formosan

This show should be watched by aspiring writers. Its greatest contribution is that it shows how a project can have tremendous charm, good redeeming characteristics, and yet fail when considered as a whole. A gruesome autopsy can be fascinating to a scientific observer; this show can be fascinating to a creative artist who hopes to learn how art projects can go wrong. Let us start with the redeeming characteristics. The art designs are charmingly retro, featuring costumes, weapons, vehicles, and technology spanning a period from about 1930 to 1955. If you love World War II costumes, you might watch the entire show just tosee the visual designs. The lead voice talents are good. The music is initially redeemed by the opening theme, but the rest of the music is mediocre and the whole sound fails to inspire, draw the project together, or create a cohesive mood. (By contrast, [i]Ergo Proxy[/i] takes a similarly small selection of music and uses it to create a mood.) The characters are somewhat stereotypical. Further, they are puppets in the service of an idiotic plot, so they behave irrationally. The characters are usually armed to the teeth with deadly firearms, but they are fervent pacifists, so they usually refuse to shoot. If they must squeeze a trigger, they are sure to fire warning shots or to target something nonlethal. This show prettifies warfare by showing shiny planes that can be wrecked with their pilots always parachuting to safety. There are tens of thousands of opportunities for death and destruction - and in 26 episodes, there are fewer than half a dozen injuries. Characters can stand a few yards away from a dynamite bomb, with no ill effects; but they can be rendered conveniently unconscious by punches. It's pretty standard for heroic anime teenagers to be passionately in love with each other and yet incapable of touching each other, but the shyness in this series goes beyond anime-standard silliness into self-parody. In the face of this idiotic pseudo-violence and pseudo-tension, the plot holes, though numerous and annoying, are scarcely worth mentioning. Somehow I found the whole mess to be surprisingly watchable. There are some ambitious, artsy flashbacks that tugged my heartstrings, and some ambitious supporting characters that failed to move me. There were a few suspenseful sequences that actually evoked World War II era commando tactics; there were some cute moments; there was at least one good laugh. If nothing else, there is a morbid fascination in asking, "How much cheesier can this get?" because the answer is always, "Soooo much cheesier." Some viewers have suggested watching the first half and skipping the second half. I disagree; if one is going to stare into this abyss, one had better do it whole-heartedly. I recommend that most viewers should skip this entirely, but aspiring writers should bear with the cheesiness for all 26 episodes. It builds character.

Retro8bit

Allison and Lillia is a great adventure that takes place high up in the vast blue skies, while it isn't the greatest adventure title you'll see, it does remain a good watch! Despite this title having many military action elements to it, its actually all kept pretty darn clean. There are rarely any deaths that take place, most of which are the bad guys, and there is no blood to speak of with it, which is both a positive and negative depending on your taste. Now without posting any spoilers, I can tell you that this series is divided into two arks: Allison's Tales (firsthalf), and Lillia's tale (second half). Story: 6/10 Starting with the first half about Allison and Will, things start off kinda slow but begin to get better and better as the story progresses, and by episode 3 begins to pick up. (though the pacing of both story sequences do stay rather slow throughout, just so your aware) Basically Allison and her friend Will are trying to find the legendary hidden treasure in order to unite the two countries together. This concept works well, as the two make their way into the adventure many plot twist and friends are found along the way. This series is also great with its little detective work bits that the viewer can try to figure out along with them. Still, some may find that the overall plot moves way too slow, (this is true with both story arks) as they seem show a lot of friendly chat between the characters a lot, which can be seen as fillers. On Allison's last episode everything is concluded and will leave you with a smile on your face and good satisfaction! However once Lillia's story begins you may get the impression that the writers didn't know where to take the story anymore, as it basically has Lillia and her friend Trieve wandering about aimlessly with no real goal as to what they are both trying to accomplish (or the villains for that matter, we never even find out who the main one was at the end) with the story. Lillia herself can come off as stuck up and Trieze as cowardly, that they just don't have the appeal of the cast before them, which makes it hard to actually care about these characters. Not the worst by any means, just a bit of a stumbling block I felt. The ending itself leaves much to be desired though, as it leaves a bunch of plot holes in the end and most questions and circumstances unresolved. A good story overall, I just wished they would have developed the second half more. Characters: 7/10 Truly, the character development is indeed good, as all of them do actually grow closer and closer to one another. All characters are likable for the most part and have distinct personalities to them, and never come off as redundant. Not to mention Allison trying catch Will's interest about her is also nice, even though he is a dense as they come when dealing with it, he never comes off as annoying, plus the way they are carried out is charming and cute! While there isn't a large variety with the character personalities, it still hold its own. Some may feel that the second half characters are a bit more of an annoyance, which they kinda are, but this at least helps in the variety department to some extent! Art: 7/10 The animation done by Madhouse is good overall, while its not their best work by any means, Allison and Lillia is a nice anime to look at, what with well detailed characters and scenes. They just never really went that extra mile to make it really stand out. As I felt it was missing the overall colorful affect of other adventure titles that came before it. The character design, while not exactly unique, does really give you the feeling of being in this era! Soundtrack: 8/10 The music is very charming, with a catchy soft sung opening and ending, with great live orchestral Background soundtracks to compliment, that definitely fit the series to a T and give you the sense that adventure looms right over the horizon.! It won't appeal to all music lovers out there, but most will agree that it works for the kind of atmosphere they were going for. The voice acting is also spot on, and you will find that they really took the time to find the right voice actors for the right roles. My only complaint was that some of the voices were starting to get a bit on the repetitive side.....especially regarding some of the male villains. Kinda sounded like it was the same guy doing some of them. Bottom Line: 7/10 Even though the overall story is quite slow paced and has its short comings (which might kill it for some), Allison and Lillia still remains an entertaining watch! I feel this series truly could have been great had they developed Lillia's story ark a little more. As it stands now though, it is still a fun little adventure despite it all!