The trailers that I had seen for Glass Fleet really made me want to see the rest. The trailer seemed like a propaganda film from World War II or something. Chanting slogans, the appeals to the people, everything. It was very impressive. Glass Fleet is a "space opera". Huge space battles, romantic entanglements, women posing as men, huge asteroid-shaped battleships, sword fights, etc. The technology that drives the series is an interesting mix of futuristic and steampunk. So, this series would be a steampunk, space opera.

Vetti Sforza has just defeated the aristocracy in a grand battle for control of the known universe. Upon conclusion of the battle he named himself the Holy Emperor and instead of ousting the aristocracy, just put himself at their head. Michel Volban, disillusioned by the Emperor’s actions, unites the people against the Holy Emperor and the aristocracy. However, the People’s Army, as it is known, is vastly inferior to the Holy Imperial Army, unskilled, under funded, and outnumbered.

After suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of Imperial forces, Michel Volban is "rescued" by Cleo and his crew. Cleo is the captain of a Glass Battleship. A battleship that was constructed using technology that hasn’t been seen since the destruction of the Royal Family. The battleship seems to be constructed of glass, is faster and more maneuverable than the current ships in use by either the Imperial Forces or the People’s Army, and its armor makes it capable of taking a direct hit without suffering any damage. Cleo, who claims to be a member of the Royal Family and plans to use his ship to restore the Royal Family, uses the battleship to destroy other ships by ramming his ship straight through the other ship’s engine. He sees Michel Volban as a means to an end and as a means to use the People’s Army to achieve his goals, and so takes Michel on a part of his crew.

In the background of the revolution, the Church of the Black Cross Star is making its own moves to consolidate power for itself. In fact, the Black Cross religion was the force behind the destruction of the Royal Family. The Black Cross religion believes that setting foot on a planet will damn one’s soul, that paradise exists on the other side of the Black Cross Star that dominates the galaxy, and it will ruthlessly crush anyone who disrupts the status quo, even the royal family.

In order to further their goals both Vetti and Cleo ally themselves with the other factions. Cleo with the People’s Army through Michel and Vetti with the Black Cross religion by marrying the daughter of the Pope. It is interesting that a "Catholic" type church appears in quite a few anime and manga, but the rules of the clergy change enough to allow the priesthood to have children and for women to be part of the clergy.

After having watched the trailer, I was a little disappointed with the anime. I wanted more than I got. The impression that I got from the anime was that I was getting a grand space opera. A battle royale of good versus evil in space. What I got was a bit watered down. The story made the good guys seem not so noble and the bad guys not so detestable. I realize that in a good story the bad guys should be somewhat sympathetic. You should care what happens to them. Darth Vader was scary and all, but when we found out that he was Luke’s father and that he had once been a great Jedi, he became more sympathetic and we were drawn further into the story. However, the I started seeing the good guys in the same way that I saw the bad guys. The bad guys became more sympathetic and the good guys less. We don’t want a perfect good guy. That was the problem with the first iteration of Superman. He was too perfect. If the good guy is too perfect he isn’t real to the audience. The good guy has to have flaws, but he should be distinguishable from the bad guy.

The artwork is a mix of 2-D cell shading and 3-D computer animation. The transitions are as seamless as possible. You can see when the animation changes, but it isn’t too bad.

The voice acting is as good as can be expected. I think that they could have done a better job with the choice for Michel, it is a little obvious that Michel is a woman trying to disguise her voice. I suppose you could make the argument that Michel just has a high pitched voice for a man, but I think that it is obvious.

I still like Glass Fleet despite what I feel are obvious flaws. It is definitely worth watching a few times.

Good news everybody. Red Dwarf will be back on April 10th. It will be a three part miniseries. This is something that needed to happen. I have been waiting for this since the end of season 8 when the series ended with a cliffhanger. So, starting April 10th the other two parts of the miniseries will be broadcast on the 11th and the 12th. No concrete plans have been made to broadcast the episodes on in the United States, but with the ability to find television episodes on the internet we should still be able to see it relatively soon. Plus, it shouldn’t be too long before it is broadcast here either on the International BBC channel or on PBS. In addition, there are plans to bring the DVD to the US. I’ve heard that it should be here around June.

I’ve got to say, this really made my day.

I had seen advertisements for Karas, but the ads that I had seen were limited to pictures of something in armor and the name, "Karas". Well I just happened to catch the ending of Karas: The Prophecy and the visuals were amazing. I decided that I wanted to see the rest of the show and the beginning that I had missed. I was not disappointed.

Each city has a will that is combined from all the people in the city and coalesces into the form of a Yurine, a girl that appears to be about 12 years old. The Yurine then chooses a protector for the city, human to whom she gives the power to change into a Karas. The Karas is an armored warrior that protects the city from supernatural threats. The supernatural world coexists along side the mundane world and for the most part neither does the other any harm. When the supernatural world starts to prey on the mundane world the Yurine summons the Karas and speaks the enchantment that will allow it to transform and unbinds its weapon so that the Karas may protect the city.

Thousands of years ago the Karas of Shinjuku took the Yurine’s power and bound her in order to force his will on the city. Thousands of years later the city has a new Yurine and a new Karas, but the old Karas is now ready to recreate the city according to his will. He has recruited several Yokai to his cause and the Yokai, embraced his cause by replacing their bodies with technology thus becoming Mikuras and giving themselves a presence in the mundane world.

With his plans nearing completion, Eko, the old Karas, murders the current Karas, forcing Yurine to choose a new Karas. This new Karas must learn to use his powers quickly or he will become food for the wolves just as quickly.

This anime is visually amazing. A combination of 2-D cell shading and 3-D computer animation were used to create this anime. For the most part the traditional cell shading technique is used to render the characters and the environment of the anime. The scenes of the battles between Karas and the Mikuras on the other hand were rendered using computer animation techniques. This is another anime that makes successful use of the 2-D and 3-D techniques. As I said before, "…visually stunning". This combination, when properly done, makes for a beautiful anime.

The music for this anime reminds me at time of Mozart’s Requiem. This anime has a very dark tone and the music reflects that tone well. As you can tell from previous posts I treat the music in an anime as background and rarely if ever think about it. I think that is a mark of a good musical score. If the view doesn’t pay much attention to the music, it is doing its job, enhancing the scene. If the music is too distracting that is when you have a poor musical score.

The story is very good, but it does get rather convoluted in a couple of spots. In addition, there are several side stories that are going on while the main story is unfolding. This might not be a problem in a series that extends for 24 to 26 episodes. However, Karas is an OVA and is made up of 6 episodes. Now the introduction of the side stories do add needed depth to the overall story, but they didn’t always seem to lead back to the main story very well.

If you are looking for Karas in the U.S. and I recommend that you do. The OVA was released as two movies. The first three episodes were released as Karas: The Prophecy and the last three were released as Karas: The Revelation. Be warned that Karas is violent and bloody. Not as bloody as Afro Samurai, but it is not an anime for kids.