Very Limited

     For some reason, the Final Fantasy video game series has yet to successfully adapt itself to the big or little screens, aside from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.  Final Fantasy Unlimited was their only attempt at making an anime series.  Years ago, off the coast of Japan, a giant energy pillar appeared.  Two dragon-like creatures come out of it and begin fighting, and they quickly destroy each other.  The Pillar acts as a portal to a world called Wonderland, where all sorts of strange creatures live.  In the present day, the Hayakawa Twins, Ai and Yu, head into Wonderland in order to find their missing parents, who went there to study.  They meet Lisa Pacifist, a woman trained in a kind of martial arts called Kigen Jutsu, Chobi, a chocobo who gives Yu a feather that allows them to communicate, and Makenshi, a swordsman with a mysterious past.  They also meet a great warrior named Kaze, who bears a weapon called the Magun, which allows him to summon powerful beasts.  There, they fight the servants of Earl Tyrant, a little boy who controls the entirety of Wonderland.  Along the way, they make many friends, including the entirety of the Comodeen resistance group, and discover the truth about Wonderland.

     This series is SNOOZY.  For one, the vast majority of the locales that Ai, Yu, Lisa, and the gang visit are just certain stereotypical spots in RPGdom.  There are basically no towns and no civilizations, and the only interesting people they ever interact with are either the Earl’s servants or the Comodeen.  Or the two weird old Chocobo ladies.  Ai is an extremely rude and obnoxious little girl who is very difficult to like, and Yu is far too passive.  The likable main characters are Lisa and Kaze, the latter of whom does the majority of the fighting.  Earl Tyrant is admittedly an interesting villain, but most of the time, his subordinates are so laughably incompetent that it’s a wonder he ever became ruler of Wonderland.  Then there’s the mystery of Chaos and Omega, two extremely alike, destructive entities that are barely distinguishable from each other.  The art is so-so, but really, the only character who consistently looks cool is Kaze.  In fact, he’s the only consistently interesting character, and he normally ignores everyone.  The Magun is a cool concept, but it’s extremely awkward looking too.  So, all in all, this is a boring show.  The characters are under par, the story needs a lot more explaining (there isn’t even a proper ending), and the music and art are forgettable.  I warn even hardcore fans of Final Fantasy away from this.  It’s a so-so anime, but it’s one of the worst Final Fantasies ever.

Story: 4.3      Artwork: 5.6      Soundtrack: 4.6      Acting: 8.8      Overall: 4.9

Nowhere to Hide

     In the newest arc of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight, Twilight sends hundreds of demons to Scotland to locate the Slayer main base.  Willow has dozens of spells protecting the base and everyone inside, but the demons still manage to find them.  In Germany, Faith and Giles are forced to flee to Scotland, as are Andrew and his Slayers in Italy, after a brief altercation with Warren.  Additionally, other Slayers from around the world, like Kennedy and Satsu, likewise have to retreat.  They all meet up in a rather tearful reunion, but the demons follow them and start attacking the base.  As the battle rages on, Willow finds out from an interrogation that it is the use of magic that is drawing all these demons to them.  They retreat onto the submarine that Kennedy and Satsu got from their battle with the little stuffed-animal demons, and Buffy and Giles talk about Willow’s constant use of magic and Buffy’s visit to the future.  In order to lose their pursuers, Buffy asks Willow to cast one more spell: to send the whole submarine to Tibet, where a nonchalant Oz awaits.

     This is a rather cool arc that is both an opportunity to revisit an old character and deal with the natural result of the mass popularity of vampires after Harmony’s little on-air feeding.  However, I have one complaint about this issue, which is a rather big one.  Where’s the setup?  All of a sudden, they’re under attack.  We don’t get any explanation as to what exactly triggered the attack or when it began.  It’s too much of a sudden occurrence, and I’m not really a fan of that.  It makes the story feel rather disjointed from where we last left off, which was Dawn’s return to humanity.  Now, that’s actually my only complaint.  I’m excited to see Oz again, and it’s great to see all the current Scoobies (Buffy, Willow, Xander, Dawn, Giles, Faith, Andrew) back together again.  I’m hoping that this arc also finally reveals the identity of Twilight, because I’m dying to know who the big bad is.  Jane Espenson wrote the best issue of the previous, semi-connected arc, and she’s proving her skill with the Buffy characters once again in this issue.  Georges Jeanty also continues to do his usual superb work in these pages, though I must admit that I wasn’t sure that was Oz for a while.  There are only three arcs left in this “season,” including this one, and I can’t wait to see how the Scoobies will get out of so great a predicament.  Then again, they’ve saved the world from multiple apocalypses, so I’m sure they’ll manage.

Plot: 9.2      Art: 9.0      Dialogue: 9.1      Overall: 9.1

The Dysfunctional Duo

     Continuing the first whirlwind arc of Batman and Robin, the two titular characters arrive at the Gotham City Police Department to interrogate Mr. Toad.  The other members of the Circus of the Strange show up and attack the police department, and they start a brawl with Batman and Robin.  Damian  fights a big fat person who may or may not be a man, and Dick fights a burning man and what I think are conjoined triplets.  I’m not sure of those really exist in nature, but whatever.  Damian goes overboard in trying to interrogate the fat person, and Mr. Toad is somehow killed right under everyone’s noses.  Damian refuses to respect Dick and rides off in a fit, and Alfred Pennyworth gives Dick an actor’s pep talk.  Damian ends up finding one of Professor Pyg’s newest dolls, presumably one of the characters from the last issue, who warns him to look behind him.  More dolls then attack Damian, and even more of them go around the city blowing themselves up.

     Now, I can’t say that I know exactly what Pyg’s trying to do here.  His objective seems to be a mixture of anarchy and homogenization through making everyone his dolls.  Whether its one, the other, or both, he’s extremely screwed up, and in the same way as the rest of Batman’s rogues gallery.  He fits perfectly.  The conflict between Damian and Dick is also perfect, fitting with Grant Morrison’s previous characterization of the bratty new Robin.  And Morrison’s version of the Dick Grayson self-doubting is probably the only one that doesn’t sound like him whining, since it actually acknowledges the biggest problem with Dick being Batman: other people realize that he isn’t the original.  Frank Quietly’s faces are a bit better in this issue, but they’re still pretty dang ugly.  However, he does draw an extremely obese person very well.  Overall, this is the most fun that Batman has been in a long time.  It’s a great new take on a concept that has seen the same topics covered many times over in the past few years, which I personally find to be  highly refreshing.

Plot: 9.4      Art: 7.9      Dialogue: 9.1      Overall: 9.0