ANI-MOVIES, *A Silent Voice: The Movie

Despite being overshadowed by Your Name during the year of its release, A Silent Voice is a dramatic anime movie based on the 7-volume manga of the same name, although adapted into an extra full-length feature. Kyoto Animation crafted this masterful take on Yoshitoki Oima's comic, directed by K-On's Naoko Yamada, and centers on the complex dealings of personal anxiety.

During his years in elementary school, Shoya would bully a newly arrived deaf girl named Shoko, mostly because he thought that her handicap was graining on his schoolmates who tire of helping her to keep up with the rest of the class. Shoko is harassed to the point where she has to change schools, and all Shoya's friends turn against him to pass the blame for their involvement. This branding has him ignored by his former mates as they go into middle school, so Shoya sinks into depression throughout high school, leaving him suicidal. Before he attempts this, he tries to make amends with Shoko by returning her old notebook that she used to communicate with others in elementary school. Shojo seems to find a new lease on life after she reciprocates his peace offering by befriending him. Shoya's refreshing outlook allows him to begin seeking out his outcasted schoolmates, while befriending others who are also victims of bullying. Shoya and Shoko's budding relationship causes insecurity in their doubting friends and family. Many of the members of their growing circle still can't get past their personal history with either Shoya or Shoko, either accepting any of the blame of past actions, or willingness to accept the intentions of Shoya's attempts for redemption, which makes others question their own worth as a person.

It should be pointed out that this is not a romantic movie, but a dramatic slice-of-life. There are strong passionate emotions between the characters trying to get past their own handicaps or social anxieties. The major draw of this film is its enchanting soundtrack which echoes the mix of emotions fitting each scene. The dub is profoundly strong to include hearing-impaired actress Lexi Cowden as the deaf Shoko. Despite its lengthy runtime, the overall narrative makes for a true orm masterpiece to anyone who can comprehend how the hefty subject of bullying can take its toll on its victims.

ANI-MOVIES, *Catwoman: Hunted

Separate from the any of the current DC Universes(although it's hinted it might be in the Young Justice universe), Catwoman: Hunter is an anime-inspired feature directed by Shinsuke Terasawa who has worked on everything from Akira to Dragonball Z. Inspired by action comedies like Cowboy Bebop, Cat's Eye, and Lupin, the whole film is a love letter to high-speed adventure tales, playing out like an 80s video game going from one boss fight to the other.

Catwoman crashes a masquerade party dressed as "herself" from the Golden Age, Selina Kyle is really out to snatch a large emerald to help pay for the care of girls she liberated from a sex trafficking ring. Catwoman takes it from Black Mask who is trying to join the new criminal organization known as Leviathan, which is oddly enough being run by Barbara Minerva, who most Wonder Woman fans would know as Cheetah, and taking a spin back to the character's origin as a master criminal. After a lengthy car chase, Catwoman is abducted by Batwoman who is working with Interpol, along with agent Juliet Pennyworth, aka: Alfred's daughter. They recruit the thieving feline into helping them round up the heads of Leviathan, featuring some serious niche DC villains like La Dama and Dr. Tsin. Catwoman and Batwoman bust the villains' powwow while taking on assassins Cheshire and Nosferata. After a several beat-um up battles with Leviathan's goons, Minerva unleashes ninjas and the hulking Solomon Grundy for a showdown with our heroines in Paris.

Catwoman: Hunted is a riveting roller coaster ride with crisp animation and amazing fight sequences, up to par with modern day quality anime releases. The vocal cast has favorites like Keith David as Tobias Whale, Kelly Hu returning as Cheshire, Encanto's Stephanie Beatriz as Batwoman, and Elizabeth Gillies is probably the best actress to ever be cast as the titular character. Capes, capers, chases, and pointy-eared costumed cuties are the major selling points of this one-shot movie.

MISC. MANGA, *Her Witch

Ayumi Hattori started out as an animator working on legendary anime like Mobile Suit Gundam and Minky Momo, but eventually went into the field of manga-ka. One of the few titles of her to get an English release is a 4-part one-shot volume rebranded in English as Her Witch.

The busty redhead sorceress Leica hails from a fantasy world, who is released in our world from soccer player Nadeshiko after accidently knocking her bottle open which acts as a dimensional portal. Leica now owes Nadeshiko a wish, which she keeps pressing to use on gaining a larger chest to attract Leica's love interest. But the unlikely duo are constantly attacked by random spirits after Leica from her kingdom. The voluptuous witch isn't as noble as she appears with several other rivals and hunters from the magical world which usually cause huge damage around Nadeshiko's town.

The artwork is pretty enticing for a single book manga in Her Witch. The characters a somewhat bounded down by standard otaku tropes, but it does make for a nostalgiac read on a long afternoon.

MISC. MANGA, *Queen Bee

Chynna Clugston had already gained notoriety from her manga-styled Blue Monday comic, so she went on to create a graphic novel for younger readers through Scholastic Press. Queen Bee was intended to be an ongoing series, but merely made a single but critically praised release about the ups and downs of being a teenager in the mid-2000s.

Haley leads a semi-normal life, despite the fact that she has uncontrollable fits of psychokinesis, resulting in the occasional moving of objects with her mind. She doesn't seem to have a full grasp of her abilities as her spasms are caused from negativity, and for someone who obsesses about being popular, it does prey on her emotions. This makes it hard for her to make friends at her current school, but Haley lucks out when her mother has them move to a different town. At her new school, Haley manages to work her way into a clique called "The Hive". The psychic teen turns down interacting with the students she met when she first got oriented, and climbs over the clique head Anjelica to achieve her status as queen bee of the school. Haley's status is challenged when a fiery redheaded rival arrives named Alexia who also happens to have psychic abilities that rival hers. The two espers keep their special abilities aside to decide who deserves to reign as queen through a talent competition. Haley relaxes her anxiety over being popular thanks to her study partner Jasper, who helps her in her act, as well as showing her that hanging out only with the cool crowd isn't the only thing that counts.

Queen Bee differs from Clugston's Blue Monday as it takes place in modern day, where the prior was set during the early 90s. The manga style used here is more a reflection of the creator's style, and not an attempt to cash in on the anime craze that was dominating American culture in the early part of the century. The graphic novel is a fine addition to a young reader's library, and perfectly safe for all ages.

ANI-MOVIES: *The Case Of Hana & Alice

Whereas rotoscoping in The Flowers Of Evil didn't win much love, the same film style was used in this animated prequel to the live-action movie, Hana And Alice. The original movie's creator Shinji Iwai did this as his first animated project highlighting the origin of two schoolgirls' friendship.

A teenager is going by the name of "Alice" because of a change in her family as her mother divorced her father after writing a tell-all book about him(a plot point that gets little expansion into it) and has moved to a new town. Her new school has a ghost story behind it in the seat she is assigned to in class which belonged to Yuda, a former student. The whole story turns out to be largely bunk as Alice befriends her shut-in neighbor Hana, who was the childhood friend of Yuda, and knew that he left due to a family affair, but sabotaged his goodbye from school because he used a method of gaining multiple girlfriends that she originally intended to confess her feelings for. Hana stung Yuda with a bee in revenge and became a shut-in as she's afraid the sting might have had an allergic reaction killing him. Alice and Hana's quest to discover if Yuda is still alive by trailing his father home from work, of which leads to an entire subplot with Alice falling the wrong man for several minutes of the film. The two girls spend the night outside Yuda's apartment waiting to find out if he's still alive, and Hana opens to Alice about how guilty she feels about possibly killing her old friend. Yuda turned out to be alive, and this gives Hana the strength to go back to school with Alice as her classmate.

The original Hana And Alice movie was more about a love triangle forming between the title characters and a boy they meet as they go onto high school. So, this prequel shows how this bizarre friendship was formed by two characters who don't even meet up until about halfway through the story. The effect of rotoscoping works splendidly with photo backgrounds and CGI animation giving hope for the future of this time-honored technique. The story itself can drag at times, with several points which lead to nothing much in the overall narrative, like Alice's newfound love for ballet, or the scam of Yuda's death being used by someone to gain success at school as a fake psychic. It is possible to completely skip the original live-action movie and still have an enjoyable enough time watching this slice of life story.

ANI-MOVIES, *Raya And The Last Dragon

During the height of the pandemic, Disney decided to release its latest theatrical non-Pixar CGI movie on streaming to successful results. Hoping to appeal to a more international market, Disney instead of making a production on an existing story like Mulan, it was decided to created an original amalgamation of several pieces of Asian folklore, similar to Avatar: The Last Airbender. Despite the blending of different cultures, Raya And The Last Dragon manages to pull their history in an single narrative that reflects defining myths, like a standard fetch quest for magical gems.

Set in the magical country of Kamandra(which is decidely absent of non-Asians), the humans used to have a union with the guardian serpent-like dragons that defend them from the shadowy Druun which turn people into stone. The remaining dragons managed to pull their magic together in a final stand against the Druun, with only one dragon surviving, and disappeared leaving behind a magic crystal which keeps the Druun sealed off from the rest of the world. The enchanted jewel lies in the nation of Heart, which wants to open its doors to the neighboring lands to create a newly unified country. But during the peace summit, the jewel is split into 5 parts, releasing the Druun, and dividing them each with their own jewels staving off the Druun. Jumping to five years later, Heart's princess Raya sets out to retrieve the other four pieces of the jewel by summoning the last dragon Sisu to help in her quest. Sisu is a water dragon that manages to gain different powers from each of the gems the collect, including being able to take on a human form. Along their journey, Raya and Sidu gain new allies, eash with their own reasons to rid the scourge of the Druun in order to return their loved ones back from stone. It turns out that the major element to making magic work in this world is the power of trust, as opposed to the power of "true love" which normally act as the remedy in Disney movies.

Raya And The Last Dragon is in most respects one of Disney's most ambitious CGI productions, with amazing character designs and sweeping animation. One of the few setbacks is in Sisu's dragon form which is a stark contrast to the human characters, appearing more like something out of My Little Pony instead of your average scaled Chinese dragon. There's also some influences from Hayao Miyazaki with the Druun and the giant rolling bug that Raya rides on. Raya's quest would make for a killer 80s Nintendo game idea, but as a full-length motion picture, it actually brings the concept of epic back to high fantasy intended for the whole family.

MISC. MANGA, *Devilsh Darlings: Portal Fantasy

Minoru Mitsuba made his American manga premiere in this one-shot collected graphic novel, Devilish Darlings: Portal Fantasy. With the concept of isekai being the promenate genre in the current otaku culture, the idea of an average person getting sent to a fantasy world is a sure seller nowadays. Throw in a gratuitous amount of fan service, and you'll be sure to hit a few marks on a manga fan's hit list.

Keitaro is a regular youngster from modern day Japan who falls through a portal and into world right out of a D&D wet dream. As soon as he's there, he confronts a large dragon, who is really just a pet for the half-demon Nia, a cheerful scantily-clad gal who is surprised to meet a human. All the half-demon in this world are apparently female, and can only mate with humans, of which only seem to end up there through magical portals from other dimensions. Nia agrees to help Keitaro get back home after hearing about another portal several days journey away. They are joined by fellow half-demon Rosette, who is also horny for Keitaro, but suffers from severe shyness, despite wearing nothing but a bustier and a g-string. The trio help out some ailing orc families, and a lonely werewolf girl, while finally coming across a small village of older scantily-clad half-demons who want to use Keitaro to help "repopulate".

This single volume manga makes for a nice treat with its adorable yet alluring artwork, and would be appealing to those wanting to get a peek at the current isekai craze. If anything, its a nostalgiac throwback to 90s manga fans which were heavy on sexiness factor and short on substance. If you happen to be able to download this through some sort of discount or coupon code, you might feel a little less shorted for paying full price on a one-shot deal.