I keep hoping that one day soon Bones will release this anime in the United States. I know that you can get the anime on the PSN, but I would like to own a DVD or Blu-ray copy of the anime. I stumbled across Xam’d by accident. I don’t remember the circumstances, but i remember that I was intrigued enough to chase down some of the stories. I think that I may have seen a few images from the series and thought that the artwork was similar to Eureka Seven, which I liked, and so I decided to see if would like Xam’d as well. Short story long, I like the series and keep hoping for a US DVD release, which hasn’t happened yet.

Xam’d starts out on Sentan Island. It is a peaceful place, however, it is a part of the Southern Free Zone. The Southern Free Zone happens to be at war with the Northern Government, and Sentan Island is a little too close for comfort to the Northern Government. So, while the island is at peace there is a rather heavy military presence on the island. There is a third group involved in the conflict, a mysterious religious cult thought by most to be extinct. How they are involved in the conflict is still to be seen.

Akiyuki is one of the main characters of the series and he lives on the island with his estranged parents. That is to say that he lives with his mother, but does his best to stay in contact with his father. On his way to school one day a mysterious, pale-skinned girl deliberately causes an explosion on Sentan Island which releases a strange green light. The light impales Akiyuki through his right arm and manifests as a dark blue jewel. Akiyuki then goes to look for the mysterious girl. He finds her on the school bus and she is dying. The girl apologizes to Akiyuki for what she has done to him and triggers a transformation in his body. A small, red jewel appears on Akiyuki’s forehead and then his face is enclosed in a white mask. His body quickly changes in to a white-skinned humanoid. This new form is called Xam’d.

It is at about this time that the Northern Government launches an attack on Sentan Island. Unleashing some bizarre weapons called Humanform weapons. Humanform weapons are large, biological organisms of incredible power. These Humanform weapons display a rather aggressive attitude toward the Xam’d, an attitude that is entirely mutual. The Xam’d and the Humanform fight, destroying a number of buildings.

The Xam’d is ultimately victorious and the Humanform begins to turn to stone as it dies. However, the Xam’d seems to be out of control at this point, repeatedly hitting the Humanform even though it does not move. The Xam’d is stopped by Nakiami, a mysterious employee of a postal ship who knows more about what is going on than she is telling. She give Akiyuki a choice, come with her and learn to control the Xam’d or turn to stone. Given those options what would you choose?

I haven’t watched the entire series yet. I am still waiting for the US DVD release that I hope will come any day now. I like what I have seen so much that I not only want to watch the rest of the series, but I want to own it as well. I think that the artwork is excellent and the opening music is very catchy. I hope that the promise of the beginning of the series was delivered at the end of the series.

It has been a while since I have posted anything and it has been a while since I have seen the new Red Dwarf. I must say that I was disappointed in the offering. With what I saw, I wish they had stopped with Rimmer kicking Death in the jewels and running. The new miniseries felt like they had run out of everything, jokes, money, enthusiasm, desire, you name it they probably didn’t have it. One thing they did have in ample quantity was fail. They must have gone to one of those big box stores and bought an economy sized box of fail.

I like Red Dwarf. I used to stay up late to watch it. That is one of the reasons that Back in the Red feels like such a betrayal, such a complete and utter fail. I had been anticipating an end to the cliffhanger in the last series and what did I get? Some lame story about the Dwarfers trying to bargain with the network president so that they wouldn’t be canceled. If I wanted to see something that lame I would just watch reality television.

Red Dwarf was such an amazing show. That isn’t to say that people haven’t tried to mess with it over the years. Some studio or other tried to create an American version and what happened? Total Fail! Then after years of rumors a new miniseries is finally offered, a bright point in otherwise very disappointing television offerings, and what happens? It looks and feels like they tried to make a Red Dwarf reality show. Did they get an Ace, no, they got a Joker. I’d be surprised if the Red Dwarf fan base will ever trust the Grant Naylor to put out another decent Red Dwarf offering.

Having seen the entire series. I realize that all is not as it seems in the Red Dwarf universe and that this is eventually leads back to the actual Red Dwarf continuity, but it was such a let down. I had been so enthusiastic about the return it felt like I was being beaten by a good friend when the series final aired. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still Red Dwarf and so there are bright spots in the series. I don’t think that every episode is brilliant, but this series, to me, is one of the low points in the entire continuity.

To begin, I know very little about Witchblade, both the comic and the television series. I have read a little about them on the internet and I wanted to check out the television series, but never got the opportunity. I suppose that I could track it down now that so many television shows are streamed over the internet now. That being said I was intrigued by the anime series based on the Witchblade comics. I just got done watching it and I was impressed. I don’t know how well it follows the Witchblade canon from the comics and I understand that fans of the comics are not very happy with it, but I found that the story drew me in and held me from beginning to end.

Six years before the start of the series a cataclysm destroyed part of Tokyo. At ground zero a young woman and a child were discovered. The woman, Masane, had lost her memory and if she hadn’t been carrying a birth diary she wouldn’t have known that the child was hers.

Six years later she moves back to Tokyo with her daughter, Rihoko ("Riko"), in order to get a new start. She and her daughter are on the run from the National Scientific Welfare Foundation’s Child Welfare Division. Since Masane is a single mother with no means to support herself or her daughter the Child Welfare Division wants to take Riko from her. They finally track down Masane and Riko and attempt to make Masane see that she would be doing her daughter a favor by letting them take Riko. Initially she agrees and allows the Child Welfare Division to take her daughter. However, she panics, tries to get her daughter back and ends up in jail.

While Masane is being arrested and taken to jail, the police arrest another man who had confessed to a string of very violent and grisly murders. Masane and this nameless man are put into cells near each other and then left alone. The man starts moaning and it seems that he might be sick. Instead of him being sick, he transforms into a clawed killing machine and starts a rampage in the cell block and goes after Masane.

Masane is far from normal however. Masane is the wielder of the Witchblade, a weapon of supernatural origin and power. The Witchblade activates to protect Masane from the prisoner who has killed several police officers and is coming after her. The Witchblade transforms her body, covering her rather provocatively in blackish armor and blades. Masane then destroys the machine and walks out of the police station.

When Masane comes to later she has no recollection of the events that occurred at the police station, which is just the start of her troubles. First, the machine that she destroyed is not the only one of its kind and second, some one has been trying to create new, better versions of the Witchblade. Both the machines and the "Cloneblades" want to destroy the wielder of the Witchblade for one of two reasons. The machines just want to fight, both they and the Witchblade derive great pleasure from combat. The Cloneblades want to recover the Witchblade to develop more powerful Cloneblades.

Masane, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with the Withblade or any of the rest of it. She just wants to be left alone to get a job and be a good mother to her daughter, goals that are at odds with the destiny of the wielders of the Witchblade.

I very much enjoyed this anime. I realize that this may be at odds with the Witchblade fan base, but to each his own. I think that if they were to give the anime the benefit of the doubt and judge it based on its own merits they might like it. I feel that this is similar to the reception of the recent Star Trek reboot. Think of this Witchblade story occurring in a parallel world where it operates under different rules.