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Pilot Candidate - The Academy (Vol. 1)

Pilot Candidate - The Academy (Vol. 1)

List Price: $24.98
Your Price: $22.48
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Eva wishes to be this good.
Review: After viewing the Cartoon Network version, two things were obvious. The English dialogue stinks, but there is something compelling about it.

I went out and bought the DVD to be pleasantly surprised. When viewed in Japanese, the energy of a lot of the younger characters came bursting forth, as well as the grizzled veneer of the older players.

The series beckons quesitons about the origin of they characters' mysterious powers, and to the nature of the robots whey wish to master.

The first few reveiws have the words "Eva clone" in them. Eva becomes often bogged down in mythology and in the disturbed nature of the characters. Pilot Candidate, however, flows with a steady beat, and gets there revealing snipits about everyone involved.

This is a series for more than casual anime fans. Provocative and fun, this is a series to view with friends.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Dull, cliched, and horrible.
Review: Anime is a genre filled with cliches. If you see one thing in one series, you're bound to see it a thousand times in other series. But there will always be a few titles that take those cliches and put fresh spins on them, creating something unique and fresh that keeps the genre alive. "Pilot Candidate", unfortunately, is hardly one of those titles, borrowing cliche after cliche and yet coming up with absolutely nothing worthwhile.

"Pilot Candidate" tells the story of Zero and how he dreams of one day become a pilot for one of the five Goddesses. He's arrogant, self-centered, and full of himself, but he doesn't care. For now he is a Candidate For Goddess and he's determined to one day fulfill his dream so he can stop the evil alien invasion of Victim and protect Zion, the last remaining human star.

As said before, "Pilot Candidate" is filled with cliches, including but not limited to: the self-absorbed hero, his geeky yet well-meant friend, his quiet yet just-as-determined rival, and the set of giant robots that are humanity's only hope and that can only be piloted by children. So does "Pilot Candidate" offer any refreshing spin on these cliches? No. There is absolutely nothing innovative in this series; you've seen everything here before, and everything done better. "Pilot Candidate" makes absoultely no attempt to distinguish itself from other anime series, as if it were trying to capitalize on a current trend. What's worse is that the series doesn't even try to do a good job of it!

The story is trite and boring. Virtually all other series even resembling this poor excuse of a plot are better in every way. Characters aren't even two-dimensional; they're one-dimensional! Not once do any characters grow and develop in this series. They start one way and end the exact same way, which insults the audience when we're actually expected to care for these characters. In fact, these characters are so forgettable that I dare anyone to remember any of their names after watching the entire series, let alone one episode.

"Pilot Candidate" falls flat visually as well. The animation looks like a coloring book that was pasted onto the screen. And the included CGI is, for lack of a better word, pathetic. The Goddess robots are meant to be the big stars of the fighting sequences, but how can they be when they hardly even move? They're as rigid as a Barbie doll and appear completely lifeless. Series like "Cowboy Bebop" know how to combine animation and CGI effectively; "Pilot Candidate" threw everything into the pot all at once and ended up with an ugly mess.

Even the audio isn't safe. The music isn't terrible, but it does nothing to enhance the series at all. It's just...there. And the dub for "Pilot Candidate" is horrible. I cannot recall a single dub that was worse than this one. If you want to listen to this series at all, listen to the Japanese audio track; at least the Japanese voice actors attempted to give the series some life (although they failed miserably).

Overall, "Pilot Candidate" is a very poor choice for anime fans, and Bandai knows it. Why else did they decide to release the "Pilot Candidate" DVDs with dubtitles and not subtitles? The only reason this series is well known is because of its appearance on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. But here me out: "Pilot Candidate" was originally meant to be put on Toonami but was put on Adult Swim so Cartoon Network could secure that time slot for future, far better shows like "Inu-Yasha" and "Ghost in the Shell TV". "Pilot Candidate" certainly isn't an adult show, and it's hardly an enjoyable one. Unless you've seen this show and like it, don't bother. This show does not deserve the attention it got and certainly doesn't deserve your time and money.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: IT SUCKS! DON'T BUY IT!
Review: Can you say Evangelion ripoff? Cuz that's exactly what this [poor] excuse for Japanese Anime is. I cannot believe what I have read from the other reviews! They are not true Otakus like myself. They only watch DBZ and think that they know everything. Only like two other reviewers are correct.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Robotic Anime^_^
Review: Funny, charming, witty, and just plain cool. I liked it even if they used that 2-D CG thing but it combines real good. Also I love the Robot Designs.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Well, I think you people need to be more open minded.
Review: I saw two episodes of this on Cartoon Network and I loved it! It may not be the best, but it was good, and it deserves a chance.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Well, I think you people need to be more open minded.
Review: I saw two episodes of this on Cartoon Network and I loved it! It may not be the best, but it was good, and it deserves a chance.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: One of the worst anime I've ever seen.
Review: I watched this for FREE on Cartoon Network and felt ripped off. Don't waste your money and actually buy this horrible series. It's derivative, shallow, and pretentious. The characters are generic, and the dubbing is so, so, so bad. I can't believe how bad it is. The only good thing about the series is the vivid coloration, but so what? It's not like it's worth the pain of actually watching the stupid show.

No American distributor should have bought the rights to this because they totally wasted their money. This cartoon is a complete mess and a waste of time.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: One of the worst anime I've ever seen.
Review: I watched this for FREE on Cartoon Network and felt ripped off. Don't waste your money and actually buy this horrible series. It's derivative, shallow, and pretentious. The characters are generic, and the dubbing is so, so, so bad. I can't believe how bad it is. The only good thing about the series is the vivid coloration, but so what? It's not like it's worth the pain of actually watching the stupid show.

No American distributor should have bought the rights to this because they totally wasted their money. This cartoon is a complete mess and a waste of time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Watched it years ago on TV and still can't forget it.
Review: I'm buying all four DVDs because I saw the series on Cartoon Network and simply cannot forget about it. Those who say there is no character development are quite obviously blind, because the entire series is about Zero's CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. You say it isn't about the action, so what is it about? Well, it's about the life of the characters and how at a young age they are thrown into a war against an enemy they can barely defeat! The music is excellent, and anyone who says otherwise just doesn't like orchestrated music. This is an anime fans dream soundtrack. The art is amazing, it's quite hard to find an anime with characters that look this good. I'm shocked and surprised at some people's insulting reviews about the series..but trust me: This DVD set is sooo worth it. Even if it does end suddenly, it's just great. I think it ended due to low budgets..but I'm not sure. We can only hope they will schedule more episodes in the future.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This anime is great!!! I wish everyone would love it!!!!!
Review: In the future, mankind lost 4 planets due to a terrible mistake. They reteated to space and built colonies,huge domes with glass protecting it. There is only one planet left, Zion. The alien form known as VICTIM is out to destoy it. So.....

Mankind built huge mechas called Ingrids or Goddesses. The candidates must first train to become one of the 5 Goddess pilots. They go to the Goddess Opperating Accademy or GOA. And when they become pilots they go to GIS. And.....
To be a candidate you have to have the abiltity of EX. Having a reaction to such a power turns your hair teal. It may be telepathy or the power to move fast without being seen. OK.....

The story follows 5 candidates. The main character is Zero Enna. He is a hyper boy and can't stop talking about his dream to pilot the White Ingrid that saved him when he was younger. He has a rival named Hiead and friends Yamagi, Roose, Clay, and another senior named Erts whose brother is a pilot.
Zero and his classmates train and live on GOA. And the story also go into the lives of the pilots. Now...

I love the anime and I'm getting the DVDs. It came on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network but was cancelled for some strange reason.
Get it because it's in space and space is COOL!!!!


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