Neo Ranga - A God Is Risen (Vol. 1)

Rating:
Summary: The God never quite rises...
Review: "Neo Ranga - A God is Risen (Vol. 1)" is a fairly mediocre anime, one that seems to be pushing a formula established by Neon Genesis Evangelion. Now, I have no problem with formulaic anime, so long as the variation on a theme entertains. However, this fledgling episode of Neo Ranga failed to capture me, and I have little interest in pursuing the series.

The 15 minute episodes seems like a good idea at first, allowing quick viewing over breakfast without a long time commitment. However, ultimately the story does not advance in a logical enough manner with the short episodes. One minute, Neo Ranga is warring with the army and destroying Tokyo, the next episode, without much explanation, the army has decided to back off and Neo Ranga is a wacky tourist attraction giving the girls rides to school.

The three sisters make for interesting characters, but again their personalities are not developed well enough, and they remain little more than one-note girls.

It is possible that the story fleshes out more with the remainder of the series, and some of the illogical points link up, but with such a lackluster initial offering, it seems like few would stick around to find out.

Rating:
Summary: The God never quite rises...
Review: "Neo Ranga - A God is Risen (Vol. 1)" is a fairly mediocre anime, one that seems to be pushing a formula established by Neon Genesis Evangelion. Now, I have no problem with formulaic anime, so long as the variation on a theme entertains. However, this fledgling episode of Neo Ranga failed to capture me, and I have little interest in pursuing the series.

The 15 minute episodes seems like a good idea at first, allowing quick viewing over breakfast without a long time commitment. However, ultimately the story does not advance in a logical enough manner with the short episodes. One minute, Neo Ranga is warring with the army and destroying Tokyo, the next episode, without much explanation, the army has decided to back off and Neo Ranga is a wacky tourist attraction giving the girls rides to school.

The three sisters make for interesting characters, but again their personalities are not developed well enough, and they remain little more than one-note girls.

It is possible that the story fleshes out more with the remainder of the series, and some of the illogical points link up, but with such a lackluster initial offering, it seems like few would stick around to find out.

Rating:
Summary: The God never quite rises...
Review: "Neo Ranga - A God is Risen (Vol. 1)" is a fairly mediocre anime, one that seems to be pushing a formula established by Neon Genesis Evangelion. Now, I have no problem with formulaic anime, so long as the variation on a theme entertains. However, this fledgling episode of Neo Ranga failed to capture me, and I have little interest in pursuing the series.

The 15 minute episodes seems like a good idea at first, allowing quick viewing over breakfast without a long time commitment. However, ultimately the story does not advance in a logical enough manner with the short episodes. One minute, Neo Ranga is warring with the army and destroying Tokyo, the next episode, without much explanation, the army has decided to back off and Neo Ranga is a wacky tourist attraction giving the girls rides to school.

The three sisters make for interesting characters, but again their personalities are not developed well enough, and they remain little more than one-note girls.

It is possible that the story fleshes out more with the remainder of the series, and some of the illogical points link up, but with such a lackluster initial offering, it seems like few would stick around to find out.

Rating:
Summary: Average Anime
Review: "Neo Ranga" checks all the blocks of your average anime feature: occasional scantily clad women (first episode even! add one star!), the kid who just wants to be a "typical Japanese middle-school girl", some fantastic mecha-type monster (doesn't matter if it is a good guy or a bad one), and a really-cute chibi-type animal who contributes zip to the plot. Beyond that, this first DVD is largely inexplicable. It may get better in future DVDs. After watching all the episodes in this one, I didn't bother to find out.

"Neo Ranga" didn't intrigue me like "Lain", didn't engage me like "Neon Genesis", didn't charm me like "Fushigi Yuugi", didn't entertain me like "Cowboy Bebop". All of those titles, with one or two episodes, I was hooked. "Neo Ranga" just didn't do it for me. It is not the worst or most intellectually insulting anime I've seen, but it is nowhere near the quality of many other titles available.

Three stars, though, for being better than "Silent Mobius". Now THAT's saying something. I think.

Rating:
Summary: A rampaging giant monster in the family?
Review: A giant monster rising out of Tokyo Bay to rampage in downtown Tokyo is practically a stereotypical cliche. However this show manages to add some extra life to the old cliche.

Each episode is about 12 minutes long, so it is somewhat difficult to have the story unfold in a smooth manner. Nonetheless, this becomes a rather intriguiging saga of family troubles, mysterious conspiracies and the power politics of weapons of mass destruction.

On the surface, it is the story of what happens when 3 orphan sisters (2 still school-age) become the beneficiary of their older brother's death. Their older brother had married into the royal family of an obscure pacific island nation (that had once been occupied by the Japanese in WW2). The islanders worshipped their own god that just happens to be a real, multi-storey monster. With the death of the royal family, Ranga decides that the 3 sisters are the new ruling triad, and goes to Tokyo to be with them. From then on it causes crises in National Security, local tourism, property values, and parking permits.

Rating:
Summary: A rampaging giant monster in the family?
Review: A giant monster rising out of Tokyo Bay to rampage in downtown Tokyo is practically a stereotypical cliche. However this show manages to add some extra life to the old cliche.

Each episode is about 12 minutes long, so it is somewhat difficult to have the story unfold in a smooth manner. Nonetheless, this becomes a rather intriguiging saga of family troubles, mysterious conspiracies and the power politics of weapons of mass destruction.

On the surface, it is the story of what happens when 3 orphan sisters (2 still school-age) become the beneficiary of their older brother's death. Their older brother had married into the royal family of an obscure pacific island nation (that had once been occupied by the Japanese in WW2). The islanders worshipped their own god that just happens to be a real, multi-storey monster. With the death of the royal family, Ranga decides that the 3 sisters are the new ruling triad, and goes to Tokyo to be with them. From then on it causes crises in National Security, local tourism, property values, and parking permits.

Rating:
Summary: Good but real missleading.
Review: I have seen all 6 dvds and this was an enjoyable series. I wouldnt buy it unless you can get a good deal on it though. I bought mine used so it was worth it to me. I would however be dissapointed if I had to pay full price for this series since its not good enough to spend that kind of money on. Dont be fooled by the covers, the series has no such outfits or weapons for the characters I dont know why they used such missleading covers. Basically the series is about a giant god (Ranga) who is controlled by 3 sisters and is seen as a media icon, they have news broadcasts, TV specials and souveniers about Ranga. The city hates Ranga at one moment then they love him the next depending on what good or bad deed he does. There is a whole revival of ancient gods thing going on too, as you can guess Ranga has to fight the different revived gods. Dont want to give away any of the story, buy only if you can get it cheap.

Rating:
Summary: One of ADV's better titles
Review: I have to admit, after buying the Argentosoma box from Bandai, I was a little skeptical about how Neo Ranga (from ADV) would be. I'll admit it, I'm not a "otaku" nor do I really brand myself as anything (as I feel that is a waste of time), but I'm a average anime watcher thats really big into fansubs, and gets through about 6 hours of anime or so a week :-\. Here's the review :)

Packaging:
It came in a nice little box, that wasn't a fold out piece of paper like Argentosoma. ADV opted for clear cases, and it looks good. Although it isn't the original cover art (edited for the states), it still looks very nice.

Content:
I remember watching this series on HORRIBLE fansubs, and I have to admit that the quality of this is VERY good. You have to be a fast reader cause the subtitles are rather quick with japenese audio, but you could always opt for the "english" audio.

Overall:
Very good series, definetly worth buying instead of renting (if you find it from a local anime store to rent). 35 bucks (if you didnt preorder) is a bit of money, but well worth it. It is well worth the price. It has great packaging, great quality audio and video, and is one of the better anime series out there. Buy

Rating:
Summary: One of ADV's better titles
Review: I have to admit, after buying the Argentosoma box from Bandai, I was a little skeptical about how Neo Ranga (from ADV) would be. I'll admit it, I'm not a "otaku" nor do I really brand myself as anything (as I feel that is a waste of time), but I'm a average anime watcher thats really big into fansubs, and gets through about 6 hours of anime or so a week :-\. Here's the review :)

Packaging:
It came in a nice little box, that wasn't a fold out piece of paper like Argentosoma. ADV opted for clear cases, and it looks good. Although it isn't the original cover art (edited for the states), it still looks very nice.

Content:
I remember watching this series on HORRIBLE fansubs, and I have to admit that the quality of this is VERY good. You have to be a fast reader cause the subtitles are rather quick with japenese audio, but you could always opt for the "english" audio.

Overall:
Very good series, definetly worth buying instead of renting (if you find it from a local anime store to rent). 35 bucks (if you didnt preorder) is a bit of money, but well worth it. It is well worth the price. It has great packaging, great quality audio and video, and is one of the better anime series out there. Buy

Rating:
Summary: Thoughts for those thinking of starting Neo Ranga
Review: I like this series. A lot. You should probably be able to tell that by looking at my score of 5 right up above this. This is not to say that the series is without its problems.

On a very basic level, this anime is a variation on a mecha anime. The important part to rememebr here is that the anime is a very big variation on a typical mecha. The plot revolves around the god Neo Ranga, a mysterious being that is nigh invulnerable, and the 3 sisters who have the ability to control him (to some extent that is).

The core of the anime revolves around the struggle between the community the girls live in (along with the rest of the rest of Japan) against the girls' desire to live a normal life while havign a god on beck and call. This simple split, from those who want the god gone from Japan because of the danger adn destruction it causes and those who veiw Ranga as being beneficial or at least harmless, deepens and morphs as the girls and the people of Japan get new veiws about who and what Ranga truly is while the girls mature and learn to deal with the attention adn responsibility controlling a god entails. In the backround, however, plots form and twist, secret organizations and powerful individuals seeking to use Ranga for their own purposes or seeking to get rid of him. The anime ends up, in the end, being the sisters' struggle to overcome hatred and aversity with the help of Ranga.

The series has increadible artwork adn pretty decent music, especially some of the peices with tribal hints to it to hint at Neo Ranga's primative and mysterious roots. The core of this series' greatness in my mind are the charcters. While the plot is interesting and exciting and while the art and music add atmophere, every single charcter in the series is exciting and unique. There is such a large variety of characters and you get so attached to them after only a short amount of time, that you can't help but feel the emotions they feel and feel like you are part of their struggles adn lives. In addition, the large variety and number of charcters they have put detail into mean that everyone can find someone they can identify wht or recognize.

Here's a little scale for various aspects of the show;
ACTION - 3 stars.
While Neo Ranga does posses some scenes where Ranga is forced or ordered to battle, these scenes hardly make up any large portion of the series (unlike many mecha type animes).
DRAMA - 5 stars.
Drama is what this series is based on. The interaction between charcters and the feeling of the sisters adn those who surround them are very deep adn real, explored from many aspects and angles.
HUMOUR - 3 stars.
This series isn't devoid of humour liek many more serious mecha type anime, but nor is it slapstick or raunchy. instead, jokes are only thrown in where it would make sense for someone to tell a joke in real life, and are often more hunourous and real becasue of this fact. Not really filled with too much humour though.
OTHER - 5 stars.
Other is a category meant to cover things like the atmophere, mood, and detail. All of these things abound in Neo Ranga. The artwork is beautiful like the music and is very well used to help express the way a situation effects people and the way people are truly thinking. In addition, the attention to detail and the consitency are amazing. Nothing is thrown in and then forgotten and no thing or person is taken as being isignifigant.

Overall, I would recomend this series to those who like series that mix a little bit of action adn humour in with a beautifully done situational character study. If you are sick and tired of mech type anime that revolve around battle after battle amd seem to be detached from the real world and the people in it, then Neo Ranga makes for a very nice breath of fresh air.