Kamui

Terrible movie about a shinobi who absconds from his ninja clan. The hope might have been that the over the top CGI effects and wire works would make up for the lousy action sequences and jerky storyline. Alas it only left me wondering how this pile of krap made it on to my queue.

Rating: *

Nana

Two girls with the same name Nana meet on train and find their lives to be inexplicably intertwined from there on. There are anime like Ghost in the Shell and then there is stuff like Nana. This is the film based on the latter. Corny in most parts but that streak of melancholy that rips through it will keep you engaged.

Rating: * * +

Ninja Scroll

Jubei a ninja and master swordsman is tricked in to working for the Shogun, by a wizened old monk. They are joined by the beutiful Kagero, poison taster of a clan loyal to the Tokugawa. Soon they are plagued by bizarre ninja demons on all sides. A trippy imaginative anime that might shock but never bore you with its regular fare of blood, gore and titties.

Rating: * * +

GITS:SAC: Solid State Society

Another superb installment of the Ghost in the Shell anime series, based on the manga by Masamune Shirow, shows us Section 9 with all our old friends sans the Major. Togusa heads the field ops and a slightly ailing Aramaki now walks around with a cane. A rather subdued and depressed Batou continues to strut around obsessing over the development of the Tachikomas.

The group is confounded by thirteen suicides of terrorists without any rhyme or reasons. The only connection they have is the mention of a wizard hacker called the Puppeteer. Batou soon discovers the Major floating in the periphery of the investigation and the ride is on...

In spite of being the weakest installment in the series it still held true to the high standards set by its predecessors. If the review is making no sense to you it is best you start at the beginning and then you will know that before Trinity there was Motoko Kusanagi.

Rating: * * +