"Sought by the greed of men since the dawn of human kind, but only bestowed upon the women whose fate it forever scars... The Witchblade. Is it the righteous sword of God? Or hand of the Devil himself? Now a new bearer has been chosen. And she must discover the answers for herself. As she stands on the brink of destiny, she is forced to seek the balance between ecstasy and ruin."-Anime prologue for each episode.

In this new approach to the Witchblade universe, the lead character (and blade wielder) is Masane Amaha, a kind-hearted woman who, despite her good intentions, is fairly clumsy and not good around the house. She lost her memory during "The Great Quake" that ravaged Tokyo and, curiously, Masane was found unscathed in the phenomenon's ground zero, holding a baby in her arms. Six years later, she returns to Tokyo with the child, whom she believes to be her daughter, intending to live a peaceful life. Unfortunately for the two, Masane becomes entangled in the struggle for power between a huge corporation and a government agency. She discovers that a mysterious jewel attached to her right wrist is actually the legendary artifact known as the Witchblade.

This series is a branch off from the original comic and TV series by Top Cow. Due to it being extremely ecchi, the American dub had to replace almost 80% of Masane’s almost naked body with clothing. You can buy the original Japanese in subs and see this anime in all it’s full-frontal nudity.

You’re probably asking yourself why an otaku, like me, would be watching something that was really intended for men. Simple. I just happened to appreciate the storyline and character design. I am wholly in love with the character designs! I love when all the girls take on their “Witchblade” forms. It really inspires me. I just tend to look past the entire perverseness that the Japanese are known for. I just like the way it looks, not the way THEY look in it. I’m also a big fan of the American Witchblade; I do believe that one was less graphic and more action.

(Due to recent events in Japan, our blog fully supports donations to the Red Cross to help those in need. We ask that you take this time to donate to this cause. Every little bit helps!)

HELP JAPAN!

TRIGUN is the story of Vash the Stampede. A seemingly goofy clumsy amnesiac of a man who is wanted by bounty hunters for the destruction of the city of July. He's constanly on the run from bounty hunters leaving destroyed cities in his wake. (all caused by the bounty hunters, but he gets blamed for it.) But he's not the idiot he appears to be, he's a superb gunman with a pacisfist streak who hides behind his idiot persona to keep people from looking too deep.

He's being tracked by two Bernardelli Insurance agents named Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson who are trying to prevent him from causing anymore damage that their company has to pay out for. They follow him through everything and eventually figure out that it's not Vash causing the damage but the people chasing him. Their company ends up classifying him as the world's only Human Natural Disaster to prevent from having to pay out more money. Needless to say they end up quitting their jobs.

Vash also meets a man named Nicholas D. Wolfwood. He's a gunman and a Priest who travels the desert with a HUGE Cross strapped to his back. The relationship Vash has with this man is complicated. Even though Wolfwood is a Priest he has no qualms about killing. He believes that sometimes men have to become the devil themselves to save others, while Vash believes killing is wrong no matter what. Wolfwood's redemption plays a HUGE roll in the end of this series and comes at a very steep price.

At some point in this anime it takes on a dark tone as he begins to look for his brother, Knives who is sending his henchmen (The Gung-ho Guns) to torment him and cause as much death and choas as possible. The series ends with Vash and Knives facing off.....(i am not going to spoil it for you if you haven't seen it.)

The original Manga was done by the wonderful Yasuhiro Nightow. The manga was serialized in Tokuma Shoten's Shōnen Captain from the series debut in 1995 until the magazine's demise in 1997. The series continued in Shōnen Gahosha's Young King Ours magazine, under the title Trigun Maximum where it remained until finishing in 2007.

I have nothing bad to say about this series. I love everything about it. Post-Appocalyptic Westerns are always fun. It was one of the first series that I sat through that I enjoyed every episode. There is something to be said about a series of anything that makes you smile just thinking about it.

It's most definitely in my top 10 favorite. A series that any person who claims to love or hate anime needs to watch and if you haven't then SHAME ON YOU.