are about 22 minutes. The series does have an ending, though having the "movie" afterwards it helps finish it off.

Endless Waltz as I said is technically 3 episodes but it combines easily to become a single movie that is about 80 minutes. This series continues off from the show, however they changed a lot of the artwork and animation styles of the characters and Gundams. For example Wing Zero gains actual wings in this movie. 

The movie is about a new political leader named Mariemaia. Even though she is only 7 years old she has a full army behind her. She gains control over just about everything, including kidnapping Relena. Unfortunately the only force that would be able to stop her is the Gundams, but most of them have sent their mobile suits into the sun. So they are forced to reacquire their suits before they are actually destroyed. The movie also reveals more about some of the characters backgrounds. Especially Trowa's background.

I grew up on this show a bit when I was 8 or so. The show came out in the U.S. in 2000 I believe, but it was removed from American television after 9/11 due to the terrorism issue. I thoroughly enjoyed the show and as such I give it a 10 out 11, but I give the finale an 11 out of 11. It was both inspirational and exciting. I thought Endless Waltz was very well done. While it wasn't as violent as the show I still found it to be quite enjoyable. So in the end I give it a 10 out of 11 as well as the show.

Fullmetal Alchemist & The Conqueror of Shamballa & Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

A while ago I wrote a 2 part review, this one will be a 3 part.

All of them are based on the Elric Brothers. Edward is a State Alchemist. Edward is the youngest recorded State Alchemist. He is also one of the only Alchemists that can use Alchemy without a transmutation circle. Edward's brother is Alphonse Elric. The two make a fairly good team when it comes to research and study as well as fighting in various situations. There was an alchemical accident (though you may have to choose for yourself on the  definition of accident). In this accident Alphonse lost his entire body, and Edward lost an arm and a leg. Edward managed to save his brother by sealing his soul to a body of armor. Luckily for Edward their neighbor is one of the best automail mechanics Pinako Rockbell and her granddaughter Winry who then fit him with a prosthetic arm and leg. The biggest part of both shows is the mythical idea of the Philosopher's Stone. In the world of alchemy everything requires equivalent exchange. If you want to make a wooden horse you must provide the necessary wood. If you wish to make fire you will need to separate the oxygen in the air then create a spark to ignite the oxygen. All of this will of course require an intimate knowledge of the elements and of the world around you. Which brings us to why the Philosopher's Stone is so desirable. Using the Philosopher's Stone allows a person to bypass the need for equivalent exchange. With a Philosopher's Stone a person could perform the taboo, could create from nothing, could even breach into another world full of just alchemical power. 

The Elric Brothers travel across the country of Amestris in search of the Philosopher's Stone or information on it. As they do so they make friends as well as enemies. To be honest the enemy list is probably a bit longer. One of the biggest enemies (other than the homoculi) is known as Scar who is so named for the large X shaped scar that runs across his face. Scar has a tattoo sleeve on his right arm which is a transmutation circle that uses only the first stage of alchemy which is destruction (or breakdown). The second stage being reconstruction. Scar holds a specific hatred toward all state alchemists (though I would like to point out that this hatred is highly justified, though possibly a bit over the top seeing as he murders a lot of them).

The first is Fullmetal Alchemist. This television series was loosely based on the original manga but then took its own more original path. This first series revolves around the concept that a person who commits the taboo (attempts human transmutation) creates a homonculus. These homonculi are humanoid creatures from the realm of Alchemy. They each bare a name from one of the 7 deadly sins; Wrath, Sloth, Envy, Lust, Greed, Gluttony, and Pride. Each of these beings are filled with powers that coincide with their name. For example Gluttony's tongue and mouth can eat through and dissolve anything. Or Envy who is able to change his appearance at will to copy anyone else's. The homonculi are in both series, but how they are created is different. 

In both series the big overarching story involves the brother's father Von Hohenheim. In the first series he was once with another woman (other than their mother) and together they learned a secret to immortality. They split and the woman grew to hate and target Hohenheim (I'm not going to mention her name to avoid certain possible spoilers). She is also the main villain of the series. In the end Hohenheim and Edward are lost to the power of alchemy due to the woman. This series has 51 episodes each being about 22 minutes.

All of that leads to the movie for the original series. This movie finishes the story off from it. The movie takes place in 2 worlds; the world of alchemy where the show takes place, and our world in the time period of World War II in England. Edward is in our world while Alphonse in in his. Alphonse is spending his time trying to find and save his lost brother, while Edward is trying to live his new life without alchemy. The big thing is that all the people in the alchemy world are also in our world, just with different roles or things like that (this will happen again, but generally to more extremes when it comes to Brotherhood). Edward has to fight with the rising Nazi party and the Thule society. Through the Thule society he sees the possibilities of getting home and they use him to open a gateway into the alchemical world which they call Shamballa. Lots of fighting using guns and alchemy occurs and the story is pretty intense. The movie is 1 hour and 45 minutes.

 Finally we have Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Much of the back story for this is the same as the original anime, but the end is significantly different. Though the entire series is a lot more based on the original manga that came out. In this the homoculi can die, though it still takes a lot to do so. You will find that a few episodes and fights are mostly if not completely identical to the original series, especially in the beginning few episodes. This series is based more on the destruction of an entire nation known as Xing which occurred many years ago. Eventually it all comes down to Our Father which is the father of the homoculi. 

In this series Ed and Al make more friends than in the first, but pretty much just as many enemies. Though some enemies become friends eventually, and some friends end up becoming enemies. This second series is more violent and aggressive in many of its fights. The series also ends in a way that wraps up some of the smaller stories that occur on the side such as relationships, or other people's skills in their trades. This series had a total of 64 episodes with each being about 22 minutes. This series also had a movie along with it The Sacred Star of Milos. This movie is only a side story from the rest of the Brotherhood series. The reason I am not going to be analyzing that movie because it is its own story, it neither adds or removes to the rest of its series. 

Now for the rating. I enjoyed all of these especially small parts of each. Fullmetal Alchemist I give an 8.5 out of 11, while it was very entertaining there were a few areas that I thought it could have improved on itself. The Conqueror of Shamballa I give the higher score of 10 out of 11. The music was fantastic, the fight scenes were enjoyable, but one of the things I liked the most was the sacrificial nature of many of the characters. Finally I give Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood a 10.5 out of 11. The fights are exciting and clever. The entire show was very cleverly done I thought in fact which is why I gave it such a high score.

NCIS

This is personally the best crime drama television show that is still on the air today. This should not be confused with one of the worst crime drama television shows that is also on the air called NCIS: Los Angeles. The show NCIS is originally a spin-off from the TV show JAG, but is far superior. The show is on its 11th season, has over 200 episodes, and is still going. Each episode is about 43 minutes long.
NCIS by the way stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Pretty much investigate any and all crimes involving naval personnel the marine corps.

The image above is for the first season, these are our main characters. Later characters will be added or removed as the story goes eventually leading to the second image.

This is not even the final cast or current cast. But it was the longest standing cast if I remember correctly. Anyways, back to the review.

I believe I have mentioned before in my reviews that in my adult life I can readily identify 5 instances that have made me cry. NCIS has caused 2 of them. This show is exciting, dramatic, and occasionally devastating. While watching you will laugh at and with characters, you will be angry at and with characters, you will be shocked and surprised, and as I previously stated you will most likely cry at certain moments in the series that I still to this day find devastating even though it happened 9 years ago. The characters will eventually start to look and feel like a family. Gibbs is the slightly abusive, and yet highly protective father. DiNozzo is the teenage son who is always getting into trouble, and always looking for daddy's approval. Kate and Ziva fill the same role at different times of the story, but they are daughter that also wish for dads approval, but don't need to try as hard to acquire it. Mcgee is the son the dad was never able to understand because he is always using language and technology far too advanced for his own good. Ducky is the weird Uncle that always has something to say, but is rarely understood. And Abby, oh how you will love Abby. She is the adopted daughter who is loved far more than all the others combined, but she needs and deserves that love. There are a few other characters that fit familiar-like roles, like Palmer could be the dutiful, but odd duckling nephew.(That little rant got away from me for a bit, but it totally worked out because I called Palmer a duckling and he works for Ducky. I could not have planned that better).

Each season tends to have an overarching theme. Season 1 is introduction and get to know yous, Season 4 is all about the individual characters and their backgrounds. You learn of Gibbs' wife and daughter, multiple characters start relationships, we meet McGee's sister, etc. All of this leads to you the audience member falling more and more in love with the show and characters.

The show is relatively realistic however. I say this as a warning, some characters may die. And please if you plan to watch the show please don't look up those spoilers. And also just because a character or actor leaves the show does not mean they die.

I love this show, I could find some flaws with it, but there isn't a point. So please enjoy this rated 11 out of 11 show.

Vandread

So today's review is of an Anime that has literally haunted my life for over a decade. When I was around 10 years old one of my brother's friends brought over a DVD of the show Vandread. We only watched like the first 4 episodes or something. But that was enough to cause me random memories and fantasies throughout my teens and now adulthood. Luckily about a week ago I had one of these random memories and rediscovered it. I then found all the episodes online and I just finished watching it all. Now to explain a little about why it haunted me so.

Vandread is an Ecchi. Which if you don't know is a Japanese slang term for Erotic Fantasy, which by some could be called the Softcore Porn of Anime. This is additionally Borderline-Harem Anime. Which if you don't know what that is; a Harem Anime is one where there is a guy who is sought after by 3 or more females. I call this a borderline-harem because there is more than 3 but it depends on the time of the show, and everyone kinda likes him eventually and everyone kinda wants in his pants but because one of the girls has kinda already claimed him from the beginning none of them go for it. So those are the main reasons I was haunted. The Ecchi part had them animate boobs in a rather pleasant way, as well as asses. And the fantasy of being on a ship with hundreds of women who all want me. Now to put my own stuff aside and go into an actual review of the show.

Vandread is, as I previously stated, an Ecchi, Borderline-Harem, Mech Anime. Oh wait did I not mention it was also a Mech show. Well it is. The show starts out with our hero Hibiki. He is a downtrodden menial worker on Tarak(wikipedia says Taraak, but if you watch the show with subtitles it always says Tarak). He apparently made some sort of bet that said he would steal the Vanguard Mech unit that he accidentally damaged during the building process. He sneaks onto the ship its on when it takes off into space. Stuff ensues when suddenly the fire nation attacked. Okay so not really the fire nation, but pirates. Which I now realize I am missing some back story that I should tell you about. So Men and Women are completely separate. In fact Men hate Women and Women hate Men. Apparently Men mix their genes or something and get a test tube baby which is then bred in a factory or something like that. With this both genders are so segregated that they are on 2 completely different planets. They are constantly at war and trying to kill each other. Mad rumors fill Tarak about these Women being vicious monsters who love to eat the Man intestines. So back to the pirate thing. So pirates attack, except their female pirates. Short scene made even shorter, the women win and take over the ship and kick all the men off except for 3. Duelo because he is a doctor and he offered to help their wounded, Bart because he hid in a place that they didn't discover, and Hibiki because well...he is the protagonist. The pirate ship and the mans ship end up fusing together and all kinds of crazy shit happens. Lies are told, lies are discovered, etc. But in the end the pirate women figure out that they need these men if they are going to succeed. Bart is the only person able to fully pilot the ship that will eventually be named the Nirvana. Another big thing is that Hibiki piloting his Vanguard and any one of the 3 main female pilots (Dita, Meia, and Jura) fuse their dreads with his Vanguard to create a Vandread. Each one is different in ability and strength. 

Like many Animes, this show consists of 26 episodes. Luckily though there is no recap episode in the middle. Each episode is about 24 minutes.

So some interesting things. First is the animation style. When animating characters and normal show stuff it is your basic 2D Anime. But when they animate space and the fighting and what not they did it is a 3D format. This can be a bit jarring at first, but eventually you get used to the shifts. I must say it gives an interesting feel to the battle scenes and I truly cant say one way or the other if it worked for me. Next is some of the ideals within the show. The whole premise of the genders being separate is fascinating. And seeing the interpretation they have in response to that is interesting to see unfold. They meet many cultures and groups of humans on various planets along their travels and all of them have men and women together. So this group evolves with each step. The show also deals with death of loved ones. As well as one of the women turns out to be a man in disguise who has been spying for Tarak for years. I wont say who, and I wont say when he reveals himself. But let me just tell you hearing the mans voice come out of the attractive womans body was slightly disturbing.

So I really liked this show. But it was rather redundant at times. They did the same gag repeatedly. The same innuendo joke, the same annoying character doing the same annoying thing. And the battles were rather predictable. Plus these people were overly good at piloting their ships. Especially Hibiki, he somehow knows exactly what each Vandread is capable of. Even when it is the first time he has ever turned into that specific one. So it all comes down to my score of 9 out of 11. A good show.

Sword Art Online

This is an interesting show. Sword Art Online deals with a lot of real world situations. Many of which are intense and uncomfortable to talk about within civilized company. One of those that I am going to split in half to describe and analyze. Season 1 and 2. The show had a total of 25 episodes. Each episode being the anime norm of being about 22 minutes long. Lets get right into it shall we?

Season 1:
The show is about a virtual reality MMO called Sword Art Online(SAO). Our hero Kirito is a teenager who was a part of the Beta Testing for SAO and as such started the game with a slight advantage over the others. That first day of SAO coming out everyone logged on, but soon realized they couldn't log out. The creator of the game shows up and tells everyone about the world he created. He wanted to play a real game with the players. Their virtual reality helmets would kill them if they died in the game. If someone in the real world attempted to remove the helmets that would also kill them. The only way to leave the game would be to beat it. Thus starts us off. Clans are created, relationships are formed, people start into various roles within the world. Some people develop their fighting skills to advance level by level to attempt to beat the game. Some people develop other skills such as smithing, cooking, fishing, etc. People start to settle into the new world, some resent it, others relish in it. Kirito decides to remain as a loner. He joins up with some people here and there, but all of his experiences teach him the dangers of working with others. I don't want to talk too much about Kirito's specific experiences because I don't think I could talk about them without giving away spoilers. Characters die here and there in the show. At one point Kirito even has to solve a murder mystery which was rather interesting. 2 years pass throughout all of season 1. But the main theme in it all is Loss. Loss of life, loss of love, loss of friendship, loss of family, etc. Kirito eventually falls in love and they get married within the game perimeters, but additionally pledge love out of game as well. Season 1 ends with the end of the game and everyone being released.

Season 2:
But wait, not everyone got out after all. Kirito's love is one of 300 who for whatever reason didn't get out of the game. We learn of Kirito's family life and what happened over the last few years while he was in a game coma. Kirito learns that his love is trapped within a new VRMMO called Alfheim. So he joins the game. (He can log out from this one. So it is constantly his quest to find her, and his home life). He learns he has to pretty much beat this new game to get to her. So he starts off on that quest. This season talks a lot about rape and sex. His love is betrothed in real life to this man who constantly talks about how is planning on taking advantage of her while she is in the coma. Kirito is also rushed on time to save her because the wedding will be soon. He meets up with a character who is unbeknownst to him and her, his sister. She falls in love with him, not knowing he is her brother. They travel to find his love. He never specifies exactly why he is trying to beat the game and doesn't reveal his loves name till much later. Stuff happens, Kirito gets shanked in real life. More stuff happens. Happy ending.

I absolutely loved season 1. I didn't like season 2 very much at all. As such I cannot give 1 score for the show as a whole. But Season 1 gets to receive a 10.5 out of 11. And Season 2 gets the unfortunate score of 3 out of 11.