Rideback – OVA

I got hold of this series a couple of months ago and this weekend I thought I’d check it out. I was drawn to this series because of the fantastic motorcycle design shown in this anime. I saw the first 3 episodes and must say that its quite interesting and will keep you glued to the screen. Plus the fact that this anime is in HD with a great soundtrack will please the guys with big screen TVs and home theaters. The plot as far as I’ve seen is simple and it goes something like this;

Ballerina Chick + Crazy transforming motorcycle + gang + world wide revolution and unrest = Hours of fun

I love condensing my reviews into a formula

Rideback IMDB [link]

Rideback opening Youtube [link]

Char’s counterattack – movie

Char’s counterattack a.k.a Kidô senshi Gandamu: Gyakushû no Shâ ;

Wikipedia [link]

IMDB [link]

I happened to get a Blu-ray version of this 1988 movie recently and just finished watching it last night. Its easily one of the most beautiful movies in the Gundam series. The characters have evolved so much since the 1978 series and Amuro Ray and Char Aznable are like opposite sides of the same coin. Their mutual love/admiration  for Lalah is also explored in the film although she only makes a very short appearance .

The movie is about 2 and 1/2 hours long but its quite entertaining except for the political bits. Each Gundam series manages to capture relevant characteristics of politicians that can be compared to the ones we put in office in real life. Another aspect of the movie is the beautiful soundtrack that perfectly compliments the mood of this film. You can listen to the soundtrack below.

Youtube [link]

An afternoon with Go Nagai San

On a pleasant summer afternoon on 10th October a small group of anime and classic robot fans waited patiently outside the Japanese Embassy in Mishref for the gates to open. At 12.30 we were assembled in the main hall which by now had been converted into a shrine with loads of rare manga, original artworks, robot models and kits.

If you were expecting a bunch of kids you couldn’t be farther from the truth! the average age of the Mazinger/ Grendizer fan in that room was 30! Most of us had grown up watching these shows back in the 80′s and we reminisced about the good old days of KTV1.

Finally the time had come and the man of the hour, Go Nagai Sensei walked into the room to thunderous applause. The next one hour or so was spent talking about the origins of this designs and character development. You can read about the interview here[link]

The best part was that I got to show Go Nagai my own drawing and he autographed it for me!

Pictures courtesy of Mr. Sameer Al-Abdullah KUNA